Mini One Conversion to Cooper S look-a-like

[roodiepoo96]

Hey guys,

Well, i'm 17, passed my test, went to get my copper S, but discovered that under all insurance companies, i was uninsurable, or at least my budget would not cover such ridiculous quotes, the cooper was the same, but slighty cheaper, where available!
Nightmare....
... Being me and a mini lover, the One was going to have to settle, so it did, i love it to bits, and its a real fun car (reccomend to anyone) but i still thrive for that cooper s look. I know that performance will not be available for a few years, and so have bought an original cooper and modified it to death for my racing on track with my mates. Anyway.. I want my One to look like a cooper s. I ahve a good few thousand pounds to spend, and dont mind buying import parts. If anyone knows where i can get the badges, the bonnet, the whole look... I would be so grateful. I know i sound amazingly cheap and sorta degrading of the legend thtat is mini, but it has been my dream for years... any advice would be awesome..
Thanks guys.
Love the site..
JP

[M1OUTT]

Quote: Originally Posted by roodiepoo96

Hey guys,

Well, i'm 17, passed my test, went to get my copper S, but discovered that under all insurance companies, i was uninsurable, or at least my budget would not cover such ridiculous quotes, the cooper was the same, but slighty cheaper, where available!
Nightmare....
... Being me and a mini lover, the One was going to have to settle, so it did, i love it to bits, and its a real fun car (reccomend to anyone) but i still thrive for that cooper s look. I know that performance will not be available for a few years, and so have bought an original cooper and modified it to death for my racing on track with my mates. Anyway.. I want my One to look like a cooper s. I ahve a good few thousand pounds to spend, and dont mind buying import parts. If anyone knows where i can get the badges, the bonnet, the whole look... I would be so grateful. I know i sound amazingly cheap and sorta degrading of the legend thtat is mini, but it has been my dream for years... any advice would be awesome..
Thanks guys.
Love the site..
JP

jus go on ebay mate loadsa s kits and if ever u want 2 buy me one feel free!

[Ollie_C]

Yer was gonna say the same about ebay, im only 18 and have a mini one and that was still 1800 tio insure, as well as ebay have a look on the for sale bit on here, also if u havent already get gomini mag loads of ideas and people offering parts in there!

[miniboyblue]

There are a lot of good things about being 17 as I remember them well, unfortunately car insurance is not one of them. Have you seen the latest edition of Go mini mag guy aged 17 got a beautiful black mini one and turned it into a S look alike, I liked his 18" alloys so much I bought a set for my MCSC, they are the b------s. ebay is good also try www.coolnew.co.uk I was in there this week and saw S badges in display cabinet.
Good luck and keep us all updated with pictures on your progress.

[Mini Cruiser]

Insurance is a pig for males, i love having boobs

Give these guys a ring:

www.evolutionsalvage.co.uk - 0161 764 2020

They break MINIs so im sure they will have all the bumpers, bonnet etc, and there really reasonably priced as ive bought things from them in the past.

Good luck with the car.

[Baz F]

I think the last issue of GoMini had a One that had been given an S makeover. Looked very nice.

[roodiepoo96]

Thanks guys, you are all a major help. This forum really does rule, especially for me as a newbie. I was thinking about the whole conversion, and it struck me that maybe the bumpers and side sills wouldnt fit. However after reading the GoMini article, he managed to do it, so should i?

Also, if i have the rear bumper, this means I will have to get a whole new exhaust system, which, being a total beginner with cars, i would have no idea about. Any advice or sugestions would be very handy.

I made a list of the things which i would need to make my mini look like a cooper s from the outside:

Bumpers -
Front
Rear
Side sills
side repeaters
bonnet
petrol filler cap
exhaust
badges

If you can think of any other items which i need then please tell me, as i want it to look as authentic as possible.

I listed above the cooper s bonnet, which i personally think is the most noticable difference between this and the other models. I have seen one for saleon teh internet, but £500 is a lot of money for me, being 17yrs old. So if anyone knows where i can get one for less or is selling one, this would be soo useful.

The body kit seems easy enough to get my hands on, as do the side repeaters, filler cap and badges, however the other 2 items are proving more difficult.

