MK1 taillight panel to MK2+ panel

[jemo]

I bought the patch panels to revert back to MK1 taillights from one of the large Mini vendors.  The patch panel has enough overlap on two sides but the other two sides have a gap of maybe 1/4" before I've even started cutting!  The contour of the patch panel doesn't match the existing panel at all.  I know aftermarket stuff takes a little adjustment but it's like this wasn't even meant for this car. 

Anyone done this before?

Jeff

[94touring]

Do you have any pictures showing any of this?  Sounds like some fabrication is in order!  :)

[jemo]

I'll take some pics tomorrow night. 

[94touring]

Whatever happened to them pics??

[jemo]

Sorry, sorry!  My job had me traveling for multiple weeks so I lost a little momentum.  I went out a couple of nights ago and started looking more closely at the panels I had and discovered that I had two panels for the same side.  I tried both panels on one side and saw neither worked and didn't think to try the other side or compare the two panels.   ::)   Anyways, I tried the LH side and they BOTH fit!  A new one for the other side is on the way.

Jeff

[jemo]

Well right after I made the last post, I decided to go out and install the one panel that does work.

First I put the panel up against the car and marked it with a Sharpie.  Then I cut out the marked area.



Put the panel in the hole and clamped:



Spot welded it about an inch apart:



Filled in the spot welds with more welds and ground down the raised metal:



Sprayed it with some cheap primer just to keep the surface rust off for now:



The panel will need some filler but not much.  I saw a couple pinholes I need to go back and fill in and a little more grinding but it's not too bad.

[94touring]

Cool, good work.