this was a problem with my Borla too

 

Thanks for the '06 pictures!

Looks like the parts I highlighted in the picture are different between the 05 and the 06. Or is the perspective of the pictures different enough and my eye sight poor enough, to cause an optical illusion? If that is the part that is different, then this would mean that adding the longer bolts and spacers would essentially replicate what MINI did for the 06 model year.

 

Both of those pics above are from the 06' MCSc. The only difference is that there are longer bolts and two nuts spacing the brace on the bottom one. We need a pic of the 05' (I have one). I'll try to get one up here soon. I looked at the brace the other day to see what my options were for my incoming exhaust and it doesn't appear to be too much different, if at all.

 

Boy did I confuse things. I thought riquiscott had an 05 MCSc, and not an 06. So ignore my post above. However I still think those brackets look different which is why I think bostoncooper didn't have to add spacers.

 

It's all good. I figured you mixed it up. Riquiscott modified his brace to accomodate a bigger space for the piping. Good thinking.

 

 

Take a look in my gallery. I posted pics of the brace from a few angles. It appears to be exactly the same as the 06' (Mine is an 05'). Looks like htere weren't any noticeable changes from 05'-06'.

 

The Invidia exhaust does not fit on cabrio's..... I have found this out the hard way.

Cabrio's have some under chasis bracing that was not accounted for in their design. I have sent pictures to Tom at Invidia showing the bracing and the problem. The exhuast sits directly on the bracing, in fact.. without the bracing on it would sit about 2 inches too low. When the bracing is installed it pushes the exhaust up about 2 inches causing it to sit right on the chasis and the bottom of the car causing one hell of vibration.

Right now my cars at a custom exhuast place getting some new bends so it fits correctly.

Pretty bummed out about it but I love the way it sounds and looks

....live and learn right?

I called Invidia before I bought this exhaust and was told "Yep! it'll fit both the cabrio and coupe model no problem"

Some glaring oversights indeed

 

Do you are just getting the midpipe bent a little to clear the brace? Or are you getting a new pipe completely? How much is the exhaust place going to charge for this, because I know that I'll have to have mine bent...

 

They couldn't just heat and bent it They had to weld a peice of galvanized bent aluminum right before the Y right above the brace. So now I have a piece of aluminum welded into my stainless steel exhaust..... The good thing is that he didn't use a crush bend so the flow isn't too impeded. They also had to heat my hangers up and bend them some to get everything to fit right.

Total cost was $150.00

 

Does anybody know the size and length of the bolts that hold up the braces because I am going to have to buy more washers...

 

MINIFVR sorry I did not respond to your first PM. I have had installed (by two master shadetree MINI mechanics, James and Lucas) a Borla Exhaust that I bought on ebay. It hit the brace. Lucas took the exhaust to a muffler shop who for $75 bent the mid pipe and fabricated a smallpiece near the Y (like Intense), but now there is an exhaust leak at the top end of the Y so tomorrow or Friday we take it back to the muffler shop to try and resolve the leak. I have a very slight rattle upon start up which I think will be handled with a few more washers since I don't have nearly the amount that the first picture has...

BTW may have a second Borla up for sale in a liitle bit... It will not be modified, but it will be around half of what a new one would cost.

Rgds, Michael

 

The brace bolts are 10mm in diameter. If you can't find 10mm washers, you can use 7/16", and they'll only be four-thousandths of an inch oversized.

 

Any idea how long the brace bolts are?

 

Sorry - forgot about that part of your post. The replacement bolts I used have 50mm of thread. That length should work even if you don't need as many spacers as I did.

 

I've decided to replace the factory torx bolts (which are pretty soft, and not under a lot of pressure), with 2.5'' 12-point bolts. There will be a washer and a 1'' spacer in between the black part of the brace and the silver part (for the spacing). This should look a little more solid, and even more OEM-like after they're spraypainted black.

That should do it!

 

Hmmmm...It sort of sounds like it's worth the extra $100 to get the exhaust that is designed to fit the cabrio...

 

Well, the longer bolts and spacers to lower the brace 3/4" only cost about $5, and if you go ahead and get them *before* you start the installation, it doesn't add any time to the install, since the brace has to be removed/replaced during the installation anyway.

Even after it's been lowered, the brace still isn't the first thing that you'd scrape, so there's no clearance issue, and after several autocross sessions on my exhaust and on the other car where I lowered the brace, I'm confident there's no issue with the extra shear loads on the longer bolts either.

If I were ordering an exhaust from a company that made a cabrio-specific exhaust, *and* the vendor had the cabrio version in stock, then I might get the cabrio-specific part. But lowering the brace is a simple mod that greatly expands your available exhaust options.

 

You're right, $5 worth of nuts and bolts is a good deal, but I was refering more to the folks who needed $150 worth of exhaust piping manipulation. I also wonder if there are compounded issues if you use a non-Cabrio exhaust and the M7 USS - or if you just need more spacers..

[Full disclosure: I bought the Milltek Cabrio exhaust and I have the M7 USS]

 

You won't need $150 of exhaust piping manipulation if you do this simple mod on the brace! Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you're saying, but this pretty much eliminates any exhaust manipulation that I'm aware of.

 

I just did the brace mod. Took me 15 minutes. Best idea for anyone looking for an aftermarket exhaust for the cabrio.

 

Has anyone who has done the brace mod had any issues? I did it recently and my car is feeling funny whenever I take a corner really tight or go over a speed bump. I am hoping it is just mental on my part.

 

Jeez ..PPL.. what length are the bolts, how many nuts, what washers????

Just get the right exhaust for the car....I have a Minspeed on my 06 cabrio..AWESOME sound and easy to install...CHEAPER.....unbolt original and the xbrace lower all parts replace with new exhaust and bolt it all back up! The new piece only weighs 25lbs!! get rid of all that dual muffler overwieght stuff for crying outloud.....30-40 min and your done! took that long for you to read all the posts about what bolts to change

 

Anyone have a pix of this?

The one I've found doesn't seem to show it and it indicates "NOT FOR MINI COOPER S CONVERTIBLE"

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...catalogid=3751