To make the car look more personal, rather than looking like a basic cooper s, i am going to buy quad lamps, cooper bonnet stripes, a roof decal and window tinits. Any advice on these cosmetics would be useful aswell.

Thanks again for your replys, and keep hem coming.

JP

[Mini Cruiser]

Quote: Originally Posted by roodiepoo96

I made a list of the things which i would need to make my mini look like a cooper s from the outside:

Bumpers -
Front
Rear
Side sills
side repeaters
bonnet
petrol filler cap
exhaust
badges

If you can think of any other items which i need then please tell me, as i want it to look as authentic as possible.

I listed above the cooper s bonnet, which i personally think is the most noticable difference between this and the other models. I have seen one for saleon teh internet, but £500 is a lot of money for me, being 17yrs old. So if anyone knows where i can get one for less or is selling one, this would be soo useful.

A cooper s bonnet from BMW is only around £250, all you'd need is a chassie number to order it.

As ive already said once, try evolutionsalvage, they will also be able to supply you with a bonnet. One thing tho, the bonnets are abit of a nightmare to line up, and the hinges never look the same as factory once messed with.

You dont HAVE to change the exhaust if you fitted a cooper s rear bumper, you could just swap the trim from your original ONE bumper.

[JpMcC]

Hi Jp (nice name btw )

another thing to add to your list would be a roof spoiler

as for the exhaust there is a company called Jetex (Laser Exhaust) who do different backboxs for the MINI, they do the cooper S design exhaust for around £250 and it will fit stright onto your ONE, I will try and find the link to the web-site and post it up later

As for changing the bumpers and side skirts I think it is a fairly simple swap around and that goes for the sills aswell, there is an instruction guide on how to do this yourself in the FAQ on MINI2

Good Luck Jp

[abydx]

I will be carrying out a similar conversion when my car arrives in December.

I'm changing the bumpers because I think they look nicer and because they make the car look a little lower.

I have so far purchased Cooper s front and rear bumpers, side skirts and rear spoiler all off ebay. I have also picked up a set of 17inch s wheels - again off ebay.
I've been told that if you have the pre-facelift Mini One or Cooper you need to move the foglights to fit the Cooper S bumper as they sit slightly lower. However, this is meant to be an easy conversion.

With regards to the exhuast I decided against purchasing the cooper s exhaust and will just transfer the plastic strip from my One bumpers to the Cooper s bumper. The other problem with the cooper s exhaust is that you can't keep your space saver spare wheel and as I'm NOT going to be using run flats I need a spare.

I am undecided about the bonnet at the moment. If i get one at a reasonable price I will change it - if not I will stick with the standard.

I am also considering a JCW's grill - but I'm still trying to source one of these.

[jonnyc]

hey

cheers for all of your comments on my one, all of the parts simply fit straight on, just a case of being able to locate them...

got most of my stuff from mini design. also done other things to it, wheels lowered xhaust etc etc.

still would like a cooper s tho, but insurance is a killer!

cheers

Jonny

[roodiepoo96]

Thanks people, will let you know how it all ends up.
Any more advice or comments would be useful.


JP

[NeilF]

Sorry to be the party pooper but if you start fitting Cooper S bits to your One then you're gonna have to tell the insurance company.

And they'll gladly empty even more money from your wallet

Don't even think about not telling them either because if you have an accident or the car gets nicked you'll suddenly find your insurance is null and void.

Look on the bright side though, if you're prepared to hang off for another 14 years then you can insure your MCS for£300 per year like I do

[~Marcus~]

Neil is right - I worked for a major motor insurance company in the claims department, We had a couple of cases where basic Sierras had been modded to look like Cosworths and the customer hadn't told us. In one case the claim was refused outright, in another, we would only pay out if the customer sent us back-dated premium for a Cosworth - it was thousands, more than the written-off car was worth so the customer got nothing. And it wasn't just Cosworths - a claim got thrown out for a Nova 1.0 because it had GSi seats, spoiler and bumpers, so be warned!

[paulworthing]

With regard to the insurance thing - I have been doing plenty of searches on line for my soon to arrive MOC and non of the forms that you have to fill in say anything about modifications (I am adding the aerokit, x-lite alloys, sports seats and an aftermarket stereo with autochanger) so how am I supposed to let them know or, if I have to make a claim, do I fight them saying that they never asked for the information?