Retrofitting the Storage Package
 

I wonder if anyone has done a 'Storage Package' retrofit in a F54? I've been putting together a parts list, and plan to do it (I'll post all the parts needed and some instructions once it's done), just figured I'd ask before I take the blind jump. Mostly I'm curious if the loading sill cover, floor panel mount, and trunk crossmember are the same for the 'storage package' and 'no storage package' variants of the clubman trunk. If nobody knows, I suppose I will soon enough =).

When I received my 2019 JCW Clubman, the factory managed to install the wrong back seats and failed to install the "Storage Package". The dealership was able to order the correct backseat and install, but said that the storage package couldn't be installed after they did some research. This was all billed back to Mini Corporate, so the dealership didn't really have any reason to be lazy, so I suspect there is some critical difference in the substructure.

Wow, that sounds awful. Well, I ordered up the 'Storage Package' cargo cover, and spare tire bottom tray as a start, to see if I can make something work for getting a spare tire mounted in the rear/having the flat floor when the seats are folded down. If it really can't be done according to Mini, that stinks and I may have just wasted some money.

I'm curious what did they end up doing for you, since they messed up your custom car order?

You could've refused the car and let them reorder it.

When I received the car, I didn't walk out of the dealership until I had a signed letter saying that they would either order and replace the car or replace all of the parts. It was my choice. I didn't really want to wait another 12 weeks and I didn't really care about the storage package. I didn't like that the floor panel was not removable in the storage package since I wanted to be able to use the full depth of the cargo area when traveling with my dogs. The seats were the important part and the dealership did a great job of replacing those.

They ended up giving me a choice of various Mini Swag, so I ended up throwing on the rooftop cargo container.

Cool to know that they were able to replace the seats at least (I'm assuming they swapped in the 40/20/40 split seats?). That's another thing that I'm thinking of doing -- just keeping an eye on ebay and maybe will hunt around junkyards for a totaled F54. All so my parents can have cupholders when I drive them around ;-).

Well, I finally received my car (it was sitting at the dealer lot for a few weeks, waiting for a part for the factory roof rails to arrive [and yes, if you haggle, a dealer can install the factory rails on a clubman if it doesn't have them -- the install is actually identical to the F56, and uses the same drill guide!]).

I managed to put the trunk Center Trim piece in tonight, as well as the flat loading top, and the trunk liner/bottom which has a hole for the spare tire bolt to go through. In total it took about 20 minutes to install. I have never done vehicle interior panel work before, either, this was my first time getting to use plastic rivet remover tools.

My observations: the parts aren't really worth it. If I were going to do it again I would buy just the flat 'false top' trunk lid, and would just cut holes into the center mounting part. I would make some measurements of where the spare tire bolt is, and drill a small hole in the bottom liner. That would have made the upgrade about $188 for the cargo cover/false floor.

Anyway, you CAN retrofit the storage package, at least this much of it. I suspect Ferretdancer's dealer, or MINI, decided that the retrofit was too expensive to do for some reason. But at least on my vehicle, a Cooper S All4 (not a JCW), all of the hardware for the storage kit is built into the body. I will eventually get around to retrofitting the side panels with the storage pockets. I suspect that an issue with the trunk retrofit MIGHT be that the driver's side trunk light wiring either won't exist, or will need to be coded, for the storage package to work.

Oh, and another reason that they may have said 'no' to Ferretdancer's storage package would be the USB outlets for the rear seat passengers. I don't really care to have those, though.

Parts required:
51477360761 (false floor/hidden trunk cover): $189
51477427156 (cross member/center piece, not really needed if you don't mind measuring/cutting your stock cross member): $32
51477420086 (trunk floor for compact spare wheel, again not needed if you can use a measuring tape and a drill): $95

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...06b573c1d5.jpg
Remove three plastic rivets that hold in the center piece/cross member. Two are located just behind the rear seats (one on each side), with a third rivet in the middle of the trunk side.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...3046dd58ab.jpg
Remove the bottom liner (it just lifts right out), and then remove the cross member trim panel. The cross member trim is tucked under the two side interior liners, firmly tugging it will pull it out. Also note that two cargo hooks pass through the center piece at the rear of the car, as well as a stamped steel bar for the rear seats passing through the liner at the front. There are grooves cut into the center piece for each metal part to pass through.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...1ed95bd4a7.jpg
Install the new cross member. Fitting it back in is kind of hard because you have to tuck it back under the left and ride side trim pieces. I found that reaching my hand under/through the folded down rear seats allowed me to lift up the side trim and hook each side of the center piece underneath the side trim. Once it is seated well, re-install the three plastic rivets. Make sure that the interior part of the rivet seats into the metal on the vehicle body, and then push in the interior part of the rivet, which causes the outer part to mushroom out and hold. Give the cross member some push and tug to be sure the rivets are firmly seated. Then re-install the bottom liner.

