Schomp MINI in Denver had no problem with my plate.

BTW, this whole "warranty voiding" thing seems way over blown in my opinion. Has anyone actually seen a case yet where that has happened?

 

>>Cool.. thanks for the pics.. that's one mod i was intrested in, and it seems easy enough.. (a lot easier then the caliper painting..).. and with random chunks of ice in the road from time to time (in this area), I'm guessing it would just generally be a good idea... but what's up with the power steering cooling fan? Huh????
>>
>>Rocketboy_X


Painting your calipers is a LOT easier than installing the skid plate. The plate is pretty heavy to handle while under the MINI on your back while fishing for wrenches, bolts with Loc-tite on them and philips screwdrivers. It would be an easy job if you had one of those pits they have in repair shops. But that said it's not complicated, just real awkward, in my opinion. Ron.


_________________

LTL YELO

 

25 lbs!!!! I think I'll wait until
the warranty expires before I'll
add this. That would be like putting
a stock wheel back on....eh Dave?

 

Well I wouldn't feel comfortable driving around Denver in the Winter in a lowered MINI without the skid plate. BTW, I'll probably remove the skid plate in the spring for the autocross series.

 

I've benn working or cars for fun and a living beginning in 1961 and have used alot of ramp. I was all but killed in 1995 as the result of a ramp. (it is to hard to say as a result of my own igrorance) Ramp are wonderful if properly built and used. I had a Suburban roll of a set. I am alive today because I was stopped by a closed garage door. I never replaced the door so I am always reminded "Saftey first" Make damn sure the car is chalked and re-chalked. I do not make a habit of telling others what to do, but I don't want to read another 'mechanic killed while working on a car' story. But I'm an old man what do I know?

Motor on

 

tsprayfhs
Glad you're still with us, but what do you mean by...>> Make damn sure the car is chalked and re-chalked?

I have ramps, then I put chocks behind both back wheels and I'm in gear with the brake hard on.
Merry Christmas. Ron.>>

 

We can hope someone will market a plastic skidplate. Should save about 20 lbs over the metal one and still protect the engine compartment and PS fan from flying debris.

retroom

 

I'm actually quite pleased with the metal plate. It's robust AND easy to remove. So, I just plan on removing it for autocross, and otherwise riding around with piece of mind.

 

Hey guys... is that power steering fan located right up front? I just went out and looked at my '03 and from what I could see it seems to be completely covered by the factory plastic "skid plate"... Am I looking in the wrong place, from your pics it appears to be right in the very front... If you could let me know I'd appreciate it... Thanks, Paul

 

I was talking with my MINI service manager about the power steering fan location and how debris and snow/ice might damage it. He said that they thought the same thing when they saw the location... However, he said that he has heard that MINI is planning some sort of retro-re-fit or "cover" for it... No date/s were mentioned...

 

Can anyone who've done a oil change on their Mini tell me if there was any problems changing the oil after the steel skid plate was installed? Could you access the oil drain plug easily?

 

I installed the skid plate a couple of weeks ago. I used Rhino ramps and did the job myself. The plate was robust, but I was able to lay it on my body while under the car and install the plate. It wasn't that hard. I also saw where the oil pan drain plug is located. There's a hole that's in the skid plate where you can get to the plug. I don't think you have to remove the plate to change your oil. I change my oil on my own so I have a plan in mind. I think the hole is big enough to find some type of funnel ( i may modify it ) and jam it up in there to catch oil flow.

If it looks too difficult i'll remove the plate before every oil change. It isn't that hard to do.

As for the weight issue - I thought about that. 25 pounds isn't TOO much, but I think I can find some other ways to save weight. New wheels and rims, lighter exhaust, and strip some interior items.

As a side note - Unless you track your car or constantly push it to its limits - 25 pounds won't make too much of a difference.

REMINDER - the MC's and MCS's weren't made to be straight line cars. If you feel like you don't have enough HP's to push - you DON'T. If you wanted that, you should have gotten a dreaded MUSTANG. But, if you wanted a car that could be tossed in the corners like it was your favorite high school girlfriend, you bought the right car.

I track my M3 and did some weight mods on it as well. I wasn't planning on taking the MCS to the track, but it's driveability made a liar out of me.

peace

 

>>25 lbs!!!! I think I'll wait until
>>the warranty expires before I'll
>>add this. That would be like putting
>>a stock wheel back on....eh Dave?

Except one is unsprung weight and the other sprung weight.

 

Dave, thanks so much for this detailed description! I just got the Moss skid plate, and was wondering whether my Rhino ramps would offer sufficient access for the install. Looks like they worked out fine for you.

One question: The installation instructions say to apply Loctite to the four allen head bolts (the rearmost ones, I believe). Being somewhat of a mechanical newbie, I've heard of Loctite but don't really know what it does. I thought it was used as a threadlocker, to put bolts in place that would never move again. This doesn't make sense with the skid plate, though, so what purpose does it serve? Do I actually need it?

