About 4 hours today. Started by finishing the under-car part of the wiring harness install. Still need to route the PDC / fog / corner marker wiring behind the rear bumper, next time I have it off. Prototyped the dash fitment. First made a cardboard template by tracing a dash pad, then held it in place, marked where the cage needed to fit, and cut a slot in the template. Cut the template down the middle so I could slide it on from the center. Once I thought I understood how it needed to go, I replicated it on an old dash pad that I didn't care about, using a 1.75" hole saw and Dremel cut-off wheel. Glad I had the old dash pad, because it behaves a little differently on the 3D dash pad than it did on the 2D template. Got close enough, and adjusted it as needed to fit in place. Then marked where the cuts actually need to be, so I can copy it over to the good dash pad later. The final product will fit tighter and cleaner than the pics here. Also installed the windshield header trim, and prototyped one of the A-pillars. Amazingly, can flex it enough to squeeze it in behind the cage! I have a spare set of the A-pillar covers also, so I can redo them "right" once I've played around some. Also installed the brake/clutch pedal cluster, ran the clutch line, and installed hood release lever and cables. Played around with the battery cut-off switch. I do think I'll install it in the left driver's vent. Need to fab a mount for it, and cut out some of the duct work behind there. I have insulating covers for the switch terminals, so I don't need to worry about it shorting on anything. Piles of parts are shrinking! Making progress.
Oh yeah... I also noticed that the underside of my hood scoop isn't painted. Which is normal, since that's usually hidden by some covers and / or the air diverter. But the underside of my freshly painted bonnet looks sooooo good, I'm probably going to run without the blanket and covers. And with the FMIC, I won't need the air diverter, either. So I'm going to need to sand the molded markings off this and paint it...
Damn, I didn't think of that. We no longer own R53's, we now own R56's, complete with a nonfunctional hood scoop. I'm tempted to slap an R50 hood on....Yep, it's justacoopa.....
Great work Paul, extra parts are always nice to have! Suggestion you probably already thought of... Your battery switch... I know that some tracks/hill climb courses require the switch to be visible from outside the car, or have it marked so track officials know there is and where it is in the car. Ive seen a couple people install the switch in the side window defrost vent in the dash. You even put your hand on it! This vent is visible through the windshield and the side window, and might be a good option and cleaner install for you.
Played around with the switch this morning and really like the dash vent location, and I think I can make it work. Will look great there, very clean. Thanks Dick!
No problem, if you can't figure out a mounting solution, put up some pictures and I'll think about it.
Light day today. Had some other stuff to do, only spent about 3 hours, most of that doing clean-up duty. MUCH more organized now, sorted out some parts I won't need, tidied up. Wife is much happier. And I don't have to drag stuff around and move a wheelbarrow, every time I'm ready to work... There's a mountain of parts in the other garage. Most of this stuff I won't need for a while, but there are a few things in the pile that will get used, eventually. And I'm going to need to use that press. So the pile will need to be re-assembled a few times. Here's the mountain of boxes, waiting to go to the dump. Where's Waldo? There's something kinda valuable peeking out from under the pile... And some junk and stuff. A tale of Three Minis... A-panels from Blimey, GP0769, and the Locutus Mk2 shell. Plus Blimey's boot. Not much progress. Played around with positioning for the battery cut-off for a while. Also cut and installed the rear bumper grills, to fit around the Mini Fini hitch. Note: pay attention to where your thumb is, when using a hole saw. Still need to paint, cut and install the GP bumper trim. Thought I'd get to that today... but not yet. Did take time to do some surgery on my thumb nail. Much better, now I won't snag it on things.
OK, I just can't stop. Went back out and spent another hour working on the rear convertible top hoop. After copious application of vise, big azz wrench, cheater bar, body weight, and come-along, I got it straightened sufficiently to fit. :cornut: Now I can have rear beltline trim, 3rd brake light, and something to connect my tonneau cover to...
Painting day. Chili Red mirror caps, Pure Silver rear bumper inserts. GPness. The underside of my bonnet used to look like this: Shaved, filled and sanded the molded in part numbers and stuff on the scoop, then primed and painted Thunder Blue and clear coated. Also cut off the unpainted indexing tabs on the grill slat assembly. Now, bonnet looks like this... better. Painted battery box skid plate flat black, like on my old car. Really improves the look of the rear of the car. And clear coated my hand-me-down RMW valve cover badges, on which I had previously repainted the R's.
Coming along nicely! I really dig the idea of a black battery skid, may have to borrow that one. Did you notice any scratching over time when you had it installed previously?
Thanks! No issues. Unless you're under the car, you wouldn't notice scratches, anyway. It just makes the whole thing disappear, you don't notice it anymore with it blacked out. I use Chassis and Rollbar paint.
OK, I have a problem. I can't stop working on this thing. Finished dinner and thought I'd do "one more thing".... Fitted the GP bumper trim, then ground it out to fit the Mini Fini hitch. The whole thing looks pretty good, I think. Just lucky, the hitch tubes are perfectly aligned with the end of the cutouts. From the angle most people will see, it looks perfect. Only if you get down on the ground and scrutinize it will you notice it's not. It was actually easier than I expected. Already had the grilles cut right, so after I installed the inserts, I just used the die grinder to grind them out to match the holes in the grilles. I'll pull them out tomorrow and clean them up a bit, then repaint and reinstall. Done.
Hmmmm. Just realized, I can probably bondo fill those inserts around the cutouts to make them appear solid... then repaint, and they'll look perfect. Sweet.