Classic Mini a little bit of fun

We love all things Mini and MINI over here.  I picked up this Classic 1979 Mini for my 15 yr old son Zack to learn to drive in and use as a daily driver.  That ended up being more work and down time than we could handle. Although we had fun adding driving lights, sliding rag top, fuel pump, brake and clutch master cylinders and an awesome sub-woofer and trunk trim. So we sold the car and got him a Jeep Wrangler to drive.  Fast forward to July 2014 and I bought the car back.  This time it is just my classic car and he does not get to drive it.

Our New Home

We have moved and bought a new home in South Fork.  Just about 6 miles away from our old home.

This time I got the garage I always wanted!!  4 Car garage

 with 2 car porte cochere - More covered parking!

and storage upstairs over the garage too!

Don't think that my wife got neglected.  Huge Kitchen for her.

and a room to build a Home Theater in too.

We are way excited to be in the new home.  It's a great design by Cervelle Homes.

SOLD! 10/19/11 Home Sweet Home is For Sale. SOLD!

 Our home is for sale.

A great day of sailing at the Texas City Dike

This Weekend the TCDYC group put on a learn to sail course at the Texas City Dike.  It was good fun to see so many catamarans out to sail.  I had a blast on my Hobie 16.  I just added a pair of EPO rudders.

Here's a video with some pictures and video that my wife shot.  Next time I will set thew camera for a higher resolution.

My First sail of 2011

There's a new fleet is in town.  It's Hobie Fleet 33 / Surfside Sailing.  I'm a member of the recently reinstated Fleet 33.  Check the fleet website to learn more. www.hobiefleet33.com

We decided it was time to hit the beach and go sailing. (Floyd says it was Todd's idea)  Friday was in the 70's and sunny, so why not sail on Saturday.

 I hooked up the boat to the wifes 4x4 Toyota Tundra and dropped her and the kids off at her mother's house in Lake Jackson while I continued on to Surfside Beach at the 10 Mile location (Beach Access #6).   After crossing the bridge to Surfside I contacted Floyd and he said they were waiting for the fog to clear and to join them at Franks home "The Hide Out".

Some time after noon we all headed off to the 10 mile spot and prepared to hit the water.  The fog was heavy still and the temperature was cool.  We suited up in the wet suits and rigged the boats.  Floyd's boat took at turn for the worst as they raised his mast.  The mast twisted to the side and broke the base.  His boat was out for the day.  So I rigged my boat and Todd rigged his and we took to the Gulf of Mexico.

Fog was so heavy we would loose sight of each other at about 50 yards distance.  Also, we could not see the beach once we got out past the breaking waves.  I had my iPhone 4 in a dry bag and we turned it on to Google Maps to navigate back to the starting location.  VHF radios were handy for communications with the other boat.

Here is Todd's Nacra Inter 17.

What a blast!  Fun in the fog and cold.

First Sail of the Hobie 16

The new boat was prepped and ready for it's first sail.  We went to the Texas City Dike.  It was the day of the Red Fish Reach put on by the Texas City Dike Yacht Club.  I decided not to join the race but just play on the boat with the family.  My parents brought my brother's kids so rides were to be given.

It was a blast!  October 16th, 2010.  We had a great day of sailing.  I also determined my new boat needed new sails.  The sails that came with it had at one time been a mylar laminate sail.  All of the mylar plastic had since been peeled of and the sails allowed too much wind to blow through them.  This Time I found just what I needed on eBay.  A nice set of used sails.  So the boat got new sails and some updated decals.

Summer is for Sailing!

One of my favorite activities is sailing Hobie catamarans.  A while back I purchased an old 1973 Hobie 14 for a song off craigslist.  I've sailed this boat all summer at Surfside, TX, Lake Somerville, TX and finally at the Texas City Dike.  The Dike just reopened this year as it had been damaged a couple of years ago by a hurricane.  I was finding out all too quickly what I already knew.  I'm too big for a Hobie 14.  I had to set in the middle of the trampoline to fly a hull and I would never be able to trapeze off the side without turning the boat over.

