15 replies to this topic

[Compdoc]

Has anybody fitted these liners from Minispares http://www.minispare...|Back to search

or Lokari in Germany, https://www.lokari.d...Bestellung/BLMC

They seem like a great idea, but without seeing them fitted it's hard to know if they are worth the money.

[cal844]

Never had or seen these on production minis, only ever seen a picture of one mini with these

[dyshipfakta]

Got them on mine in my opinion well worth it. Had them off to rewax the inner arches and there was no point at all clean as a whistle.
A bit tricky on later cars apparently because of the fan but piece of cake on carbed stuff

Edited by dyshipfakta, 07 November 2017 - 09:02 PM.

[leyland73]

Had these fitted to a clubman, in daily use for 7 years. Great piece of kit. Mine were made by camlo. Also had a pair fitted to a Thirty from 1990, A panel , scuttle and wings all rust free. They also help to reduce road noise and tyre roar. Just bought another pair for my 1100 special. Not tried the aluminium ones from lokari though, not sure if they would fit as well as the plastic ones, but anything is better than nothing.

[[email protected]]

The liners ride nice and high in the wheel well Compdoc, up above the shock mounts, keeping all the mechanicals accessible - see an image here where one is loosely fitted:  http://tinyurl.com/liner-image

 

And there's a pretty detailed install "how to" found here: http://www.minimania..._Arch_Liner_Kit if you'd like to see what you are getting yourself into.

 

I've bought the Minispares ones and am happy with the quality and heft of them (they are not flimsy at all), plus they send you a bunch of mounting gear (although I might use some plastic fir tree clips or screw/push fit plastic rivets instead to make them more easily removable instead using the pop-rivets and screws that were supplied).

 

Now I haven't fitted mine yet because as dyshipfakta points out they require significant modification to go over the electric radiator fan in the wheel well of my '91.  

 

If you don't have that fan, then they should fit up in there really easily (in fact the other side goes in like it was made for it - which, of course, it was).

 

Unfortunately if you have the extra electric fan, then on the rad side the liner transverses the fan from about its 1 o'clock point down to the 7 o'clock point.  You could simply cut the liner away, but I'm pretty sure that we do not want to be blowing any hot air up into the void above the liner... 

 

...and so I used CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) to mock up a template of the changes necessary for the form to properly go up and over the radiator opening and fan - here's a photo:

 

 Inner-arch-template.jpg   43.67K   16 downloads

 

I think I can employ a simple tactic of cutting the liner at 2 - 2 1/2 inch intervals and then use a heat gun to bend the slices upward from the original liner's curve, but note that then creates a 2 inch gap that will need to be filled to snug back over to the inner wing - you can see the sharp fold on the first slice and the extra length added to it and each of the other slices in the photo.  Cutting and fanning out like this also leaves open triangular slices between each cut section...

 

So I'm thinking of plastic-welding in pieces of an old Craftsman drill carry case as "fills" for any of the gaps (because it's the same black plastic and because I have an old ConEdison linesman soldering iron with a 1/2" tip that I often repair plastics with by melting in new pieces - I repaired my door pockets this way, reinforcing the screw points with additional backing plastic as well)

 

I hope the images and links help in your decision making process - it might seem like a lot of time to invest to fit them if you have the electric fan, but if it saves your scuttle or headlamp bowl or A/sail panel from rusting out, I believe it can be considered well worth it.

Edited by [email protected], 08 November 2017 - 04:15 AM.

[GreaseMonkey]

Can these be fitted to a Clubman? 

[Northernpower]

Had these fitted to a clubman, in daily use for 7 years. Great piece of kit. Mine were made by camlo. Also had a pair fitted to a Thirty from 1990, A panel , scuttle and wings all rust free. They also help to reduce road noise and tyre roar. Just bought another pair for my 1100 special. Not tried the aluminium ones from lokari though, not sure if they would fit as well as the plastic ones, but anything is better than nothing.

 

 

Can these be fitted to a Clubman? 

I think this answers your question.

[GreaseMonkey]

Doh! I should have spotted that 

[Compdoc]

Thanks for the response, a great help.

I thought at first that these would be a bit of a luxury at £90 but I now think that these should be considered an investment for any Mini owner wanting to keep their car in top condition.

Considering that I have recently spent over £1K in heritage body panels for my car, I think these liners are an essential extra.

[leyland73]

I think the ones sold by mini spares are just for the classic mini shape, camlo ones I bought 25 yrs ago were for either the clubman or round nose, different part numbers. I bought my last clubman set on eBay a few yrs ago for about £30. Have them fitted to my 2 clubman and 2 round nose minis, plenty of dinitrol sprayed in through the headlamp bowl and will wings and other front panels will last for years.

[CityEPete]

Got them on mine in my opinion well worth it. Had them off to rewax the inner arches and there was no point at all clean as a whistle.
A bit tricky on later cars apparently because of the fan but piece of cake on carbed stuff

I've got a carb and the fan!

I'm tempted to get some, it's a shame there isn't a set for cars with the fan though.

[dyshipfakta]

The modifications the chap above have made look to really do the trick though in that situation. Well worth it in my opinion even if you have to cut them and not have as good a fit. It will still stop 80% of the rubbish and the water.

[tiger99]

One of the main reasons why modern cars last much longer without serious rust problems is that they are nearly all fitted with similar underwing shields. That fact alone should be sufficient to decide, although in some cases there may be reasons like originality for not fitting them to rare models.

 

The area that will be hidden by the shields should be clean and in good condition and given a heavy coat of something like Waxoyl or better, before covering it up. Then you will gain the most benefit.

[[email protected]]

Forgot that I had found this book excerpt when I was trying to decide to buy the Minispares inner liners or not.

 

Admittedly the book is about MGBs (another Brit car I've owned..), but it was the "Thirty-three years later...and there is no corrosion" line was what sold me.

 

 Camlo-Under-Shields.jpg   104.64K   12 downloads

[Steve8274]

Maybe if enough interest, a group buy could be arranged. Seems a lot of people like the idea of the arches including myself