The cargo top lid now fits through the holes into two bars, and can swing up and down. The only downside is that there is no stopper on either side of the trunk, but at least this makes a 'lay flat' trunk with hidden storage.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...98aa32ff50.jpg
These are the two center pieces side-by-side. If I had known that this was all the difference, I'd have just removed the original, cut some holes in it, and re-installed it. I also purchased the 'spare tire' bottom liner, but again it wasn't really worth it. All it has a single hole in it which allows the spare tire bolt to mount up.

Does 51477360761 (false floor/hidden trunk cover) just rest in the grooves on either side of the trunk? I am interested in just that part as long as it is quickly removable and sturdy.

Yes the false floor/hidden trunk cover will fit right on, even if you don't have the other storage package parts. It rests on the cross member cover, the two side covers, and the rear hatch plastic trim. In spite of these parts being made of some kind of composite/fiber board, they seem pretty sturdy. The false floor itself is pretty thick and can hold a lot of weight.

You will want to unscrew the hinges on the false floort before laying it in, if you decide to leave the cross member cover as-is. The hinges are screwed onto the cover with some torx screws. If you don't remove them, they'll lay on top of the cross member cover, and if you put a lot of weight on the false floor they may end up breaking off or damaging the cross member cover. Another easy option is you could measure your cross member cover holes by using the false floor as a template, and just cut the existing cross member cover while it's still in the vehicle. That would expose the hinge pins. Just make the openings big, and your false floor will be hinged, which is nice. The cover clips onto the pins, and can easily be removed and re-installed onto the pins.


I did try laying in the back of the car to see how sturdy the false floor is. It seems good enough to hold me. When I was younger I would often sleep inside of my station wagon when going on long road/camping trips if the weather was bad. I probably won't sleep inside of my Clubman but it is certainly an option -- just have to stick my feet between the front seats to have enough room. I would trust the cover to hold me while sleeping.

Of course, another option that, depending upon your skill, could be cheap and classy-looking would just be to use a piece of plywood ;-). Shop-grade plywood, once sanded and varnished, looks nice and holds up very well. Cutting it to fit the Clubman wouldn't be so bad.

As a follow-up on this thread: one thing that I am curious about now, is: what are the extra cutouts in my cross member cover actually for? The extra square cutout exposes a thread for something to bolt into, and the slot appears to be for some sort of hook or tie-down thing to go through.

I've only been able to find one photo that looks to have something installed there -- some sort of spare tire hook? I wonder if anyone that has a clubman with storage package and spare tire installed can tell what the purpose of that, actually is? If it provides some extra support for the false floor I may have to track down the part =).

https://pictures.dealer.com/i/intern...y=resize&w=650

I was wondering the same. I have the storage package, but no spare tire ... and I've been rocking non-runflats for 24K miles now - including one puncture. Your post inspired me to actually LOOK at my car. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the crossmember cover you installed and my car are those holes on the vertical "face", which you aren't needing to use for the spare.

My check engine light came on this week for the first time, so I'll probably be heading to the dealer fairly shortly. I intend to look for some cars with the spare tire kit installed to see what's going on there.

I'd be curious if your dealer visit reveals the same thing, but I think the mystery may be solved.

That bracket looks to be a part that comes with the official "spacesaver spare" tire.

Here's a photo of the complete kit from Mini Mania:

https://new.minimania.com/images_tem...nmw7620-pa.jpg

Looks like the part labeled 'Bracket' in the photo above, is what is meant to bolt into the groove. The shape of the bracket has two divots in it, which would fit into the little zig zags on the crossmember cover.

I think the idea of the bracket is: the part of the spare tire at the rear of the vehicle is tucked under the door sill. This bracket will hold it towards the front of the vehicle. This could prevent the wheel from coming loose in a crash, for example if you didn't remember to thread the wheel retaining bolt down well. I guess. I don't think it would help much honestly...if you crash hard enough for the bracket to matter, you're having a really bad day. Assuming the wheel was restrained only by this bracket, then the jack, wrench, and other miscellaneous stuff would launch towards the front of the vehicle.


I found this page which shows the various cross member trim covers and the corresponding options:

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=51_3801

It looks like, if you don't want the spare tire retaining bracket, but still want the notches cut into the cross member cover, part 51477360785 is an option.


