3 replies to this topic

[brivinci]

Hey all, 
I have a potential project I might be helping on. My brother rolled his 1995 Cooper Si and the shell is toast. It was already pretty rusty and the little gymnastics it did DID NOT help it much. He was miraculously unhurt. Being in the US, shells are not easy to come by but I managed to find a very clean MPi shell for an unreal price and I jumped on it. Both have been in storage ever since (been some years) and we are looking to start the swap. By we I mean ME as he lives in Italy while I'm in US, ha!

So, what are the main concerns with swapping all the SPi bits into an MPi car? I wanted to start a list. I am VERY familiar with the SPi cars, having owned mine for nearly 20 years but not 100% on all the difference between them and latter. The MPi shell is nearly completely bare and the SPi was running and driving when parked. 

The first thing that springs to mind is the rad location. As nothing mounts to the bonnet slam on the SPi, it will just mean sorting out the hole in the inner wing for the rad and aux fan to breathe/live. 

What else am I am not thinking of? Is there anything that would be a major stumbling block?

[mab01uk]

Some differences are mentioned in this old thread linked below but I don't think you will find anything that is a major problem to overcome during an SPi/MPi bodyshell swap.

 

MPi Shell Differences:-

https://www.theminif...ll-differences/

 

Front panel
Inner wing (front mounted rad)
Internal fuse box

MPi's have door beams.
mountings for the pre-tension seat belts in the front and different mountings for the inertia belts in the rear.

a bracket under the back seat for the air bag and seat belt module and the front bulkhead had lost the rotisserie hole by this time.

 

 

 

Edited by mab01uk, 29 January 2025 - 10:12 AM.

[bpirie1000]

Fuse box location.
Airbags,
Radiator location.
Fuel filter, bizarrely.
Mpi fuel tank is foam filled.

[brivinci]

Great info guys! Thanks. There appears to be some additional brackets on the inner wing where the side rad on others go. Those would be easy to remove. I also noticed the absence of the rotisserie hole. That was interesting. Again, only going off pix I have of the shell as it's about an hour away in storage. The plan is to get back up there and really have a look at it. 

 

Thanks for the helping with this. Being that I have the full "running" SPi (just with a busted up shell) and the nearly bare MPi shell. The complete SPi tank can be used to ensure things stay simple. Added door beams is not a bad thing;-)