*******
CAUTION: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK
As with all mods or DIY articles, the information provided here is without warranty. I am providing the steps for your information, but beware that problems may occur and that you accept full responsibility. Should you encounter any problems, please take a deep breath and post your problems to this thread and we will all do our best to assist you. I am not a professional mechanic.
************

Ever wanted to add a bike rack or maybe add additional storage capability to your MINI? You could either install the factory rack which consists of a support system that requires drilling into your roof and leaves behind holes and infill caps, then purchase the different accessories so you can load a bike or storage box on top, or another way is through the MINI Fini Sport Link system.

This writeup should be used as a photo documentary addendum to the written manual. I will cover the major steps while assuming you are following along with the instructions. You can find those at Motoringfile.


http://www.motoringfile.com/2004/06/...n_instructions

On a Cooper


Or on an MCS


With the bike rack attachment


The MINI Fini Sport Link is one of ths slickest aftermarket items available. It's well designed and constructed, but labor costs for installation can be prohibitive. This $239 item which is only the base mount requires between 3 to 5 hours of labor and at $150/hr that could be an additional $750 for labor alone!

This writeup shows how to install a Sport Link on an MC. The MCS is a little bit more involved because it requires a bit more removal of items before you can install it.

Basic Concept
Installing the Sport Link isn't difficult. It bolts onto the rear bumper, and protrudes through 2 holes you drill. In order to access this area, you must remove the outter bumper cover, your exhaust system, and spare tire. You will spend the most time in removal and preparation.

Once all of these are free, you need to scrape off the factory paint from the areas that the Sport Link attaches to. A wood working chisel and hammer work nicely here, although the instructions suggest a gasket scraper, which by the way looks a lot like a paint scraper--a handle with a short, sharp curved blade at the end.

We found a combination of using the chisel to remove the largest pieces of paint worked best, followed by the gasket scraper. With the paint removed, you will need to apply a protective primer which is simply sprayed on.

You can buy a single can from Amazon.com which is cheapest. We chose to buy from Wurth because they guaranteed the shipping time but they have a 2 can minimum.

You can buy either the *brush on can* which is more expensive & dries slower or in spray can form which is our recommendation.(Brush on Zinc Rich Primer is more than the cost of 2 spray cans)

In order to remove the bumper cover, you will need to remove the rear arches. This is done by removing the small plastic screw found here.




You can now carefully push in the plastic tabs and remove the arch trim.

Cafefully pull away plastic arch trim










You can see the bolt holding bumper cover here.


Remove the lower plastic trim piece by removing this outer screw.




Carefully disconnect wiring from bulbs for side indicator and back up light.








Now remove the two top screws to release the bumper cover

Requires large Torx Screw to remove

Look how small that bumper really is!!!


Carefully remove the wiring from the rear back up light.


Another view of bumper


Remove the wires for the lights by detaching these clips. You'll find they are wrapped with electrical tape, and it maybe easier to remove the tape than removing all the clips.


Removing the bumper



Bumper cover laying next to actual bumper


Bare Bottomed MINI


Unpacking Sport Link


Test Fitting Sport Link. Note we wrapped the exposed ends with blue painters tape to prevent any scratches or damage during installation. Painters tape can also be used to secure harness wiring out of the way.


We traced the outline of the Sport Link using a sharpie so we could determine the area of paint to scrape off.



Also the heat shield for the exhaust needs to be shaped to allow the Sport Link to sit properly. The heat shield looks exactly like an aluminum foil pan used for cooking. We used a bar and whacked it a few times to get the necessary indentation. The bar actually came from the handle of one of our racing jacks.




Checking the fit


A knife was used to score around the line we traced.


Gasket Scraper in use. Careful, it sounds like fingernails across a chalkboard!


Test fitting again


Newspaper and old plastic table cloth used to protect boot from unwanted primer overspray!


Closeup of primed surface


Preparing bumper for drilling using supplied template




Pilot hole was drilled first with a small hobby/hand drill


Surrounding hole was protected with a cloth backed tape (duct tape would work fine).


