fibreglass front end
Turbo Mini Forums

today, after what seemed forever my fibreglass front end arrived from curley! just wondering, those of you that have fitted these, is there any advice you could share about fitting them? before i rush in and mess it all up!

““A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.”” - Jeremy Clarkson

mine was already cut as i had it second hand, however the person who had it before had cut off the a panel sticky out bits, thus shortening it, but the fit off it is good

do all fittings and cuts before paint, I painted mine first and then fucked up my paint job when i slipped with a drill bit, Doh

Hi, Just test fit it loads of times, make sure you have it fitted where you want it before you make any adjustments (e.g fitted bonnet pins, clips, hinges etc).. took me ages to get it how i wanted it. Good luck!

Edited by MarkGTT on 23rd Aug, 2006.

Every front end is fitted slightly differently. Like everybody said, take you time, measure twice and cut once. Don't get too brave and cut loads at once. It will be on and off a lot to get it right, but it needs to be.

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Here's how not to fit a FG front end

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/index...showtopic=31225

got mine from curley must have been lucky mine fits fairly well on first inspection anyways. although there are parts that will needed cutting but i sanded mine i wasnt gonna go attack it with a saw lol

I've fitted a lot of fibreglass and carbon panels and whole cars.

Tools i generally use are,

Chinagraph pencil or marker pen.
good sharp medium and fine files.
Cone cutter
Drills
abrasive papers.
saw and spare blade.

Thats about all you really need, i have loads of air tools which make life a lot quicker. If you have one a 90 degree die grinder is good with a 1" sanding disk. Micro diegrinder or a dremmel with a small carbide burr (3mm) are also really usefull, you can cut and shape with these. Be carefull though, hold firm as they sometimes decide to vibrate as you cut a slot.

You dont need drills that are to sharp, partic above say 5mm. A sharp drill can tear its way through your thin panel. This leaves you with at best a split edge and fibres that requires further tidying work and leaves you with an oversize hole. I use the cone cutter for doing Dzus mounts and other largish holes.

As said above, fit, check, trim, fit, check, trim, fit, etc, etc. It's so easy to take to much away and much harder to put material back in.

I offer a panel up and then mark out any obvious large peices that need removing.

Make sure you leave plenty of material left as you cant tell where your final cut line will be untill the panel is virtually fitted. When you first offer up an untrimmed panel it will often sit at a funny angle. Just keep marking and then removing ever smaller bits untill it fits perfect. Also be aware where the panel attatches to say the chassis. Mount the panel properly as when bolted up it may be that this twists the panel and adjusts the fit.

If you need to build up the thickness of a panel on its rear face to make a joint level, a good material to use is the fibreglass strand putty you can buy in a tin at any auto store. Always sand the surface to be stuck to and get rid of any dust. when its gone off you can trim and sand it like the rest of the panel.

When its all done it's of to the paint shop.

Edited by Mirage on 24th Aug, 2006.

actually thats a point!!

i used my dremmel to trim up my wheel arches, however i did it in just a pair of short shorts-i came up in thousands of little red spots and was itching like crazy for the rest of the day

try to avoid the dust