Yep, the autopower can be welded in, I wish I would have done it that way. Installing in a MINI is a pain--if you don't have a race shop you trust, might be worth a road trip to a trusted MINI shop reasonably close.
Chad at Detroit Tuned has installed Auto Power cages & roll bars. I'd give him a call. I think it's more like 3 hours.
Yup. Talked to Chad this week. Didn't talk to him specifically about welding it in, but I bet he'd do that too.
Mine went in fairly easy (we missed a spacer the first time but caught it before we made it too far. I didn't get any god pics before the hardtop went back on but the rear visibility is pretty terrible now: I think the hard dog sticker is going to come off, but otherwise I am very happy with the end results: Chuck mine came with padding, but I do not know how old it is so I will likely replace it. Whoever put it on didn't know how to cut the ends off zip ties there are a couple that are very sharp. Also added benefit is my hardtop actually fits better now, the roll bar stiffened the car up a good bit so now the hardtop doesn't squeak going over bumps.
I think a rollbar like this would be perfect for a MINI: Daily Turismo: 5k: Monster & Mini: 1972 Honda N600 4X4
Putting the AutoPower "race version" bar from Detroit Tuned stopped most of the squeaks my R53 had. I still want to make a rear brace to tie the rear legs of the bar together and to where the rear seatbelt bracket went in the center of the car. It would be cheap and easy, just haven't done it yet.
Allen you can take a match & melt the ends of the zip ties so they no longer act like razor blades. Are you going to use a harness for your track days?
No harness this year. Race seats and harnesses will likely be my winter 2016 project. Zip ties were also chained so there are 2 ties where only 1 is needed if you have the proper length. I will likely replace the padding use proper ties then cover in vinyl with some additional padding.
^A technique employed by a guy who parks out back of our shop: This here's a 3" PVC roll bar rattle canned silver, like a BOSS. Clearly, he's safety conscious, with such a fast truck, he's also installed quarter panel vents, to keep the inside of the front sheet metal from overheating. It also passively cools the door hinges, and speaker wire. F1.