16 replies to this topic

[Zulu162]

Hey guys,

Im looking at converting my mk3 rear lights to mk1 with;

http://www.minispare...=...5783&title= and the the left side too.

Has anyone tried these? Are they any good? Easy to fit? And do they require much filler?

Thanks in advance

Duncan

[olds_kool_lews]

they can be a pain, as you gotta make sure they are level and straight, if not, when you come to fit your lights they will look like / \ instead of | |

what i prefer to do is look on ebay, you can normally get a set of mk1 rear light panels that have been cut from a mk1 rear panel, and that have more metal to help line them up correctly (and they look so much better!) and they tend to be cheaper too! i got mine for £12, which included the light bases and wiring!

[Zulu162]

hey lad,
thanks for the advice, no luck on ebay atm, but will keep looking, any advice on fitting the conversion kit from minispares?

regards,
Duncan

[DAVEY_C]

i'm just after doing the conversion myself using the same conversion panels. the plate needed some small persuasion to match rear of car but it wasn't as bad as i was told. the pic below will show what i trimmed to make it fit, i then sourced mk1 rear lights and tried them and they looked well.



i can try and get an after pic for you tomorrow if you want to see it now....

[Zulu162]

Hi,

nice job mate, once thats cut, is the replacement panel slotted in the from the inside and welded in place, then seam filled? Does that make sense lol definately would love an after picture, something to refer to

regards,
Duncan

[rob#155]

I fitted the conversion plates to a MK 3 of mine, and I cut the plates to fit the holes ( gives the option of refitting the MK 3 lights at a later dat if I want to.)

Edited by rob#155, 08 November 2010 - 04:46 PM.

[DAVEY_C]

yea when you cut out the shape the panel slots into place and it is tack welded while you work it to make it fit correct, i wouldn't seam weld it untill you are happy with its fitting because you might need to cut welds if it wasn't working out, hope you can make sense of that haha.it can be slotted in from inside or outside because the shape you cut out is the shape of the panel. better still tack weld both sides in 1st and stand back before fully welding....

thats the drivers side and i hope to do the passenger side tomorrow, its already cut out just needs welding, if its not raining so i try and take a few pic's to show

[Pending]

better still tack weld both sides in 1st and stand back

i didnt do this, just eyed it up from where i was. fully welded up, then filled, stood back looked ace, then fitted the lights....................................
they were different heights

needless to say i cut these out, lobbed them up the drive and fitted mk2s instead. thank god i didnt cut the old light brackets out



lesson learned: check, check again, then check again. have a fag then check again

[Zulu162]

lol thanks guys, great help, hope to give this a go soon

regards, Duncan

[feybrand]

easy it aint though takes a long time and you probably wont ever get it perfect so if youre a perfectionist probably best not to do it

[mk3 Cooper S]

Mix and match Mk1 style

[SolarB]

I fitted the conversion plates to a MK 3 of mine, and I cut the plates to fit the holes ( gives the option of refitting the MK 3 lights at a later dat if I want to.)

Now that's a sensible idea.

[Zulu162]

thanks feybrand, nice collection of photos. I'm a joiner, so i'm abit of a perfectionist, but i reckon im going to give it a go. Check 3 times, cut once hopefully it wont go too wrong thanks for all the replies guys

Regards,
Duncan

[CBJ805T]

Hi All, 

 

Just reviving an old thread - Having a Friday afternoon think about retro fitting Mk1 rear lights to my mini which is currently undergoing a hefty rebuild. 

 

Looking on minispares - http://www.minispare...6L.aspx|Back to - these seem to claim they fit into the existing Mk3 holes.

 

Does anyone have any experience of this? I'm a bit fearful about cutting out more of my rear panel (after replacing the bottom lip) but if they weld into the preexisting holes then I'm game. 

 

Any help appreciated

 

Chris 

Edited by CBJ805T, 04 September 2015 - 04:30 PM.

[alex-95]

They are a bit bigger (mine was anyway) than the light holes, just trim them down to fit so that you can easily cut them out to fit mk2 onwards lights. I found them a pain to fit and get them square even with measurements ). Just tack them in with a couple of tacks first and test the lights to see if they look right. I ended up removing mine and fitting genuine mk1 panels so it lined up.