Inner wing mods?

[haynes]

Any ideas how much of the inner wing needs to be kept without needing brace bars, for the mot? I'm keeping the wings all welded on but want to give a bit more access. On the clutch side theres the large air intake hole which looks a bit crap.

I was thinking of at least creating large enough holes at the bottom to get a hand/arm through if needed. I'm sure ive seen the inner clutch side wing replaced with a perspex panel, would that get through an mot?

[Cooperman]

Please remember that the entire Mini body shell is a fully stressed monocoque entity. In structural design terms any removal of the basic structure will make the shell lose structural integrity. My fears about removal of outer wings and modification of inner wings concern where impact loads are resolved into the shell in the event of side or quarter impacts as well as pure direct frontal impact loadings.
Personally I would never, ever remove outer wings without fitting a full cage, but even then the cage does not extend far enough forward to take out front impact loadings.
If doing this you really need to 'over-engineer' the entire front end with strengthening bars and tubes. The basic sub-frame is very strong, but the mountings at the front onto the front panel do add a lot to the overall structural integrity.
I always ask people why they really want to do this when Minis are really so easy to work on and have such a strong basic shell. But then, I'm a bit old-fashioned I guess as I also don't like 13" wheels.