On my clubman. I'm sick of the bloody rear flap. I can live with it but it pisses me off coz every time i open the boot, the flap doesnt fold all the way down, coz its stiff, only a little bit, so i have to push it back flat once i close the boot.

I have seen many a minis have this treatment.
It may be obvious that i may have to drill holes but what have you folks done?
Also what about the number plate light arrangement.

Thanks in advance.
Many pictures appreciated.
Send to [email protected] if you dont wanna put them up here

The whole lot fits beautifully in the recess of your bootlid, this is easy to do, and it will make the rear of your mini sexier too (and it will add 10HP to your motor )

First of all, carefully remove the wires from your number plate light, remove the actual light assembly from the flap too.

Lift up the flap to reveal the hinge screws. These need undoing. You may need to drill them out - they rust together sometimes Remove the flap and hinges from the bootlid.

Remove the number plate from the flap and hold the number plate centrally in the recess. Mark the number plate holes onto your bootlid with a texta. drill these holes with a drill that is slightly smaller than the screws you intend on using. Using rubber washers between the plate and bootlid to eliminate rattle, screw the plate on.

Next you need to drill the bootlid to fit the light. i believe the rubber gasket from behind the light can be used as a template (can anyone confirm this???) . You'll need to drill the 2 bolt holes (and maybe the wire hole??? has the number plate covered the original wire hole???)

The remaining holes from the flap hinges need to be covered to stop water getting into your boot.

p.s. if the sharp ends of the screws are exposed, push a bit of small diameter hose over em, or you could even bolt the number plate on.....

i'm sure someone else can add to my comments, so dont do it just yet....

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[NATHAN] -- Sold everything mini related and am back in big beautiful BMWs

THanks for that. I will wait for other people to see if theyve done it, but a very detailed and comprehensive writeup. Thanks.

You wouldnt have any pictures of them, would you?

im gonna do it, little differently tho
im welding up the boot lid and then drilling new holes to suit my plates, then painting the lid

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lookin for another clubby

I have just painted my clubman, including the bootlid that I modded to remove the plate support panel.

I welded up all the holes that are used to attach the plate support hindges, ground them flush, skimmed a lil filler over the top, sanded flat and painted. I also welded up the badge holes.



The number plate light needs 2 holes drilled in the bootlid, the same as in the plate support. The remaining holes (3) need to be blocked. I thought they were too big to weld up, so I bought 3 rubber stops from Clarks Rubber ($1 each). They press in and seal the holes, then the number plate screws over the top of them and they act as protection between the number plate and the bootlid.

WHere the bloomin' hell did u feed the wire for the light, if you only drilled two holes for the light fitting?

Then how did you end up mounting the numberplate.

I want more bloody information

The boots looking good by the way.

I have also modified my clubman boot the same but after it was painted so i didn't weld the screw holes.
Fitting the wire wasn't to hard but getting the nuts on the bolts behind the light was a bloody fiddly job because they are between the outer boot skin and an inner frame.
i will take 2 photos tomorrow and post them.

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76 1275 Leyland S

Haven't got that far yet....only painted the damn thing on Monday!!!!

OK, I forgot the wire hole, but as supercharged 850 rightfully pointed out, the light gasket would make a good drilling template.

In regard to mounting the numberplate, as an afterthought, welding 2 nuts to the inside of the holes you drill for your number plate would be ideal. I was going to use self-tapping screws....but if you use these, don't do them up too tight, or you will be looking for larger diameter ones.

Enough info?? or you still want MORE....????

Yeah still more.
I am thinking of not welding the holes as my car is indeed already painted.
Should i seal up these holes with anything?
Also, what shall i put on the holes that i drill out to stop them from rusting out.

You can bog them, use sealant in them, rubber bungs in them....depends how dodgy you wanna be.....



Paint the exposed metal with etch primer or something, and fit a grommet into them (a rubber bung with a hole in the middle).

MORE....?

That will do for now
I will start taking the plates off tomorrow and take pictures.

yeah, the way i described it was the QUICK way of doing it .... obviously the best way is by welding up the unwanted holes, then repainting, etc etc.....

I've noticed a few minis in Adelaide getting Rover bootlids fitted. These bootlids look fairly different to the morris / leyland ones, as they have LARGE numberplate sections (almost half the bootlid), and have no flap..... but i personally think they dont look quite right. The Aussie ones are much better

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[NATHAN] -- Sold everything mini related and am back in big beautiful BMWs

The UK (Rover) rear number plate night idea is a much better idea than the Aussie light.

The UK one sits above the plate, and faces down, so water can't run into it, like the Aussie one (which is a great water catcher)

I am still contemplating fitting a UK plate light. You can even get them in chrome now.

Er, they are BOTH UK lights- the Oz one is same as UK Mk1....

Maybe I'm a traditionalist, but late UK one just looks kinda wrong, IMO.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Yea, I was really referring to the late model Rover Mini's, not the Mk 1's.

I agree that they look different, but logic says water flows with gravity, and I have seen many OZ plate lights full of water.

But in saying all this, I will still probably go with the OZ style, just to keep the originality of my Mini.