Latest update:
I've been busy with other things the past month, so only a little bit of progress on the Mini:
-Slam Panel: This one came quite bent up and split at the bonnet latch. I could have lived with it but I'll have to relocate the slam panel support anyways to accomodate the R1 engine's exhaust header. Since I already had a new donor front clip, I carefully drilled out the spot welds and replaced the existing one.
Old slam panel out.
-Remote release: After I bought my nice new shiny chrome grill, I discovered that most old Mini's had a bonnet release latch up front and a 'special' grill with a cutout allowing access to said latch. Woops. I was ready to order a different grill but then found out that later Mini's came with a remote release and that it was relatively easy to retrofit one. I kept my grill and ordered a remote-release instead. Here's how it turned out. It just required a small hole be opened up in the front clip.
I've read many tales of Mini bonnets becoming unlatched and flying up while driving. Looking at the bonnet release, this didn't seem hard to believe as there's no force acting to keep the latch shut. Many racers and even some street drivers install leather straps or external latches to help keep the bonnet secure but I didn't want to mess with that. After wasting a lot of time rigging a spring to pull the latch shut and keep it shut, I finally rethought things and found a much simpler solution - a compression spring. I won't know how well it works until later but I think this will work.
-R1 Dash: As I stated earlier, it is simple to get all the information I need by just using the R1's dash. Speedometer, tachometer, coolant temperature, odometer, trip meter, turn signal indicator, and high-beam indicator functions are all included. Getting that information would be considerably harder, so I'll live with the anachronism. Here you can see the billet aluminum mount I created at the machine shop to hold the dash in-place behind the steering wheel. I offset the dash so that the tach is centered. This also places the trip meter buttons over to the left, making them a little more accessible.
-Gear indicator: Here's a little billet mount I made for the gear indicator.
-Contol box: I'm not completely finished with this yet, but it will house four different controls: the ignition unit, the kill switch/starter button, push-button reverse, and the exhaust bypass valve controller. I mounted it up high so that everything is out of the way, yet still accessible when I'm stapped into the driver's seat.
-Battery box: the aftermarket battery box that came with the car was brand new but fit horribly. After wasting some time mangling it up, I broke down and ordered an original Heritage box. Much better. I've tacked it into place for now and will finish welding it up shortly.
-Door kick panels: another small item that needed to be done. Rather than use rivets or sheetmetal screws, I thought I'd try out my new riv-nut gun. Worked out pretty well I think.
-Fiberglass panels - I have a few holes in the body that I need to cover up. Some I'll weld up but for the rear shelf, rear rotissarie hole, and shifter console I decided to fabricate some fiberglass covers. Now I just need to bolt them into place.
