Well my wife really did it this time. She had a fender bender, messed up the hood on our 2010 JCW clubman. I got an estimate from the body shop and they want 2000+ to fix it. We have liability only so this is coming out of my pocket (but the premium difference every year is going to cost less than this repair so I am still not complaining). I was thinking of using that 2K budget and maybe coming out ahead. I saw a carbon fiber hood on ebay for $875.00. It has a carbon fiber scoop included, and it's supposed to weigh 1/2 of stock. I think this is a deal because a stock hood wholesales for about $500 without the scoop.

Just how hard is it to replace a hood? I see 4 bolts holding it on, some windshield sprayers that need to get transferred over and the trim. I am a little worried about the latch portion because that top frame member is slightly bent inward (maybe .25"). but that bolts on too. Has anyone tried this before, any pointers?

 

My understanding from reading the post of someone that has made the switch (on a WC50 no less) is that it is not just an easy swap. There are some fitment issues that will take a good shop some time to get right. Here is the link. Maybe you can PM them for more specifics.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d-painted.html

 

That is great info, thanks a lot. I wonder why it didn't come up when I did a search before starting this thread? Anyway, that is the same hood I found on ebay, minus the gills. same mfr. I am not bothered by a little irregular gap. The stock one leaves a lot to be desired in that dept so nothing lost there. No fancy gills or paint for me. I'm just going to install it. The car is Midnight Black anyway.

 

Well they accepted my offer well below the price of a stock hood. I will take some pics and report back on how this goes. I plan on taking the old one off, and chuck it in the dumpster and install the CF hood with the help of a few friends.

update: the prepwork so far has been a breeze. The windshield squirters come out extremely easy from the top. Pull toward you and they rock right out. The trim around the lights was partially coming off any way so that was a 1 minute job. I was really surprised by that trim close to the windshield wipers. It lifts right off with so little effort it makes me wonder how it stays on!. I just checked and the short panel right next to it comes off easy too. If the rest of it comes off that easy I think I will simply remove it, plastidip it black and then put it back on. That will save hours of masking. I left the latches and the saftey release in case I need to drive it but those look really easy to remove. So far the biggest problem is only logistics. That box is huge but amazingly light for it's size but it won't fit in the Armada. I'm not moving it unless it stays flat. I need to borrow a stakebed to get it home. Pics to follow.

 

Installation was not very hard. 4 bolts hols it on. The top 2 are slotted so you loosen those and remove the bottom ones. WIth a partner the old hood slides right out. You don't need to touch the ground strap, it stays on the whole time. If for some reason you chicken out and needed to put the stock hood back on, it would be a breeze because they paint the car with it in place. Once you remove it you see the white undercoating.

The CF hood definitely does not fit as good as the original. Clearance is really tight around the lights no matter how it is adjusted so I will just have to live with that unless I can bring the lights backward. However on the fender wells it actually fits better than stock on my car. 90% of the stock hardware transfers right over just fine. The latch ring retainer hardware does not so I will need to improvise there. The turbo heat shield does not either. I am dealing with some frame damage so that is likely extending the installation but it really looks great on the car unpainted. If my car was undamaged this would be a 2-3hour job including all trim.

I will finish up tomorrow and I promise to post some pics by tomorrow night.

 

OK I got the hood to close and latch. i got the headlights centered in the openings. The lights still are sticking out too far and if I move the hood forward the hood will not latch so I am stuck. It is driveable now and that was the main goal of today.

Here are some pics of the fender clearance, this part is better than stock., a closeup of the carbon weave of the hood and scoup. The scoup has a screen only so there is more airflow than stock.

Now the bad news. I cannot for the life of me get the trim rings on the headlight openings. The hood is so much thicker in this location than the sheet metal. I am thinking I may need to bond them on in some way. Also the top grill trim is going to be a bear to get on. it is not pre-drilled for this so it is going to take some fabrication to complete.

 

Next time you need parts for your mini call Mini World in Sun Valley.
They've helped me a bunch in the past. Mini World sales used parts from all makes of minis
at a really great price.

(818)768-4800

 

thanks! got another pic in the sun on the bad side. I wonder if that Sn Valley Mini place has an aero style front bumper?

 

No Collision coverage on a 2010 JCW? Interesting decision.

 

1. its paid for, 2 it's been hit before (so I am already screwed). 3. I haven't even spent my deductible yet and I am at about 1/3rd of my budget. 4. the cost of the coverage would have cost more than both incidents. 5 I have a daughter in private school so I have other priorities than driving around in a pristine mini that has been in 2 accidents,

When you have an accident you are screwed, no way around it. Value of the car drops upon resale no matter how good the repair was. It is almost better not to fix it because they always speculate it was worse than it really was and add in "frame damage" even if no one touched the frame. To me it is worth the risk as this is about as bad as it would get and I have the resources to take care of it.

