Looks like I've commited to reporting everything that happens in my automotive live, so it wouldn't be fair to only report about the good times (and the moderately bad, see chrome trim episodes), but also the bad and shameful times. So, here goes...

After my IEEE address has seized funcitoning (finally), my anti-spam regime is finally paying off. I don't get any spam! And should spam start arriving on any of the aliases I have left around the Internet, I'll know who's been naughty, and I can cut them off at the click of a button.

But, spammers have found another way to torment me, and that is through this very blog. Dozens of comments have started appearing daily, linking to Viagra, Hot Teens, and whatever else you might imagine. The first step has been to turn on approval for all posts, but that still means I am sifting...

It took a phone call, but I finally got a little attention to my second (which is essentially just the first) support request. After a whole three weeks! Hopefully, the next response does not take another three weeks.

One of the key characteristics you often hear about driving a Mini is that you are sitting so close to the street. Last weekend, I found out that I would have almost been sitting much closer to the street than is dear to me.

It's been quiet on the new Mini front for quite a while. Last time I reported, I was trying to decide whether to get a white car at extra cost, or opting for another color. Neither option appealed to me at the time, really (especially because I don't believe a premium for white is justified in case of a Mini).

Since then, a lot has happened. First, word reached the Mini2 community that new colors were coming available for the 2006 model year; Solar Red and Space Blue. I especially liked the Solar Red, which was going to be a deep, metallic red.

Next, Hyper Blue, up till now...

Yes! After having reported about the not-so-great attempt at fitting new chrome trim to the white Cooper, we put a lot of thought into how to proceed. I considered paying someone with a proven track record numerous times, although the thought that we should be able to do this was always present too. One thing was certain; we wouldn't be sattisfied with the trim looking like it did. Certainly not when knowing full well there were Mini's out there that did get it right.

Finally! After over a year (when we visited MiniSport, who told me the engine is down on BHP and compression, and the first thing to check was valve timing), the camshaft timing was checked. It looks like there was indeed a big problem in this area, namely a missing tensioner for the timing chain, which already caused a lot of wear on the chain. A new chain went in, along with the tensioner. The engine seems livelier, now, which is good news.

Eindelijk! Na meer dan een jaar (toen we bij MiniSport waren, waar me verteld werd dat er te weinig vermogen en te weinig compressie in de motor zit, en dat het eerste dat gecontroleerd moest worden de kleppentiming was), is de nokkenas nu op tijd gezet. Het lijkt erop dat er inderdaad een groot probleem was op dit vlak, namelijk een missende spanner voor de ketting, wat al heel wat slijtage had veroorzaakt. Er is een nieuwe ketting in gegaan, samen met een spanner. De motor lijkt nu een stuk levendiger, en dat is goed nieuws.

Yes, we're back again, after two weeks of touring through Belgium, Luxemburg and Germany. Expect pictures and a more eloborate report on the site soon.

After coming back, the long anticipated patch for Tomtom 5 had appeared on the website (see blog-entry entitled Tomtom 2). After having cleared out most holiday packing, I installed TT 5 once again and installed patch 5.10 over it. Well, not entirely unsurprisingly (given Tomtom's support lack of any real analysing of my particular problem), the problems persisted. So, another support request to Tomtom two days ago, which up until...

We'll be off on holidays for two weeks, starting in minutes! Down to Limburg, through Belgium and Luxembourg to Germany, and then up along the Mosel and Rhine rivers. More updates on everything when we're back, unless we find an Internet-connection somewhere along the way.