New member to the forum. Bought used R52 in August. I've wanted a new gen MINI since before they were announced to arrive on American shores. Finally I get one and the ownership has been love and appreciation with pain and frustration. The niggling little things never end and my car is in relatively fantastic condition. The latest is that the boot access convenience release/lock lever suddenly fell off this morning. I've searched everywhere here and internet with no luck in finding someone else who has had this happen. How does this possibly happen?! It appears to me the pivot post pressed into a base plate which is riveted in place to the rear rail that secures the soft top. I tried to press the post back into place with a C-clamp and blocks but cannot get it fully seated. It appears the rivets need to be drilled out so that the base plate can be removed and the post can be properly pressed into the base plate

Passenger side view to underside of top at boot. Lever was removed to access the post. Post is seated 90% so far. Because of this the lever is loose when pinned back into place.
. But then I need special steel rivets to reset the assembly back into place. Any help here? The part number of the lever is 54347162752. I could go to hardware store and get another washer to take the looseness out of the mechanism. But I think this will only temporarily work.

 

Do you have a better picture, i have torn apart my R52 since day one

 

I'm having trouble uploading pictures. I have reduced the size but still having trouble.

I made a temporary repair that I don't think will last long. I pressed the post in as best I could but it is not 100%. I added a nylon washer to reduce the slop. My pictures would help tell the story.

I just cannot understand the rationale for press-fitting this post when the lever can easily be torqued accidentally during loading items and flex the post loose. Seems like a tooling/cost cutting measure to be sure.

 

Trying but still cannot get photos to load.