A new game... Post pics from your cel phone V.1.0

[MPlayle]

Every office has someone that wears a tie almost all the time.  Why not the most important person in your office - the mascot?

(PS: It saves you from having to wear one.)

[Jims5543]

Good customer wanted me involved in a 27 acre job, I said no, he refused my answer. I gave him a quote that would make me say yes, he accepted. He told me he does not want to deal with any other surveyor and whatever I charged was fine by him.

So now I am working weekends for the next 2 weeks. The good part is I will make very god money on this job.

This sign was out in front of the property. Glad I was not trespassing.

[John Gervais]

I wear my mascot every time I drive it.

[Jims5543]

LMAO!!  Great pic.

[gr8kornholio]

Good customer wanted me involved in a 27 acre job, I said no, he refused my answer. I gave him a quote that would make me say yes, he accepted. He told me he does not want to deal with any other surveyor and whatever I charged was fine by him.

So now I am working weekends for the next 2 weeks. The good part is I will make very god money on this job.

This sign was out in front of the property. Glad I was not trespassing.

Did I read that right?  god money?  That's got to be good.

[Jims5543]

Good customer wanted me involved in a 27 acre job, I said no, he refused my answer. I gave him a quote that would make me say yes, he accepted. He told me he does not want to deal with any other surveyor and whatever I charged was fine by him.

So now I am working weekends for the next 2 weeks. The good part is I will make very god money on this job.

This sign was out in front of the property. Glad I was not trespassing.

Did I read that right?  god money?  That's got to be good.

LOL!! Meant good money like god money, think megachurch god money tithing and you get the picture.

[Jims5543]

Office view today. I am staking locations for new docks on a resort nearby this picture. I have a favorite lunch spot near the job site, so I try to make my visits there at lunchtime.



Swapping the E21 for the E30 over the weekend.  Mrs5543 is using the E30 while the Bini is laid up with rusted out brake lines.

That E21 is such a delight to drive, so tight and well behaved, best blind car purchase I have ever made. I have run about 4 tanks of gas through her now and not a hiccup.

[gr8kornholio]

When mini is life and crafty is your wife.

I built the lego set, that she bought me, then she put the decal on.

[94touring]

In Chicago they burn the snow.

[BruceK]

Whoa.  Boil it and turn it into steam? 

[94touring]

Yeah, I had never seen such a thing!

[BruceK]

Think of the energy required to do that. 

[94touring]

Global warming lol.

[Bahowe1]

How genius! I bet the de-icing company performs this operation. Send it back up, let it fall again, repeat business!

[gr8kornholio]

So that's what they do with it.  Could you imagine the size of the pile, that would never melt, if they just stuffed it somewhere.

[94touring]

A couple of familiar faces.

[MiniDave]

 Both Patton's cars?

[94touring]

One is Dean's I painted years ago and the orange was the one I just did.

[Jims5543]

Sit back grab a beer, and enjoy.....


I am slammed busy, I get a call from my wife yesterday, the hot water heater shit the bed.  I knew it was going to go, I even thought about a month ago, time to change it out, I wanted to go tankless propane. Time? Aint nobody got time for that!! So I did not bother with it.

I call some plumbers, I want to just checkbook this thing I do not have time for it. No one is available for 4-6 days, and every one wants over $1000 to install a electric $400 50 gallon water heater.

I take a cold shower last night, that lit a fire under my ass, I rescheduled some jobs today, put in a short day in the field, went to Home Depot picked up a Water heater and installed it over along lunch.

Old setup from 15 plus years ago in corner of garage.


New setup using shark connectors and flex hoses. I was trying to avoid having to sweat pipes I was not in the mood.



Last weekend I drove to Tampa to meet a friend who was passing through South Carolina and picked up a set of E36 M3 Vader Seats that my son purchased, I was there to purchase a 3D printer from him. I now need to find time so myself and my younger son can start messing with it. I has ideas... 


Just before the Christmas break, Mrs5543 calls me, she has a soft brake pedal on the R53 Mini and there is brake fluid under the car. I tell her to park it and call AAA, she decides to buy a bottle of brake fluid and drive it home trying not to touch the brakes, she was 25 miles from home. She did it and only hit the brakes one time.

