06/26/03 Ahead of next day's track outing a few Portland and Seattle Coupe owners gathered for a dinner. Then we all stopped at my house to talk cars and take in the view (as someone pointed out it's the most people I've ever had visit at a time).

Even though my own Coupe is in storage, somehow I ended up with five of them in my driveway...

Me, being almost social. Weird. (Thanks to David Birkbeck for taking the pictures).

08/08/03 Decided to take the Coupe out of storage for a day or two and drive it a bit (also might intall the Porterfield brake pads I had bought some time ago). Drove the Mini down to the storage place, pulled the Coupe out and the Mini went in. It is amazing how much dust the Coupe had accumulated in just two months of sitting there. When it goes back in I'm definitely putting a cover on it. Fortunately I had washed and waxed it prior to storage so the dust was swept off quite easily. After the Mini the Bimmer feels more basic, more mechanical, and more intimidating. The power is great but you have to reach for it into the upper rev ranges. An aggressive 1-2 shift lit up the traction control for a good couple seconds as the rear tires struggled for grip :) The Westie is my only other car that can do that - except no traction control in that one, of course.

A quick stop at a grocery store yielded a 'cool car' comment from a passer-by. Then long way home via my favorite road, still slightly damp from overnight rain. I must say that the Mini is more accessible in this scenario and is more comfortable to drive fast. The Coupe takes a split-second to settle into a turn - I think stiffer antiroll bar bushings would go a long way towards fixing that. As it is, the transition always hints at back end breakaway even if none is imminent and so prompts more caution than my other cars. It's still a lot of fun though :)

Back in the garage it looks like the old days. It is a sad thing that simply driving this car has become an event worthy of a writeup - if I had it in the garage it would get used more often. Knowing that the Mini fits under the Westie and Coupe fits under the Elise a second lift is a definite possibility. Especially since it only costs one year's worth of storage space rental. It'll be a bit of a pain to walk around in the garage but not impossible....

08/09/03 Installed the Porterfield brake pads. Hopefully these will hold up better than the Repco MetalMasters which were 3/4 gone and crumbling in 600 miles (two track days). The rears fared a bit better than the fronts but not by much.

While working on the back of the Coupe I noticed that my aftermarket H&R rear springs are only running on the stiffer end coils - the center coils are stacked solid at normal ride height. The barrel shape of the spring prevents it from binding up completely and allows it to work, but this isn't generally how springs are supposed to function. You can see the wear marks on each coil of the spring when it's extended. Rather disappointing for a supposedly quality outfit like H&R. It does explain the fact that the rear drops more than the front with this mod.

Overall the MCoupe rear suspension seems to have a huge amount of travel in droop - over 5". With taller/stiffer springs it would make quite an offroader... I really wonder what the design criteria were for this.

Also looked at antiroll bar bushings - they do appear quite soft. On the plus side they would be quite easy to replace so I should really look into a source of nice urethane ones. Shouldn't be too expensive either.

On the subject of suspension, I did a quick back-to-back drive with another MCoupe that just got a full H&R coilover suspension upgrade.

The other car definitely feels more controlled and planted, without being any harsher. Interestingsly the difference was apparent to me within the first five feet of driving it. A modest-pace run on my favorite road confirmed the initial impression. There is none of the uneasy transition that I talked about earlier on my car. For someone looking for a definitive performance improvement that is certainly the way to go. However my springs-only upgrade cost under $250 and took under 4 hours to intsall, vs $1200+ and two day install for the full deal. So as a cheap upgrade my solution is still worthwhile and definitely better than stock, but in this case at least you do get what you pay for.

The Coupe is now back in storage, under a cover this time. Driving the Mini on the way home was a bit weird - tall, less powerful, softer in feel (though not in ride), and of course it's a front-driver so aggressive power application produces very different results. Each car is fun in its own way. Need to work out a solution so I can swap them more often.