In hopes of answering this question for myself, I went to Loctite's website and they actually have about a hundred different products, so I don't know what the standard "Loctite" is that Moss is referring to.

Thanks again!
Chris

 

Blue loctite is generally for smaller bolts (say less than 1/4&quot. If you use it, it just makes the bolts harder to work their way loose. It won't sieze them in place.

Red Loctite is generally for larger bolts. If you use it on the smaller stuff, it is much much harder to break the bolts loose. Used on the larger bolts though, the effect is the same as the blue on the smaller - you'll still be able to break the bolts loose, but it will take some effort.

Generally I have seen loctite used in vibration environments where the bolts could tend to work themselves loose over time.

For the skid plate, I used the red loctite.

Dave

 

*trying not to be TOO angry at minicooperparts.com*

Installing the Moss skid plate requires four allen-head bolts that aren't on the car, and they're sure as heck not in the box with my skid plate. What a pain in the ***!!! :evil:

So, does anyone have any idea what the specs are on those bolts, so I can go buy some? I've e-mailed Moss to see if I can buy the bolts from them, but I'd really like to do the install in the next couple of days.
_________________

 

sorry to hear that Chris. I'm hoping someone out there can help you out with a size for that hardware.

 

Is there another website I can purchase the skid plate from besides MOSSMINI?
And for how much? Please help. :smile:

 

Chris--

Sorry that that happened to you. I got the skid plate from Paula as well, and it came with four allen head bolts and a little packet of Loctite. I'll measure the bolts for you this morning and find out what size they are.

I'll get back in about 2 hours to let you know.

 

>>Chris--
>>
>>Sorry that that happened to you. I got the skid plate from Paula as well, and it came with four allen head bolts and a little packet of Loctite. I'll measure the bolts for you this morning and find out what size they are.
>>
>>I'll get back in about 2 hours to let you know.

Hey, I appreciate that! Actually I think they should be on their way to me this week. I had to go back and forth between minicooperparts.com and Moss MINI about five different times, but I think they both understand the situation now, and Moss will be mailing me the bolts. I still have to call one more person to make sure it happens. I didn't know I was supposed to get Loctite, too! Thanks a lot, I'll be sure to ask for that as well. Hopefully I can bring back the tube that I bought Sunday.

For the record, this problem originated with Moss, not minicooperparts.com. Paula said that she mailed out the skid plates just as she received them, without opening the boxes. I'm pretty sure that mine had been previously taken out of the box. The plate itself has a few nicks and scratches, the instructions were torn and stained, and one whole end of the box was held together by lots of packing tape. I'm not complaining, because I paid less than half the retail price, but that's still lame on Moss's part.

And pooky13, I bought the skid plate as part of minicooperparts.com's inventory closeout sale, and apparently they only had four. I don't know who else might sell the Moss skid plate. Good luck!

 

OK. Glad to hear that they're taking care of it, but for the record: my friendly neighborhood hardware store says that they're 10mm bolts, don't know about thread pitch and all that, but I'm guessing it's standard. The head on them is a 6mm Allen (Hex). I would make sure to get the medium strength Loctite, as I think someone mentioned elsewhere. The MOSS packet comes with the heavy duty, which seems pretty unwarranted.

Also, pooky, it seems to me that if anyone else is selling the skid plate, they're just buying from MOSS, so you might as well just buy it from MOSS. Actually, I think I got an email recently saying that the powder-coated ones are on sale this month or something. Check it out.



_________________

 

>>..... hardware store says that they're 10mm bolts, don't know about thread pitch and all that, but I'm guessing it's standard. The head on them is a 9mm Allen (Hex). .....
>>

yes the 10mm is correct but mine had a nice low-profile pan head and used a 6mm allen wrench; the holes they go into are long threaded tubes and on the top of the tubes are the (M10) steering rack mounting bolts ... if yours don't show up right away, you can get any M10 bolt (about 15mm long) and washer 'til the real ones get there ...

 

>>The head on them is a 9mm Allen (Hex).<<

Interesting. The directions say that you need a 6mm allen wrench. I have both, but still, sounds like they need to get their act together better. The reason they use a hex bolt is that they are "button head" bolts without sharp corners, so that they're unlikely to snag on anything under the car.

>>I would make sure to get the medium strength Loctite, as I think someone mentioned elsewhere. The MOSS packet comes with the heavy duty, which seems pretty unwarranted.<<

Yeah thanks, I'll see what they send me before I return the stuff I bought.

I hope you didn't make that trip to the hardware store just on my behalf, but if so, thanks!

 

FWIW, I could *not* get the screws that came with the skid plate to work for my install. I sprayed WD-40 in the holes, cleaned them out best I could, and used anti-sieze on the threads, and they would still only go in about 3/4 of the way before they would sieze and the allen heads would strip. I was getting mighty pissed!

I ended up having to go to the hardware store and getting some replacement screws that that simply had normal heads that could be driven with a standard socket wrench rather than the button head allen heads. These ones went on super easy. Hopefully, they'll hold up OK.

 

(OOPS! Had to correct my original post-- **6** mm allen heads)