I get under it and the brake lines are rusted out...... In 1984 I purchased a 1967 Mustang from a friend in Pennsylvania, it was a rust belt car, I was living on Long Island at the time, I drove that car for 2 years, no rusted brake lines. I have all kinds of cars from a 1981 BMw to a 2007 FJ Cruiser none of them have rusted out brake lines.

WTF!! Why is a 2005 being subjected to rusted out brake lines!!!

Done, I had a local indy shop replace the lines for $150 and put the damn thing up for sale, I am beyond disgusted with the Mini brand.

Adios!!


I call this pic 33 years of BMW, my E21 parked next to our 2014 i3.  This is a Range Extender (REX) i3 with the 2 cylinder motorcycle motor driving a generator, akin to the 1st Gen Volts, it has 80+ miles of battery range with another 90+ miles of gas range. We picked it up Thursday evening. Only had to hit the REX once  but I want to use it more and get some fresh gas in there. I purchased an app for $35 and with a OBD2 reader can hack the software to put the car into the Euro Spec which will change the switch over point for the REX from 6% battery to 50% battery.

This give me way more range and full power.  Mrs5543 drives it M-F driving 100 miles a day commuting so this should save us a lot of money. I just had a Phase 2 fast charger installed so I can not charge the car from 35% or so to full in less than 2 hours.



I am really digging this car, I love all the tech in it, I am slowly getting it all down pat.


We test drove the Volt and this and this was a much more fun car to drive hands down. BMW really did a nice job on this. One of my favorite features is the heavy regenerative braking. You can actually drive this car and never hit the hydraulic brakes once. It is really cool.

We can tell the car to be ready for us at a certain time, in this case it will be ready for my wife at 7:30 in the morning, it wakes up, gets the HVAC to temp and gets the batteries ready (in northern climate this would be heating them up) while still plugged in to the wall so as to not waste on board battery power getting these items set.



This is the game changer, I purchased this Stage 2 charger off Amazon and had a local electrician install it.


With the skinny tires and 19" rims she sits high, we got hammered by a cold front last Friday 4+ inches of rain fell, road flooded, the i3 never missed as beat. Additionally we ran out of battery range (did not have the Stage 2 Charger yet) so the car switched over to the REX and you could barely tell it was running. Again, very impressed.




This is what we should have purchased instead of the JCW.  I also have to comment on the torque of the electric motors, this thing will throw you back in your seat. It will roast most cars off the line.  Again, impressed is the only word I can say.  The 2018 Volt seemed like they were trying to make it like a gas car, the i3 smacks you in the face, you are in an electric car. I wish I had the guts to go full electric, I decided to go hybrid and narrowed it down to the Volt or i3 for the simple reason that they both will give 80+ miles on the battery and then more on gas if needed.

Business has been insane and I promised myself to get the Effing Pickup back on the ground by the end of this month.

If my house can stop throwing me curve balls, that would be nice. We have had 2 floods in my house, one from the AC and one from the fridge both at each end of the house bor requiring floors to be ripped out. Throw that on top of new window installs (I will post something on that later I am supposed to be working) and it has been non stop chaos here.

[jeff10049]

That I3 is way cool the car the printer says i3  on it too also lol way cool,  I have been considering full electric and getting a Tesla. Also really close to pulling the trigger on a 3d printer.

Don't be too hard on the Bini brake lines are more an environment thing than a Bini thing I just did the brake lines on a 2010 BMW that rusted out also had to do that 91 318i that I helped a friends son get a while back. yet my 1960 mini has all the original steel lines so does our 2004 bini and 2003 chevy and they look fine all depends on where and how the car was used.

But yes the I3 is the shit I'm torn between that and a tesla model 3.

[BruceK]

I was heading over to Mark's house today to help (i.e. watch) him dismantle his Mini.  On the way I was very surprised to see a Mini broken down on the side of the road!   Turns out a friend of ours, Paul, had just suffered a broken thottle cable and was dead on the side of the road.    Mark came out from his house with some tools and we rigged up a cable.

[94touring]

Dismantle for me to cut up and paint I believe.

[gr8kornholio]

Yep, and finding little surprises and random stuff.  A few holes under the spare tire carpet.  A couple more in the square cross member under the seats.  Along with a pen in the boot lid and some glass cleaning wipes and cough drops under the dash covering.

[MiniGene]

Found this in my tool box a couple of weeks ago.

[smg id=2506]

[smg id=2507]

[MPlayle]

He/She is just trying to keep warm.