Mini-El hood on City - sort of ...

[zaprodk]

Hi. I'm rebuilding a series 1 Mini (1989) with parts from a City from 2000.

Drive train has been moved over, steering arrangement, dashboard etc. I still need to do some electrics, but i am getting close (i'm pretty good with electrics so no problems here)

I really want to adapt the headlight to the Mini body, so I have two options:

1: Shave/modify the City headlamp assembly so it mounts on the Mini body and will fit under the hood, or,
2: Cut a bit of the hood so it clears the headlamp assembly.

I cannot believe I am the first that has actually done this, so what's the verdict of the expert panel here? Any experience/advice/pictures of the process being done?

I would rather not cut the hood because of chance of cracks, but it might be the way to go, I guess with oscillating blade tool (Fein cutter)?

Regards,
Per.

 

[zaprodk]

I believe my post makes absolutely no sense without some pictures that describe what i'm thinking about, since there is zero answers in a long time ?

I am planning to fit the nose portion from a 2000 CityEl to my 1989 MiniEl Series 1. There is some design differences that makes this difficult.

Either i cut some of the bottom off of this piece of plastic like outlined here:

Or i cut the acrylic hood to make room for the taller piece:

What's the verdict? Has anyone done the same and have some pictures to share? I would rather cut the nose piece and make it fit, since the acrylic is old and brittle and may fail while cutting it carefully.

Regards,
Per.

 

[Sascha Meyer]

Hmm,
is it possible to heat it up and melt or deform it, til it fits? Does anybody know what kind of plastic its made of?
As Richard once mentioned the old front is hard to get so we should reconstruct something with our 3D-printers..

Oh, as far as i know noone ever switched a new version front from a city to a mini, just because of the issues you are dealing with..

Hilsen fra Tyskland, Sascha

 

[zaprodk]

I believe the front is made from a kind of very hard PU-foam, just a more dense kind than on the Mini, so melting it is not an option. If I only cut from the bottom it's not visible from the outside.

I'm all for reconstructing with 3D-print, but this is a really big piece. Not easy!

 

[Sascha Meyer]

Yes,
totally concent. But should be makeable in printing partially and reassamble the whole mess..
But it is hard to scan anyway..

Thanks a lot for your pics and clearing. Though i have trouble with dripping water by myself AND having a 93er city i will check my front asap looking for these aspects..

Mange Hilsen, Sascha

 

[laase]

Why changing the front of a series 1? It is much nicer than that of the next series! I have a 2 and would really like to make it look like a 1 ;-)
But if I cant change your opinion, then please let the hood unchanged, it is the most valuable part.

 

[zaprodk]

I already have a series 1 front on my other vehicle, and it's nice to have two different. In my opinion the front on series 1 is a bit of a hack job.
I shaved the bottom part of the new lamp unit to make it fit, so no going back. But i'm not done, still needs some adjustments, but another project got in the way.

 

[zaprodk]

Weird, I made a new post (because I forgot about this one) and suddenly it disappeared, and I got no message from Admin that my post was removed? Anyhow...

This is where I am now. The front has been trimmed down quite a bit to make the CityEl-lamp assembly fit on my MiniEl.

I have the problem that the rubber edging is getting squeezed a lot over the lamp assembly, making creaking sounds when I close the hood. Not optimal!

As you can see, if I cut much more of the hood off, there's a risk that the rubber edge will faill in behind the lamp assembly and maybe get stuck on re-opening.

So I'm wondering, how do I do this best? Either trim a few more mm off the front so it clears better or maybe trim the rubber "pipe" section off of the front so it doesn't squeeze down there - There's already a large hole in the front for water and air to enter, so I don't think it will make much of any difference.

What does the expert panel say? Trim more off or use a different shape of rubber edge just in the front?

Regards,
Per.

 

[zaprodk]

To anyone wondering, I ended up cutting the "lip" off of the rubber edge over the headlamp assembly. Now it fits perfectly.

 

[Sascha Meyer]

Per,
du kommer til vores træf i Gedesby?

Mange Hilsen, Sascha

 

[zaprodk]

Per,
du kommer til vores træf i Gedesby?

Mange Hilsen, Sascha

Ja, både mig og konen kommer i Ellerter

 

[Sascha Meyer]

Perfekt,
så ses vi der i Gedesby og mange flere tyskerne..

Mange Hilsen, Sascha