13 replies to this topic

[Hewins93]

Is there anyway of getting to this without completely taking out your fuel tank? Pic related but not useful!

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[cal844]

No, its either move the fuel tank or grind a big hole in the seat back :)

[tiger99]

Cutting the hole and fitting a nice plate over it, with Rivnuts and screws, is fairly common. Both sides of course if you have twin tanks.

[Cooperman]

Cut a hole in the seat back and make up a closing plate to screw back to seal the hole using self-tapping screws.

It's what we always do on rally cars so that the dampers can be changed quickly during events. Make sure you use some sealer when fitting the cover to prevent any fumes coming into the car from the boot area. Here is a photo of mine:

 

Edited by Cooperman, 04 February 2017 - 07:33 PM.

[Tornado99]

Cut a hole in the seat back and make up a closing plate to screw back to seal the hole using self-tapping screws.

It's what we always do on rally cars so that the dampers can be changed quickly during events. Make sure you use some sealer when fitting the cover to prevent any fumes coming into the car from the boot area. Here is a photo of mine:

 

 

Looks good. Any chance you could take some measurements of the position of  the opening for us to accurately locate & copy?  How close to the tank is that panel? Danger of tank holing while cutting the panel out? What's the best method for cutting, a hand saw or some kind of grinder etc?

[Homersimpson]

 

Cut a hole in the seat back and make up a closing plate to screw back to seal the hole using self-tapping screws.

It's what we always do on rally cars so that the dampers can be changed quickly during events. Make sure you use some sealer when fitting the cover to prevent any fumes coming into the car from the boot area. Here is a photo of mine:

 

 

Looks good. Any chance you could take some measurements of the position of  the opening for us to accurately locate & copy?  How close to the tank is that panel? Danger of tank holing while cutting the panel out? What's the best method for cutting, a hand saw or some kind of grinder etc?

 

I can't see the point of this on a road car, undoing the single bolt holding the tank in and moving the tank to the side to remove the shock absorber is a fairly simple thing to do.  If you have a back seat in your car then you also need to remove that to get to the plate which takes even more time.
 

[Shooter63]

To answer the question, yes you can do it without taking the tank out, remove the tank retaining strap and sender wires and sort of rotate the tank around the fuel outlet hose if you get me, that will give you enough room to get to the nut etc, do it when you are low on fuel to save too much straining.

Shooter

[MiniMadRacer]

I agree with Homer for the amount of times you replace a shock on a road car... also doing it buy moving / rotating the tank means you get to check the rubber fuel outlet hose at the bottom of the tank for perishing / leaks

[Cooperman]

For those interested, the hole is 4" wide x 3" high. 

To cut it I drill at each corner and use an angle grinder with a 1 mm disc. The clearance to the tank is around a minimum of 1", so as long as you are careful there is no problem. The car in the photo has twin tanks, so there is a hole on each side. Two people can change a rear damper in 10 minutes.

[Tornado99]

Cut a hole in the seat back and make up a closing plate to screw back to seal the hole using self-tapping screws.
It's what we always do on rally cars so that the dampers can be changed quickly during events. Make sure you use some sealer when fitting the cover to prevent any fumes coming into the car from the boot area. Here is a photo of mine:

Looks good. Any chance you could take some measurements of the position of the opening for us to accurately locate & copy? How close to the tank is that panel? Danger of tank holing while cutting the panel out? What's the best method for cutting, a hand saw or some kind of grinder etc?

I can't see the point of this on a road car, undoing the single bolt holding the tank in and moving the tank to the side to remove the shock absorber is a fairly simple thing to do. If you have a back seat in your car then you also need to remove that to get to the plate which takes even more time.

removing my back seat padding is seconds.
When I attempted to access shock top by dislodging tank, fuel hose crumbled and had a real mess in boot and under car before I could sort it. The tank strap bolt is also somewhat difficult to remove (recent thread on one blokes troubles, had to cut the strap entirely).
So this access hole could be a great option. Are there any rear shocks that adjust via a top adjuster setup?

[MiniMadRacer]

As Cooper has initmated be very very careful grinding that cut out with the tank in situ... popular to poular belief pertrol itself doesnt burn that well, but the vapour sure does, so any fumes in the boot no matter how small could be a disaster...

[Tornado99]

As Cooper has initmated be very very careful grinding that cut out with the tank in situ... popular to poular belief pertrol itself doesnt burn that well, but the vapour sure does, so any fumes in the boot no matter how small could be a disaster...

If I was going to make this cut i'd likely wait until I had tank out just to be safe.

[Cooperman]

I have done loads of these over the years and never had any issues. You can always drill lines of holes and use the cutter to 'join the dots'. That way the cutter does not intrude more than 1/2" into the boot. Make sure the boot lid is open, obviously.

 

There are loads of little tweeks that are possible to improve access to some fixings on a Mini. For example, use Aeroquip hoses to connect the servo in the engine compartment and then, when the engine has to come out (it will, eventually) there is no need to disconnect the brakes and, thus, no re-bleeding to do. Another is to drill some 3/4" holes in the RH side of the front sub-frame to get socket spanner access to the clutch cover lower bolts. Also, before re-fitting an engine, open up the engine mount holes in the sub-frame to 10mm dia to assist in lining up the engine mounts, then use large washers under the bolt heads, which can go in from the outside into 5/16" UNF nuts welded onto the engine mounts.

[tarnofsky]

@Cooperman

Just happened to read your post while browsing Gas-A-Just articles.

 

Great tips and tricks you reveal here for very sensible modifications. I agree with some of the other members here that on a road Mini it probably is easier to remove the tank rather than preparing that cool access plate but still - it's an improvement to some who use their Minis on tracks etc.

 

Is there any compilation of such useful modifications as those you explain in your last post? Something where we could look up what could be done while we're for example taking out this or changing that... That would be extremely helpful!