B&B Posted September 13, 2014 Report Share Posted September 13, 2014 After having Minis for years, I decided to give the grill badges a try on our "MaxC". I lowered the front license plate (actually took off the dealer installed one and purchased a hidden one) so as to show off the front grill and be legal in CA. At first, thought they might be too large for the front of our CMax. Now I'm thinking I need one more. Had one special made. mtb9153, ScubaDadMiami, C-MaxSea and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted September 13, 2014 Report Share Posted September 13, 2014 Interesting where did you find that CMax crest? Also how did you relocate the license plate holder? I wanted to remove mine all together but couldn't figure out how it was mounted? Looks like some rivets holding it in place. The dealer installed it before I took ownership since it is required in CA to have a front plate. But I hate it. Worth the fix it ticket for as long as I can get away with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B&B Posted September 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2014 The CMax crest is a custom badge by Gobadges.com. A lot of us Mini drivers have them. The plate holder is from skenedesign.com. Simple install, took all of 5 minutes and they even send you a drill bit. Taking out the dealer license bracket is a little harder but still easy enough.. It's held in with a push rivet and is best drilled out with a metal drill bit right through the center (actually the dealer could probably remove it for anyone during a service visit, if they didn't want to do it themselves). I will probably cover my holes in the grill with some automotive plastic clips that can be found at Lowes, Home Depot, True Value and Ace (60 cents each) but, placed some electrical tape there in the mean time and I think it looks just as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiling Jack Posted September 13, 2014 Report Share Posted September 13, 2014 Interesting where did you find that CMax crest? Also how did you relocate the license plate holder? I wanted to remove mine all together but couldn't figure out how it was mounted? Looks like some rivets holding it in place. The dealer installed it before I took ownership since it is required in CA to have a front plate. But I hate it. Worth the fix it ticket for as long as I can get away with it. Brother Mike: As you can see from my signature photo, I also hated the look of the stock position, and I lowered mine. Very easy to do. From my earlier post: It was actrually much easier than I expected, extremely simple, actually. The stock front license mount is attached with 3 pop rivets. These must be drilled out. I went to the dealer's parts department and bought 3 replacement rivets, partly to see what I was getting into, partly to see what size hole to drill (1/4 inch diameter will do), partly for possible use in my new mounting, and partly as a hedge in case I needed to revert to the original configuration. With the rivets out, I decided to replace the rivets with screws. I found some black rubber grommet nuts just about the right size. Actually they were a bit oversize. I could have drilled the holes out a bit larger, but (still hedging) I decided to shave the grommets down. (Having it to do over, I would enlarge the holes.) I pressed the grommet nuts into all 3 original rivet holes and fitted them with machine screws and washers. At this point I had a removable, replaceable, mount for the original position. The stock unit mounts in three places. The two top places are secured to black plastic between the horizontal chrome grille strips. The lower centered one is secured to the body paint colored bumper cover. To make the mounting in the lower posirion, I simply turned the mount upside down, retaining the single fastening location. I then secured the new bottom two fastening locations to the lower grille slate with (releasable) nylon tie-wraps. Prior to tightening down, I lined the (new) bottom edge of the mount with a rubber piece I made by splitting a length of automotive vacuum hose. I hoped this would both prevent shifting an protect the paint from being marred. I simply left the two upper black grommet nuts in place. They are hardly visible. Actually they are less visible than the holes. Actually,Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptjones Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 (edited) Another way to do it is to install a center Grill Cover, then install License Plate and Badges on it and improve MPG's to boot. :) Paul Edited September 14, 2014 by ptjones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B&B Posted September 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 I would have done the same also except that the dealer only drilled the top two holes when they installed it. I thought long and hard about doing what you did but would have meant drilling a new hole into the front of the bumper. Hence the decision to go with a new unit that didn't require any drilling to the front part that shows, that way if I ever decide to be a rebel and go sans front license, no holes in the bumper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B&B Posted September 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Covering the grill openings won't work in the desert. At our temps in the 110-120 degree range, we actually need more air flow not less. This