I'm debating whether to actually get a spare tire. I am running the stock runflat tires and not sure if I would ever switch from them. Lots of people describe them as giving a harsh ride quality. My other car is a Miata with the Bilstein suspension (it's quite stiff). Compared to the Miata my Clubman feels pretty cushy, even in sport mode.

Nice sleuthing!

Part #36106857382

Good pics at ECS Tuning: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...t/36106857382/

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...00#36106857382

Okay, I just fininshed this addition and wanted to chime in with some info/encouragement. You don't need to remove anything, and no special tools are necessary (save one; see below).

You don't need to remove the cover over the cross member to cut holes for the "hinges" in the floor to reach the "hinge pins" in the cross member. So, you don't need to pull the trim rivets. I did, but it wasn't necessary. Ping me if you want to know the trick on those

Place the load floor in position, flush at the back and the sides. Flop down the rear seats, as you need access to the cross member from the front. With the floor in position, lean down and locate the hinges in the load floor. Reach beside them and mark the sides of each hinge with a Sharpie. That will give you the general location of the holes you need to make to access the hidden pins. With a box knife, cut parallel cuts in the top surface of the cover. These should be 30mm apart. (Use a GOOD box knife; the plastic ones probably won't let you press hard enough. I had a good drywall knife with a sharp blade.), The cuts should extend about 1/4" around the front radius of the cover. The total fore-aft length of the rectangular hole you're cutting should be about 50mm, looking down at the opening you've made, all the way to the front surface of the cover. The hinges don't just drop in the holes, you have to lift it into place at a slight angle. You'll understand when you do it.

Step back and admire your work.

I decided to continue with the Storage Package retrofit for the Clubman this spring. I'm doing it because I like the little cubbyholes in the sides, and the extra light in the rear would also be nice, but mostly I'm doing it because the retainer clips to hold up the false floor would be very nice -- I tend to store some canoe tiedowns and tools in the spare wheel well and getting at them more easily would be nice.

I bought just one Trunk Trim piece to start because I figured I would learn some valuable lessons from it prior to buying the other one -- namely, would it even fit, or would be there something 'in the way' prevented the Storage Package trim pieces from fitting in the car.

I bought part number 51477360773, which is the 'trunk trim left' for storage package vehicles. It's difficult to tell what parts it comes with, but it does in fact come with the plastic cubby hole installed, the netting installed, and with an elastic strap+clips installed. However it does not come with the false floor holder-uppers, or the left side LED light. It also is not compatible with the 'standard' rear seat catch plates. However a test fit shows that it will work, so long as I get the extra parts.

The additional parts needed are:
51477298619 (lock for the floor panel, 2 of these)
51477321718 (trim cover for the lock above, 2 of these needed)
52207382725 (adjustable striker plate for the left side)
52207382726 (adjustable striker plate for the right side)
63319313574 (LED light for the left side...for the right side we can hopefully just re-use the existing light)
61132359994 (the connector for the additional LED light, I ordered two just in case I break one)

There's a bunch of 'not really required' stuff that I'm ordering too:
41007401285 (Adapter to let you bolt on a tie down ring for left hand side, not required)
41007401286 (Adapter to let you bolt on a tie down ring for right hand side, not required)
07147147513 (hex bolt for tie downs, needs 4 total, not required)
07119905544 (hex nut for tie downs, needs 2, not required)
51477271174 (tie down rings, 4 of these are needed, two attach to the adapters mentioned above, the other two bolt onto existing holes in the trunk. Apparently these tie down rings come with the bolt needed.)
51477274764 (covers for the tie down rings, 4 of these are needed)
Cigarette lighter parts (will post these later, assuming I can figure out how to wire them adequately)

Anyway, hope this list helps someone. Once I have the whole package installed I'll hopefully post a full parts list, step-by-step teardown, etc, what worked, what didn't, and a total cost. I think it'll be somewhere around $600 total to do the trunk part of the retrofit, if you re-use existing crossmember panel and floor panel by just cutting holes into them at the appropriate spots.

I got a little impatient waiting for my second 'storage package' rear panel to arrive, so I decided to install what I could today.

Retrofitting the storage package into a F54 Clubman is pretty easy. It's a bit more costly than buying the car with the package though...

Preparing is definitely the hardest part. Since nobody has documented this before, I spent a long time staring at the parts diagrams on Mini of Seattle and Mini of Kennesaw, and taking apart my trunk to look at things and figure out what was needed.

