OT: Mini cooper equivalent of 914world?, Too used to rare cars... Options

[emerygt350]

So I picked up an r50 mini for my 13 year old son for nothing and I need 914world quality information to get it all perfect. I am used to very small communities... There are so many mini groups... Anyone know of a group that's as useful as 914world? Tall order, I know.

[GregAmy]

It is a very tall order.

914World seems to be unique, in that it has a large population of informed members that are strongly motivated to help and document, with a significantly high signal-to-noise ratio. It truly is a standout.

For example, I've tried to find a similar support group for the 968; there's several forums out there (Pelican, Rennlist, a cople others) but not a lot of quality support. I bought a poorly-maintained 968 and looking on how to fix things and it seems in a lot of ways I'm Googling a lot of forums and social media and YouTube (I hate 15 minute YouTubes for a problem that can be explained in two sentences) and putting together varying bits of info to get my own answer, and then posting it in one of those forums as the answer.

I "blame" a couple of things for this. First, 914World precedes social media so this forum became THE place for support on our older cars. As social media gained significance answers got scattered about yet 914World was already firmly established and became The Center of the 914 Universe.

Secondly, our cars are older, and came around in popularity some time ago. Given the older-ness there has been a much longer time for the cars to lose popularity, get cheap and basically get forgotten about, then ressurected in popularity and owners looking for answers. Not yet the Mini, and only now are we seeing the 968 come about. I'm still amazed on, for example, the knowledge and support on this board about the Bosch D- and L-Jetronic systems.

A tertiary reason is that not as many people are that interested in working on their own cars...

914World is a unique piece of history. Let's enjoy it and not get frustrated by harboring expectations that it will be done again.

But if you find a good solid board for the 968, do let me know? - GA