Hole saw was fitted and drilled by hand working very slowly as the heat buildup causes the plastic to melt.


A very clean hole!







Behind the OEM bumper is a foam insert. You will discard this as well as the metal plate behind it, since the Sport Link will take up this space.


Reattach the wiring you removed earlier and use new electrical tape where necessary


Sport Link in place

You can mount the wiring harness back in any of the 3sets of provided holes. Use the one that best fits for you!



Bumper installed over Sport Link


Bumper cover replaced over Sport Link


That's it! Enjoy your new Sport Link. This install took approximately 6 hours including the time to take photos.

Sport Link weighs 30 pounds
But you remove 6 pounds of metal and foam from the bumper so you really end up only adding 24 pounds. Not sure why MINI Fini says it weighs 37pounds.

For reference the OEM aluminum bumper weighs 12 pounds.

MINI PART #82 11 0 154 539

Time to get some accessories!

*****Future Additions****
Rubber gaskets to fill gap between Sport Link and hole in bumper cover

 

Wow! Many, many thanks for taking the time to do the writeup/take pics.

You're right, the overall cost of the Sportlink is holding me back, despite my need for it. I'll have to ponder the feasibility of doing this myself.

thanks again...

 

You're welcome! I plan on doing another 2 Sport Link installs over the next few months. Feel free to ask any questions!

Richard

 

Great write-up!

Let me know where you find O-ring gaskets... I haven't found any from OSH or Home Depot....

btw, here's what came off my MCS....

 

Good post. For me, it's just verification that I made the right decision to have the dealer put it on. It is an awesome piece of aftermarket engineering.

 

That is a great How-to. Really nice photos Richard.

 

Thanks everyone! The owner of this Cooper is working on the rubber o-rings. He's supposed to send me some pix. I've seen them in person and it looks pretty cool. It's got concentric circular ribbing which makes it a bit different than the smooth type.

Really the installation wasn't hard, just lots of work. I'm sure we can do it in half the time for our next install!

 

Great writeup/pictures. Thanks for taking the time to document and post.

I have not had my sportlink installed yet and now with this documentation, I am think of DIY. Wish me luck.

Cheers.

 

Yes - very nice writeup and pics! I'll be adding one of these to my MCS as well.

Just curious, though - what is the purpose of scraping off the factory paint and then re-priming the area that's been scraped off? Why not just keep the factory paint prep?

 

octaneguy- you're write ups are very good!

 

I'm curious too about the paint scraping? Is it paint you are scraping off or undercoating? If just paint you could use a 4 1/2" grinder/sander and a flap style sanding disc or abrasive mesh disc to take it off fast. Lots of dust though.

 

It's both undercoating and paint. It's very rough--globs everywhere. You need to remove the paint down to the bare metal so that when you bolt the Sport Link on, there is as much surface to surface contact as possible. If you just bolted it on, it wouldn't lay flat because of all the paint globs and residue.

So you want to smooth it down, and a grinder isn't necessary as this part probably took 15 to 20 minutes by hand with the majority of it removed within 10 minutes. The paint is amazingly soft. You don't want to take too much off either--just enough paint to reveal the metal in those areas. The Primer is to keep the metal from rusting!

Hope that helps! Oh and thanks Kenchan!!

Richard

 

What was the cost of the SportLink and where did you purchase it from? I was under the impression you could only get it as an installed part from BMW, not as a take home part.

Mike.

 

Quoted from my first post and Sport Link write up on this:

The MINI Fini Sport Link is one of ths slickest aftermarket items available. It's well designed and constructed, but labor costs for installation can be prohibitive. This $239 item which is only the base mount requires between 3 to 5 hours of labor and at $150/hr that could be an additional $750 for labor alone!

I believe Classic MINI in Ohio sells it for around $190 but shipping to me here in Los Angeles, CA didn't save me very much.

My Sport Link was purchased from Universal MINI hear in Los Angeles. Part number is at end of my writeup.

