{"id":1823,"date":"2016-09-13T18:59:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T18:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.specr53.com\/blog\/?p=1823"},"modified":"2016-09-13T18:59:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T18:59:00","slug":"gp-underbody-panels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/diy\/gp-underbody-panels\/","title":{"rendered":"GP Underbody Panels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of production for the first Generation new MINI came the GP. It was the fastest MINI to date at the time and had some interesting aero tweaks including full length\u00a0under-body panels to smooth the airflow under the car. Those panels run at least $200 each if you can find them, but there is an alternative that is almost as good (but also at end of life.) The second generation (R56) Cooper S had optional underbody panels which were 90% the same shape as the original ones and only about $60 each. \u00a0Fitting them is fairly straight forward, but does require some modification of the panels and perhaps fabrication of one bracket.<\/p>\n<p>The first Gen cars have two of the necessary mounting points already attached. \u00a0Just remove the air flaps ahead of the rear tires and the panels slip on. \u00a0Once you work to the front of the car you will see the bits that need to be trimmed away to make them fit. You will need to drill six new holes in the floor pan to attach the rest of the mounting points, but don&#8217;t worry, there is nothing in the way of the bolts on the other side. On the passenger side, you will need to use a thread cutting tool to capture a bolt for the outboard side and the bracket for the inboard side. \u00a0On the driver&#8217;s side you will need to thread the outboard side then figure out how to attach the bracket. \u00a0I had it welded in place. \u00a0Now move to the front. \u00a0You do not want air washing over the leading edge so get some 1\/8th inch thick ABS plastic, bend it to fit and attach using screws or pop rivets. \u00a0That&#8217;s it. \u00a0If you have a lift, it could be done under 2 hours. \u00a0If you&#8217;re working on jack stands like I was, plan to double that and add a trip to chiropractor to the list.<\/p>\n<p>The first parts list shows the R53GP part numbers. \u00a0The second one is from the R56. The next three are before, after, and the leading edge\u00a0modification. The last photo is the Rennline Skidplate we installed the week before.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-09-12-at-1.58.16-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1829\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-09-12-at-1.58.16-PM-150x150.png\" alt=\"screen-shot-2016-09-12-at-1-58-16-pm\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-09-12-at-1.56.30-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1828\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-09-12-at-1.56.30-PM-150x150.png\" alt=\"screen-shot-2016-09-12-at-1-56-30-pm\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/IMG_2003.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1827\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/IMG_2003-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"img_2003\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/IMG_2026.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1825\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/IMG_2026-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"img_2026\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/FullSizeRender-5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1824\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/FullSizeRender-5-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Rennline skid plate\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of production for the first Generation new MINI came the GP. It was the fastest MINI to date at the time and had some interesting aero tweaks including full length\u00a0under-body panels to smooth the airflow under the car. Those panels run at least $200 each if you can find them, but there &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/diy\/gp-underbody-panels\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;GP Underbody Panels&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,14],"tags":[30,133,280],"class_list":["post-1823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diy","category-mini","tag-aero","tag-gp","tag-underbody"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcomotorsports.com\/specr53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}