8 replies to this topic

[luke666222]

Hi im making my mini into a mk1 lookalike. Can mk1 door hinges be fitted to to mk3 doors? I was thinking about making a plate and welding it to the inside of the door skin where the the hinge bolts on and the same on the a panel, Anybody know if this would work? And can mk1 door handles be fitted to a mk3 locking mechanism?
Any help would be appreciated

Thanks Luke

[jay whiting]

That will be a NO. The MK1 hinges and mk3 hinges both track in a different line. If you was to fit them the door would not open/close as the centre line of both sets of hinges would be out of line and bind agains each other. The only way to do it is to change the all the panles to mk1 and that will be costly. Alternative and cheap way to get the look is false stick on mk1 hinges but they stand out a mile look silly and the centre line will not be centre when the door is open.

[tomkidd]

It can be done. There is a mini mag article showing how to do it. A mate of mine did it once too. This is another mates car with the fake ones from Japan

[luke666222]

It can be done. There is a mini mag article showing how to do it. A mate of mine did it once too. This is another mates car with the fake ones from Japan

How was its done in the mini mag article?

[1984mini25]

The only way to do it is to change the all the panles to mk1 and that will be costly. Alternative and cheap way to get the look is false stick on mk1 hinges but they stand out a mile look silly and the centre line will not be centre when the door is open.

You can covert a mk3 internal hinged car to use externalmk1/2 hinges, and believe it or not but all the required panels and hinges (the rare brass ones) cost me under £100. Witch just so happens to be a bit cheaper than those fake plastic bits of crap.

[RED HOT]

In the middle of doing this to mine and I haven't bought any new panels. As you've said you'll need to reinforce behind the mounts, but as long as thats sufficient I can't see it being a problem to be honest. Plenty of people on here have done the conversion before so a little search might assist too

Oh, and I have no idea on the actually handles and locking mech, i'm not going down that route so I can't help i'm afraid.

Best of luck with it

[tomkidd]

It can be done. There is a mini mag article showing how to do it. A mate of mine did it once too. This is another mates car with the fake ones from Japan

How was its done in the mini mag article?

Ask JonBetts (he did the article for the magazine) http://www.theminifo...?showuser=29840

[TopCatCustom]

You dont have to buy any new panels if you're not worried about the purist look (door lower front corners and A panels are a different shape). As you said- weld in re-enforcements, mark and drill for the new hinges, take the old ones out and fit the new ones. What Jay said is right in that you can't use both sets together but there is no reason why you can't swap to the old style if you make the mounting points stronger.

[luke666222]

thanks for the info guys big help. when i get some hinges ill have a go and ill take acouple a pictures to show you how i get on