Rusty Grills

[smee]

I attempted to remove the grills over the fog and reversing lights today but the screws are just spinning, are they knadgered or is there a wee twisty time arrangement concealed in the clam?

[tut]

Knagered. They just rust up. You have to lever them out.

tut

[BiggestNizzy]

They are plastic, I just rip them out or wedge a flat screwdriver in underneath to jam the outer part and provide enough grip on the "thread" that they come out.

[campbell]

Rawl nuts I think they are, when you get round to putting in fresh ones

[woody]

Rawl nuts I think they are, when you get round to putting in fresh ones

I never replace rawl nuts with rawl nuts, there should always be a superior fixing of some type available.

[campbell]

What like then, and specifically for that slightly inaccessible area?

I put stainless screws into mine and no probs since.

[woody]

Like stainless screws. I have a collection of k-lock clip nuts to replace the rawl nuts with, but my rear grills are (or were the paintshop would have had them off) bonded on.

[Corranga]

I took my rear grills off, gave the the wire brush treatment, painted them with hammerites no. 1 rust beater (nice brown colour) as an undercoat, then hammerited them black. That was about 6 months ago. They are still in the shed...

I figure since it's an S1 it can do with some weight saving...

Actually...

Do they even do anything other than 'styling'
Why does no one make plastic ones since all they seem to do is rust?!

Chris

[Stewart]

When I took mine out, I *think* I took the undertray off and managed to get a pair of visegrips on the top of the nut. I can't be sure as it was ages ago. I also used coppaslip when I put the new ones in.

[tut]

They do make S/S replaceables, I put one on N1 TUT on the front, but I prefer the originals.

Pikey way is to wire brush them and Hammerite, or get them shot blasted and powder coated, or painted properly.

tut

[campbell]

The rust even eats its way back through powder coat I'm afraid.

What you really have to do is buy stainless ones then paint em. Seems crazy but there you go!

I'll probably just pop mine off every year and give them a freshen up. Way, way cheaper!

[BiggestNizzy]

The stainless ones on fleabay look a bit crap, the rim seems to thick.

You are probably best stripping the old paint off, shot blast them and then paint them.

You may end up doing this every year but it will look good for 12 months.

I have have always fancied chopping out the fiberglass behind these pro's & Cons ?

[campbell]

I have have always fancied chopping out the fiberglass behind these pro's & Cons ?

why's that then?

think somebody made a not dissimilar S1 Exige mod but think that was for genuine cooling reasons with a heavily modded engine

[BiggestNizzy]

aesthetics,

I would also like to ditch the fog and reverse lights but for obvious legal reasons I cannot.

[Corranga]

aesthetics,

I would also like to ditch the fog and reverse lights but for obvious legal reasons I cannot.

I believe that's not strictly true...

I think by law you require a fog light but not a reversing light (fog light must be on the corect side of the vehicle, or in the centre). I may be wrong, but when I looked into it, I was told that if a reversing light is fitted it must work, and if it was part of a light cluster, then it cannot be removed...

I run my old Mini for about 3 years with Innocenti rear lights. Rather than being regular Mini orange, red, white from top to bottom, they were orange then red. I used the bottom of the left light as a fog light, and had no reversing lights at all.

Got through 2 or 3 MOTs...

All that said, you still need a fog light, and it's maybe worth confiming all this

Chris