5 replies to this topic

[rich_959]

Due to a few old repairs, and the fact that the rest of the front of my car is being replaced, I'm going to have new inner wings too.

 

Question was, are the above motor heritage wings with the A panel and door stiffener the best way to go? Or is it easier to assemble and get best all-round fit with individual panels? This is an MPI car. Looks like around £200 each, which seems decent value compared to buying separately.

 

Cheers,

 

Rich.

[alchall]

I went with these as I thought it would save time and looked reasonable value but I would definitely not do it again, I would strongly advise getting the individual panels.

 

I found that because they were all made up there was a limit to the amount of adjustment I could make to fit the car well without taking them apart, some bits I did have to remove and re-fit and others I worked around but actually the end result was not as good as it might otherwise have been.

 

I think fitting the individual panels would have actually been no more time consuming, in fact possibly less so and the end result would have been better, in fact I've found that getting the doors to fit well has been made more difficult because I had to compromise on the fit of the A post and I've ended up replacing the A panels all together which is wasteful and actually probably wiped out an cost benefit.

[Steve220]

As above, I got both sides for my MPi and they were taken apart to make fit correctly. However, Sleaford Mini Centre are unstitching them to fit it all again properly - make of that what you will!

[rich_959]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the info. Will pass on to the chap doing the bodywork and let him decide whether he wants the assembly, or the separate parts.

 

I already have A panels so may make sense to just buy the inner wings and door stiffeners, if the full assembly doesn't always cut down on body shop hours.

[rich_959]

Some pics over on my Project page (link in footer)

[Minijohn87]

As the chaps above have said, I went for both the drivers and passengers side assembly's and found them a nightmare to fit so I disassembled them to fit the parts individually and I'm so pleased I did as all the mating surfaces where the panels were spotted together had no e-coat and a concerning amount of flash rust which was hidden.