MINI Countryman Skid Plate 10/14/11

Soon after taking delivery of our MINI Cooper S Countryman ALL4, I worked with Randy, Service Manager of MINI of Stevens Creek, and put the ALL4 up on a lift so I could take some photos of the underside and see how vulnerable the complicated workings were. Very vulnerable. So I ordered a skid plate from Detroit Tuned to protect the stuff up front when I drive on unpaved surfaces. It arrived and languished while the MINI had its roof painted white, white bonnet stripes added, mud flaps put on, and so on.

When I saw a MINI shop sign in Santa Clara, I stopped and talked with Rene Dominguez, proprietor, to see if I could get some help and lift time to install the skid plate.

This shows what was required to install the Detroit Tuned skid plate on my ALL4.
http://www.detroittuned.com/shop/?mark.x=6&mark.y=7&productID=518&vote=yes

Photos by George Hamma (C) 2011. High quality prints are available by clicking on the "Buy" button.

This is the shop I found in Santa Clara, CA - attracted by the MINI logo.
To start with we put the ALL4 up on the lift and stared at the underside of the front end. We had the skid plate for comparison and tried to figure out which five hole locations matched the ones on the plate.
We identified pieces that would have to come out in the front. I marked the strap on the car's left that would have to come out and the plastic protector under the air conditioner compressor that would also come out for the installation.
We identified the two larger bolts that will be replaced by longer ones at the rear of the plate.
Back to the front, the air conditioner shield is out and now we can see the two straps that will be removed in the front. The skid plate will strengthen the connection to the beam in the front.
Looking at the inside of the front beam from the rear, the center attachment bolt with its stronger plate nut is in place. The smaller plate nuts to the left and right will be replaced with stronger ones in the same holes, providing the three attachment bolts for the front of the skid plate.
We've put the front three bolts in where they go and we're checking to make sure the front is ready.
At the rear we've pulled out the two bolts at the ends of this structural member. They are replaced with longer bolts, metal standoffs, and large flat washers.
This is the connection for the rear in place, checking that everything fits. We held the skid plate against the bolts to make sure all hole locations matched.
We took the bolts out so we could get them ready for attachment. The holes we will use are next to the yellow dots.
We looked at the shield for the air conditioning compressor and felt we should restore it to the car, but there was an interference with one of the new skid plate attachment bolts. We marked a cutout that permitted it to be reinstalled with the skid plate in place.
The right side assembled shows the compressor shield in place. The back bolts are in place and the front is stuck above the front flaring before the three bolts have been installed.
We took each of the two large bolts out and added locktite.
The two large bolts in the rear were torqued in place.
The three front bolts were also torqued in place.
Viewed from below, the three bolts in the front and the two in the rear are in place. The large hole on the left provides clearance access to the crankcase drain plug.
This is a view of the completed installation to give a feel of how the skid plate sits below the engine. It does lower the clearance between the wheels.
This is a view from the rear showing the coverage of the skid plate and how far back it extends.
I can highly recommend Rene and his facility for doing things to MINIs. He was certainly a help with this new addition to my Countryman ALL4.