3 replies to this topic

[Waffs1984]

Hi,

When i bought my car it had on a set of stainless steel (or chrome?) arches on which were affixed by screws into the lip on the wings (the bit that follows the seam and sits perpendicular to the wing itself).

My car is a 1985 Mayfair, and i was under the impression that all post 1984 cars came with the "special" arches on as standard? Funny thing is there's no hole in the face of the wing where the "special" aches fix onto the car? Has somebody replaced the wings at some point? Havn't got round to taking the back ones off yet to have a look.

Basically i hate all things chrome on cars (perosnal opinion i know!) so im sacking them off in favour of another set which i am going to colour code blue to go with the car. I'm looking at these: http://www.minispare....aspx?pid=37999 as they are cheap and simple plus i'm keeping the standard size 12" x 5" wheels on so any wider arches will bury the wheels lol!

I havn't a problem with drilling the holes into the body to fix the arches etc but should i use some sort of sealant as over time the holes will rust won't they? And should one of the rubber "arch-to-body" strips be used aswell to stop chafing against the body?

Cheers in advance,

Matt.

Edited by Waffs1984, 12 June 2008 - 08:09 AM.

[THE ANORAK]

the chrome arches that you have how are actually designed to fit over a set of mini special arches, whoever put them on has done it wrong.

you may find that the wing has been replaced and there are no holes there at all or they may have simply been skimmed over with filler.

either way, your car would have had the arches in the mini spares link when new.

if that's what you want to fit then buy a set and carefully drill any new holes that are needed and treat the hole with fresh paint (you only need a little bit brushed on). use some rivets to fix them on as screws will rust very quickly. you will find that you will need a rivet gun with a long nose on it to prevent marking the arches.

they do NOT need rubber strips on them as they have a small lip moulded into the edge of them that gets in the way, i have seen them fitted with rubber stripes before and it can look very messy

[Waffs1984]

Ah,

Excellent, thanks for the reply there! I've prviously only had experience with fitting arches to my mk3 golf (relatively easy as they screw into the underside lip of the arch) and my mk3 fiesta which i fitted XR2i arches to... absolute pain in the @ss as originally they had bolts glued into the rear of the arch which went thru the wing (rather like the mini) but not when you've ripped the arches off a car in a scrapyard...

Just another quick Q then to follow up, the "strip" that fits between arches i take it is a trim to cover the sill seam? If so can you get a plastic one instead of the rubber one (i think) that it supplied in the kit?

Cheers,

Matt.

[THE ANORAK]

the plastic "sill" covers are rubbish.

the rubber ones fit better and keep the water out better. i actually use a pair of old "rear opening side window" seals on my car with the rubber removed.

this is actually where the idea for the original factory fitted late ones came from, as told to me by the old quality control manager of the production line (who's daughter used to be in the Rugby classic mini owners club)