I watched Craigslist like a hawk.  I even got the iPhone app that let me create a search that gave me notices of new listings.  Then one Saturday morning I found it.  It was a 1990 model Hobie 16 in Austin, TX.  Off I went and bought my next toy.

More fun awaits!!

I need a new MINI.

On May 24, 2010 I was driving to a sales appointment when I stopped at a traffic light waiting behind others and in my rear view mirror I see a Dodge Ram truck headed straight for me with no intention of slowing down.....brace myself and hold the brake tight.....CRASH...I've been rear-ended!

The MINI has sustained thousands of dollars worth of damage.  Time to new up!  So shopping I went and upgraded to a 2007 MINI Cooper S Sidewalk addition.  It was tough to let go of the Orange MINI "Nemo" as it was a close family friend ever since we ordered it from the MINI factory just how we wanted.

But, it was nice to get a newer car with more power, fewer miles and heated leather seats.  Perfect for winter topless cruising.

Out with the Lotus

The Lotus was a Blast!  But all good things must come to an end to explore more fun things.  The Lotus went on to it's new owner, Akshay.  So, it's still cruising the streets of Houston and often can be seen at the Houston Coffee and cars.  Here are some pics of it's farewell oil change with the new owner.

I also removed the tall seat rails so the new owner would fit better.  Not everyone is 6'3" and over 230 lbs.
Summer of 2010

Jaguar Club of Houston - Spring Slalom

Had a great time at the spring slalom.  It was held at the Houston Community College Police training facility on the East side of Houston.

The Lotus was awesome flying around the cones.  I didn't even hit any!

The facility had a skid pad too!  Fun practicing the reverse 180s

Shine and Show!

It was time to wax the new car and my son Graham was excited to try the clay bar.  So out came the Meguiar's kit and off he went. It came out super smooth!  I followed him with the wax.

It was all shined up and off to the March 2010 Houston Cars and Coffee Show we went.

This was the biggest show yet!  Lots of exotics and all types of cars.  I was parked between a ZR1 and NSX.

The Lotus looked great!

But this Kids custom made minature car was a big Hit!

The Lotus Elise did not come with a cup holder!

But it has one now!  I got a used Sector 111 - Darth Cup Holder from an eBay auction (half price).  It uses the area in the side cubby under the headlight switchs to secure in place with the aid of black friction creating sphere (racket  or squash ball).

This cup holder is somewhat in the way for a me when getting in and out, so it is easy to remove and store when not being used.

The problem is it came with such an ugly storage bag.  This bag looks like something to store SCUBA diving gear in.  Fluorescent too.

Not a problem for me.  Out comes the black canvas duck fabric and it gets hooped up on the Brother embroidering machine for a custom logo and then sewed together. 


Now I have a nice storage bag just for the Darth Cup Holder and I can throw it in the net behind the seats without listening to the aluminum cup holder vibrate against the plastic back panel.


Problem solved and it's a one of a kind!

Project Bass (updated)

Ok, it's another project. The Lotus Elise has a great exhaust note with the Stage II exhaust, but it is totally lacking in the car stereo department. So a little searching on craigslist and we have a 10" Alpine Type R Sub-woofer in a box that is way too big.

So it's time to get out the saw and cut it down.  Now that is a speaker box on a diet.





My son Graham gets in on the speaker building project.


He learns from the master







Now time to fit the huge speaker in the tiny box

It fits!

And it fits perfectly in the footwell on the Lotus Elise.
Now we need to wire up the Alpine Amp that came with it and find a way to mount it in the trunk.

The Amp is In! And it sounds great!!! Lots of bass. You can really feel it. Totally changes the sound of the whole system. Now I just need to upgrade the front speakers to some 5.25" JL Audio speakers to cover the mid bass and it should be about right.