New panels
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Alright guys, I'm going to be buying a load of panels soon to start with the body work. What would you recommended going for that will need the least amount of faffing to get them to fit/best quality? Gen? Non gen? M machine? I need a whole new front end, including the scuttle. Complete new floor, heel board, flitches ect
Thanks 😁

They don't die, they just get faster!

M machine get good ratings however I've used midnight and m machine you have to piss about with them all even heritage plus it also depends what's been used previously I did buy a genuine heritage scuttle I have 3 in the workshop now bought at 3 different years and all are different you can see how the tooling has deteriorated. Buy the best you can afford

Edited by monsterob on 15th Jan, 2019.

Outside the box

Is this for for Mk3 car? If so you are in a better position than for Mk1 or 2. This is because there are relatively few early panels pressed, most are converted later panels (eg rear seat/boot floor panel).

As stated above, the panels are often variable, partly because a mini was and is seen as a cheap car. But also because essentially it was always a hand built car. So each car is different even if the panels where the same.

In general Heritage panels are good quality metal with variable quality of fitting. M-machine have some unique panels they press and some they convert from heritage. I've never used Magnum Panels, I've heard mixed reports about them (like everyone else).

I have used non-genuine panels and they were ok on my '79 mini. The reality is you will be spending time getting them to fit whatever you buy. You only need to look at some of the videos or manuals from BMC/BL to see what they did with long levers to get stuff to fit.

Probably not what you wanted to hear. They only other thing I would say is if a panel is really bad fit wise, take it back and either get another one from the same supplier that is better or look at other suppliers.

My car hasn't had any body work done on it for the last 3 years which was when the rear end was done. Over five years ago I had my front panel and one wing changed both were non gen, the front panel fit well but the wing not so much. By the sounds of things it's just pot luck of who you buy from and what fits best on different panels.

Edited by Shauna on 16th Jan, 2019.

They don't die, they just get faster!

This doesn't help you, but in upcoming (unfortunately likely to be next year, as I'm working on the house, maybe the garage/garden). I intend to use Heritage when were the correct panels are available or NOS ones, with a mix of M-machine and potentially some of the new Magnum Panels. It is on a Mk1 though hence the increased difficulty.

I know the heritage front wings are very hit or miss, one side in general is a poorer fit (tooling more heavily worn?), and the headlight reinforcing rings are sometimes welded seemingly by someone with their eyes closed. I've seen a number of people buy two wings, cut the ring off of one without damaging it, cut the ring off the other without damaging the wing and put to two good bits together!

Considering the increase in value of mini's now, I would of thought it would start to make sense investment in panel tooling would be an option! Magnum have started to show this with a complete Mk1 floor in one pressing and are developing other Mk1 panels (side panel complete). But I've heard their metal is not the best quality, maybe just someones opinion??? They make a lot of early escort panels.

Haha sounds like I'm a year ahead of you, we've been renovating.. Doing grown up stuff so the mini has been sitting patiently the last 6months since I let the MOT run out. Yeah I've heard from a few people before that different brands have different thickness of metal in their panels. I'd say maybe this is why some people favour fibreglass but I've seen some terrible fitting front ends 😂. Mines a mk4 saloon so I haven't got and difficult panels to get a hold of luckily.

They don't die, they just get faster!