Richard

 

With the latest news from MINIfini, should I purchase the rack (If I can come by one)? I used to transport my bike in a minivan, but since getting my MINI I haven't really moved my bike (Raleigh SC-40), due to hassle of borrowing said minivan. I'd like to be able to bring it to work from time to time, or take it "places."

Also, in your installation, I noticed you did not remove the exhaust and spare tire - I have a MC, so it is fully possible to install without removing either items?

Thanks!

John

 

No you definitely have to remove the spare tire and exhaust. For the early disassembly pix we didn't, but once you get to fitting the SL on, and molding the aluminum exhaust shielding, it needs to be removed.

This is where having an aftermarket exhaust like a Remus was great, because I could loosen the bolts from the cut portion of the exhaust to remove it, without having to undo from the exhaust manifold.

As for MINIFini, all I can say is that on Monday, I'm going to buy a bike rack from my nearest dealer, if not from Classic just to insure I have my own--I've been borrowing the rack from my friend all this time--but given that I may never be able to buy another one, I'm going to grab one for myself.

Richard

 

Ugh. I was really hoping I didn't have to go to the trouble of removing the whole exhaust (someone said they got it on by just removing the mounting brackets). I don't think I can do this myself then.

I checked with OutMotoring, and emailed a quote request through Classic for parts and shipping. I'm 3 hours from them, so hopefully the UPS won't be terribly $$$. I'll even (ugh) check and see if my dealership has the parts in stock.

I just really did not want to spend the $$$ on this particular accessory, and so soon. But... sigh. Maybe DetroitTuned can help me out... I've emailed Chad, to see if he's installed em.

 

I ordered the Sport Link and Tow Link from Outmotoring and they are both
supposed to arrive today. This thread should be a great help in installing
the Sport Link.

 

Congrats! Hmmm--oh I didn't realize they have Tow Links in stock now. Please post some pic as I've never seen one up close. I'm thinking about ordering one as well.

 

Well, they listed it on the site and since there's no way to contact them except via email I figured, what the hell, and just ordered it. I got a confirmation email for the order and a tracking email from UPS so I assume they had it in stock and it's on the way. My understanding is they were going to buy the remaining stock from MINI FINI so perhaps they got some that way. We'll see.

I will try to take a bunch of pictures as I do the install and post a couple here. Thanks again for your write-up and pictures in this thread.

 

Richard,


Just a quick question. I see from your excellent "how-to" that it comes with a template to drill the holes in the rear bumper cover. Is a template that works on the AeroKit for MCS also included???

cheers,

Paul

 

Thanks Paul,

As I recall, there was a template for both the MC and MCS. I don't recall there being a template for the aerokit though. Have you looked at the PDF Sport Link instructions??

By the way, I ordered my Tow Link today from Outmotoring.com as well!

Richard

 

The SportLink arrived on time last week. The TowLink drop-shipped from MINI FINI and was lost for a day or two because good ole FEDEX somehow managed to deliver it to a house on the next street over from mine. I have it now, though, and am looking for an opportunity to install both. I will try to take pictures of the process since those above are for a MC and I have an MCS.

Anyone know if there are pictures anywhere of an install on an MCS?

 

Congrats. The primary difference between an MCS install over the MC will be in the exhaust portion--no need to remove spare tire
And how you drill the holes for the bumper cover.

90% of the install will be identical.

Richard

 

OctaneGuy - your pictures are all missing!

I have an 05 MC, CVT, and just had a SportLink installed last weekend by Chad from DetroitTuned. It was monumentally easier than I thought it would be.

I used the bike rack this week, here are two pictures of it installed. I have the ability to rotate the clamp at an angle, so my wheels would be parallel to the road (instead of it being tilted as you can see from the photo directly behind the MINI).





As others have reported on NAM, the bike is held very solidly, and I was able to drive 65 mph without the bike moving much. It came with 2 nylon tie down straps - it should have come with 4 (2 for each bike), as it can hold two bikes.

As you can see from the second photo, the ias internet interceptor is in the background :D. The car on first glance makes you think "police car."