application only works in cold climates to keep the engine warm. Actually, mpgs have dropped off (34-35) now but will return (40s) when the temps go down in winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiling Jack Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Doesn't actually cover the grille openings. Well spaced forward with openings on the sides. Plenty of space for flow into the center lower, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B&B Posted September 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Doesn't actually cover the grille openings. Well spaced forward with openings on the sides. Plenty of space for flow into the center lower, Mine too, our fronts are almost identical except for brackets. My last post was for ptjones, sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptjones Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Covering the grill openings won't work in the desert. At our temps in the 110-120 degree range, we actually need more air flow not less. This application only works in cold climates to keep the engine warm. Actually, mpgs have dropped off (34-35) now but will return (40s) when the temps go down in winter. I have spent alot of miles in the Desert Southwest with both center and lower Grill Covers installed and only needed to remove lower cover on long up hill grades. Center Grill Cover never needs to be removed from my testing. BTW CMAX runs cooler with A/C on except in very long uphill grades. :) Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Thanks for the description Smiling Jack thought those were rivets but was afraid to try drilling them out without being sure. Might look into this down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rony05 Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Brother Mike: As you can see from my signature photo, I also hated the look of the stock position, and I lowered mine. Very easy to do. From my earlier post: It was actrually much easier than I expected, extremely simple, actually. The stock front license mount is attached with 3 pop rivets. These must be drilled out. I went to the dealer's parts department and bought 3 replacement rivets, partly to see what I was getting into, partly to see what size hole to drill (1/4 inch diameter will do), partly for possible use in my new mounting, and partly as a hedge in case I needed to revert to the original configuration. With the rivets out, I decided to replace the rivets with screws. I found some black rubber grommet nuts just about the right size. Actually they were a bit oversize. I could have drilled the holes out a bit larger, but (still hedging) I decided to shave the grommets down. (Having it to do over, I would enlarge the holes.) I pressed the grommet nuts into all 3 original rivet holes and fitted them with machine screws and washers. At this point I had a removable, replaceable, mount for the original position. The stock unit mounts in three places. The two top places are secured to black plastic between the horizontal chrome grille strips. The lower centered one is secured to the body paint colored bumper cover. To make the mounting in the lower posirion, I simply turned the mount upside down, retaining the single fastening location. I then secured the new bottom two fastening locations to the lower grille slate with (releasable) nylon tie-wraps. Prior to tightening down, I lined the (new) bottom edge of the mount with a rubber piece I made by splitting a length of automotive vacuum hose. I hoped this would both prevent shifting an protect the paint from being marred. I simply left the two upper black grommet nuts in place. They are hardly visible. Actually they are less visible than the holes. Actually,Jack i know this is very old topic but i just got new to me cmax and really like licence plate placed lower . so i found this instruction ; and i made it even easier to do it.first of all thank you Jack for great instruction! what i did was , i drilled out 2 upper rivets and i left lower one which holds bumper. And i just turned the mount upside down. the rivet is so strong there so it is enough to hold the mount plate without moving. took me 1 minute to do it all . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiling Jack Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 i know this is very old topic but i just got new to me cmax and really like licence plate placed lower . so i found this instruction ; and i made it even easier to do it.first of all thank you Jack for great instruction! what i did was , i drilled out 2 upper rivets and i left lower one which holds bumper. And i just turned the mount upside down. the rivet is so strong there so it is enough to hold the mount plate without moving. took me 1 minute to do it all . Rony, Good going. I wish I had thought of leaving the single rivet in place before I bulled ahead. Glad you like the look. Now, if I could only find an Aston Marton badge in the right size! Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stanky626 Posted September 4, 2015 Report Share Posted September 4, 2015 Hi Guys, I love the look of the lower license frame. I'm gonna try it this weekend. Is there anything behind the top 2 rivets I should worry about drilling into? And, how deep should I drill? I'm gonna order some badges next. :) Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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