 

In regards to the front bumper. While I was there a few weeks ago getting a replacement wheel arch for my 2012 Cooper S with JCW package . I asked if they had a lot of JCW parts
in case I need more stuff later. He said there getting a couple newer JCW vehicles near the end of the month. I would call them they might have the whole aero kit for you and other jcw goodies.

 

I was going to guess that you are quite sound, financially, to not carry Collision on such a valuable car. So yeah.... if you can replace that JCW without it hurting you in the wallet, cool.

But some of your other reasons don't make a lot of sense. Don't even know where to start with those. But I do particularly like the one about the car already being damaged. Unless it is now relatively worthless, that point isn't valid. Would be like me saying, " I don't carry health insurance because I already lost a finger"

 

BTW... I didn't ask because I was in Sales Mode. Just knew there had to be an interesting reason. Turns out there were a few. Thanks for replying.

 

That angle was more like this. After an accident the value of your car takes a hit, it is not returned to the value it was by the insurance coverage.

You are simply fixing the car. You have the mark on your carfax and painted over bodywork is easily detected. The problem is often during an appraisal not much info is in carfax and if they see bodywork they often fear the worst, which comes off the bottom line.

I didn't mean the car is worthless, it's just worth less .

I mentioned a budget. That's the deductible plus the premium to break even (per year). If you bank that money it compounds and you can do more than fix your car with it in an emergency. In this case I could have used a body shop and still been ahead but this is more fun.

Cheers

 

... like you would get a fair price on your car at a Carmax if it had never been in an accident and didn't have so much as a swirl mark on the paint.

By your standard, no car ever involved in an accident should ever carry collision insurance.

Man, you must have gotten screwed over royally by an insurance claim at some time.

 

Something tells me I am talking to an Allstate Agent

 

I'm probably an idiot but I carry full coverage on my vehicles. I've never had to use it, but I rest easier at night knowing I'm covered. For me it's peace of mind. For others it's just giving $ to insurance companies. To each his own.

 

Yep.... to each their own.

Not at all trying to convince you to get Collision coverage. Geez, if so, I might be helping a competitor. And no... Claims Adjuster for State Farm.

 

I got a hold of the WC50 owner that has the carbonfiber hood in BMCkid's post. Sounds like his install went pretty much the same. The trim rings around the lights will need to be bonded in place as I suspected. I have access to some of that nice $350.00 per quart aircraft adhesive that should work nicely, they may never come off. I'll post some pics again when I am done. I am thinking about doing my other JCW too (and I'll still be under budget with the two cars combined with $600.00 to spare). The weight reduction is significant. The stock hood drops shut when it is held at about elbow height. The CF hood will spring upward fast enough to take your head off from the same height. To close it you have to push it all the way down until it latches.

 

I got the trim rings on. It was pretty easy. There is a black plastic clip that acts as the attach point on the steel hood by tucking under the steel. On the CF hood it is notched to accept the same tab. You simply put a dab of adhesive on the side of each tab and it bonds the ring in place. I did not need the fancy glue after all because the hood is cut so precise. CA glue (basically thickened crazy glue) from a hobby store did the trick. I used some wood clamps and some masking tape to hold everything in place while it dried. I was afraid it was going to interfere with the hood closing but it does not. And it will come off easily if I decide to remove them.

The next and final job is the top grill trim. I opted for the blacked out version from out motoring. I like it because it is simply made from glossy black plastic so it will not chip with different colors like plastidipped chrome would. This is going to be tough because the hood is not pre-drilled for this part. There are 4 holes I will need to drill blind and possibly some slots if I want to get fancy. I have some idea's. I'll take more pics when I dive into that project.

 

Great thread (aside from the pointless insurance highjack)! Keep us posted please as this mod definitely interests me. I've thought hard about doing this sometime down the road. Looks great.

 

Like your unnecessary dig made it better? Pardon my curiosity... it happens to be my profession.

 

Your scarin me CR.
I'm a composites engineer, so my curiosity is in the construction of this hood and the amount of fabrication it is going to take to put it on, and not so much being in good hands. I believe you said it yourself "to each his own". I say we leave it there.

Thank you for chiming in Terminal Velocity. There is not very much information about this project on here and I am just trying to list all the stuff that is working and also any mistakes or pitfalls so if someone else wants to give it a try they have something to refer to. We are getting a lot of hits so it is good to know at least one is for the original intent of this thread. I'll try to get more detailed pics up.

And thank you Mini562 for the heads up. I've been out to Sun Valley to the BMW yard for my last 3 cars. I assume the Mini yard is somewhere close by.

 

Your welcome.. Miniworld is within 5 minutes of Beemer places. Near primrose and sun valley blvd.