So I'm in process of putting the mini back together and had a huge problem getting the hood pin to line up. The original to my car was stuck/rusted in the old hood so I ordered another. As you can see from the picture they're completely different. I took the torch to the old pin and was able to free it, so I bead blasted it and used the old one which worked fine.
I guess this is one of those "some of the new parts are junk" post.
Hard to tell in the picture, but what's the difference in diameter of the heads on the pointy part?
They're basically the same size. I think it's the shape that makes the difference. The rounded shape pops out of the catch smoother. The spring holder also fits better on the pin and the spring.
So fooling with this hood pin more I found a nice stainless spring from McMaster-Carr to replace the regular steel spring.
Part number from McMaster is 1986K527 they come in a bag of 6 for $13.44 it fits nicer on the retainer and looks a whole lot nicer. As I now have 5 extras, if anyone is interested in one I'll give you one for the cost of me mailing it to you, just send me a message.