The parts I listed in my post directly above, all worked out and were exactly what was needed (yay). I did order a few additional parts, for wiring up the light:

61132359994 - this connect for attaching to the light. I ordered two (as in the post above), and decided to actually use both. These come with the pins required to wire them up, which is handy. You'll want a wire crimping tool to attach wires to the pins to actual wires.

61136925611 - this is the female version of the light connector. I ordered one of these for my wiring harness.

61130005198KT - these are actual wire plugs for the female version of the light connector. I ordered a bunch of these in case I messed something up, but you only really need two.

I also bought 10 feet of red, and 10 feet of red+green stripe, wire, as well as a crimp-on butt connector for hooking the wires with leads, to the color-coded wires.

I bought the parts above so that I could build my own wiring harness for powering the second light. The female connector plugs into the original light plug, and provides two male light plugs: one with a short lead for the right side of the boot, and one with a 10 foot lead that let me run the wire across the boot to the new light. I didn't feel like digging through the wiring diagrams to find out if I could just tap some wires on the left side body controller.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...5df6a87da.jpeg
First, remove all of the stuff from your trunk. I installed the false floor cover earlier, and the spare tire, so all of that needs to go.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...6500a4ba9.jpeg

Then, pop out the four plastic rivets that hold the hard plastic trim at the rear of the boot, and remove the plastic trim.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...b12b33d4c.jpeg
Fold down your rear seats if you haven't already, and pop out the three plastic rivets which hold the side panels in.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...b0fb08e8a.jpeg
Gently tug the side panels to remove them. I don't have the right panel yet, but I'm pulling the right panel out a bit to plug in (and test) my wiring harness. It worked fine! Forgive my dry, cracked hands, I've been washing them far too much lately :P.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...6192dc448.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...74454b361.jpeg
Now attach the tie-down ring adapter (41007401285 for the left side of the car). This requires two of the 07147147513 hex bolts, and one of the 07119905544 nuts to attach it). These all use 10mm hex sockets.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...1506327da.jpeg
Now remove the original rear seat striker plate and bolt the new into place. This uses a TorX-40 driver.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...210fd9e40.jpeg
Prior to tightening down the striker plate, it is a good idea to latch the seat into place. The adjustable striker has a little bit of play in it, so having the seat latched will ensure that it is aligned correctly.

Not photo'd: connect your wiring harness and run it under the flooring to the left side of the boot. I ran it along a space near the bumper.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...8c3dede02.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...16e47ba34.jpeg
Now start putting the parts onto the trim piece. This is the false floor catch that holds the false floor up. Part 51477298619 goes 'behind' the trim, and 51477321718 goes in front of the trim. They snap together. The LED light just snaps into the trim piece easily.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...79926e983.jpeg
Connect the light plug into the light, and make sure it works! If your trunk lights have turned off at this point, you can just close all the passenger doors and then open one up, both lights should turn on.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...c4139d7ef.jpeg

Getting the trim piece installed is probably the hardest part. The two alignment parts that matter: getting the adjustable striker plate through the hole, and getting the tab on the striker plate aligned with the false floor catch (the striker plate has a metal plate which sticks out, and which slides into a groove on the false floor catch).

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...eaee63d51.jpeg
If you got the striker plate aligned with the false floor catch, your trim should line up perfectly without the any gap here. If the trim is bulging at all by the false floor catch, you didn't get it lined up correctly. You'll want to be sure things are lined up correctly before installing the tie down rings.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...2979d64d3.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...1af8a2877.jpeg
Now you can install the tie down rings. Each of the tie down rings comes with the bolt required to hold it in, they are TorX 40 size heads.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...029591fa9.jpeg
Snap the little plastic covers onto the tie down rings.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...e29a5d540.jpeg


I only installed one trim piece so far, but it holds up the false floor okay on its own. I ordered the second trim piece, but shipping delays have kept it out of my hands. I think with covid-19 going on, shipping things is going to be slow for a while.

In total, the job took about 40 minutes. This included figuring out how to get the trim around the adjustable striker, and realizing that you're supposed to bolt on the tie-down rings AFTER you install the trim (I bolted them on first, then realized I had to remove them as I was getting the trim around the striker).

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...4a96ab9b0.jpeg
TP Tax. It's important to have a roll in your car (our MINI is used primarily for long road trips). In a pinch you could probably barter it for gas, food, lodging, etc.

Wow, didn't realize the storage package had so many parts! Glad mine came with it.
If only I could retrofit the adaptive cruise and HUD in a reasonable way.

After a long FedEx shipping delay, I finally got my storage compartment right side trunk liner.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...fea3c7dad4.jpg

Here's how it comes from the factory (part number 51477360774, ECS Tuning finally has an actual photo of the part, probably because I ordered it through them ;-)). Note that it comes with MOST of the pieces for the cigarette lighter (but not the metal housing that accepts the wiring, nor the lighter plug cover)

It also comes with the 'suit hanger' plastic clip thing, I ordered one of them thinking that the trim didn't come with it...

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...85583e9962.jpg
Here is the cigarette lighter plug insert, needed if you want power on the trunk liner. I haven't figured out how to wire this up yet, though...the plug insert shown above is part number 61346973037. The 'block off plug' (plastic insert for the cigarette lighter socket) is 61349316116.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...adfa74076e.jpg
Here is the wiring harness that I mentioned in the last post. The factory wiring for the lights is red+green stripe, and red, so I bought some wire with the same colors, as well as female and male plugs to let me connect both the wires to the stock plug. It works fine.

If anybody has a factory storage package and is feeling adventurous, I'd love to see where the factory cigarette lighter adapter connects to. I *think* the wires will be Brown (for the cigarette lighter ground) and Red+Blue for the +12V. I'm guessing that a wire runs directly to the fuse box in the front of the vehicle, but if somebody does pull back their trim, and sees it connected to one of the body controllers in the trunk, that would be handy to know!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...819d9e5e1c.jpg
My only other installation note: make sure your trim pieces all sit underneath the rubber gasket, when you're assembling the trunk parts all back together. That should, hopefully, keep you from having any leaking/water issues back here.

Thanks for the orders. :) Nice job

First, great work by @reidmefirst here.

So, I'm new to Mini (but not BMW as I was a long time owner of a 1973 BMW 2002 in the lovely Gulf Green color) and brand new to this forum and am just figuring things out. I of course ended up here due to my interest to install the storage package (which should be a standard option, come on!) and I'm just now making a list of all the parts here in the thread to do that. However, I do have some needs for these USB ports. Thanks to this thread I've also just discovered RealOEM as a resource but am having a bit of issues finding the parts that would go into the rear center console. I *think* those parts are going to end up being a) the plastic bezel that adds the area for the USB ports, b) the USB ports themselves, and c) some sort of a wiring harness.

Anyone have a bead or a lead (hey, that rhymes!) on the parts or other details? No amount of Google-fu seems to reveal anything about the existence of rear seat USB ports, sadly.

Thanks for the kudos, it was a process figuring all this out. And I agree, it's really dumb that they don't provide these parts with every Clubman. Having the little bit of additional organization in the trunk is worth it for a vehicle that is sold in the 'semi-premium' market segment, and it seems that simplifying the SKUs by eliminating the normal panels would actually save money...but I'm not a bean counter.

For the USB ports, hrm, I'm not sure how to get power to them. PROBABLY wiring is available, but I'm not quite ready to take apart my console just to find out.

Check out this somewhat unrelated post about installing a Cravenspeed short throw shifter. It shows the disassembly of the center console (necessary to get to the manual shifter linkage): https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4306441 . Here is a second post on the same subject, with way more photos: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...r-install.html . I guess the ports actually install on top of that big metal control module (it's actually an airbag module) in the photos. You might be able to ask the poster if they remember seeing any extraneous wires in there that could be used for the USB...

Links
 

Does anyone have the links for all the parts necessary?

I'd like to add this to my new clubby

Just plug the numbers into ecstuning's 'search' box. Or try outmotoring, they're both excellent online shops for all the mini parts. Punching in the part numbers to either of their sites will get you 'add to cart' options. Occasionally one versus the other will have lower prices. 'twould be amusing to convince one of them to make a package with all the parts, but I dunno if there are enough people wanting to do the upgrade for it to be worth it...clubman are not exactly a high volume vehicle.

Did you ever wire up the power socket? I am about to embark on this retrofit, and that’s the last bit I have no direction on. 😁

Thank you for your write up! It has been essential to me.

-r

I never did figure out how to wire up the power socket, no. I did buy a wiring diagram of the F54 (PDF version from ebay), but reading it did not make much sense to me. One of the connector blocks in the trunk must provide a fused power for the cigarette lighter, but doing it wrong could mean blowing a fuse for something important (like tail lights!) at an inopportune time.

If you happen to find out the proper way to wire it, I would definitely welcome a photo =). I may pull the panel off and start looking at the wiring diagram along with a voltmeter to make more sense of things, but it hasn't been a high priority for me.