Made my own grill buttons with 2 bolts, 4 nuts and 2 old knobs off an antique radio or something.

Eventually I caved and bought a 'proper' button kit.

You won't regret it. Muuuuuch easier than taking out a dozen or so screws every time the grille needs to come off.

You're on the right road Darren. Email me some pix of your car and I'll post them for you if you like.

Great idea Malsal ! Thanks for the tip Mark. I don’t know what the ‘70’s knobs looked like, but they have some trick knurled alloy ones now that are available in about 6 colours. I like the look of them too. Cheers friends, Darren.

Two big magnets on the back of the grille will stop all this messing with screws and buttons ??

I have the knobs on either side but also two tiny tabs at the top which screw into the slam panel. Without the two screws in my grill hangs out due to the oil cooler. I personally like the look of the knobs. Just don't take your grill off to service your car in the 'field' then leave your grill off and drive away. Grill was in the car, but the 1970's era knobs are long gone now. Damn!

I like that tip 6464- the idea of leaving a slight gap to protect the paint on the slam panel. Thanks for the tip, I’ll be using it. And I’m only fooling myself about the lamps ; I’ll be installing a set with covers. Cheers bro !

Derwood, I know exactly what you are talking about. I have the factory driving lights. What I did , You have to locate the holes on the nose panel as normal for the thumb screws. Then you buy two 1/4 nut couplers. They are  1 inch long. They do come in stainless. From the back of the nose panel use 2 small bolts 1/4 - 3/8 thread length  to hold the couplers. Now you can use the thumb screws to the grill.  You might have to shorten threads on the thumb screws in length to fit into coupler tight.

When I want to remove the grill I bend down the spots. and I still leave the four sheet metal screws on the slam panel. What is nice about this setup is you can make your grill sit proud of the nose panel so it does not rub your paint away.

Thank you Malsal and Dan ! Great advice. I’m sure that I’ll be placing some sort of quick-release to my grill...but I’m undecided on the fog lamps ( although as Malsal indicated, the lamps will likely never be used ) ! But damn they look good. I’ll let you guys know what I decide ; odds have me installing the lamps , even if it means a few extra minutes of screwing....lol. Thanks Pals, Darren.

Similar to Malsal, I made my own quick releases.

I used "Tee knobs" (similar to these) and bolts. I drilled holes for the bolts in the bodywork braces and put the bolts through pointing forward, with nuts to hold them in place. Then holes were made in the grille and solid plastic spacers fitted between the slats so they would not be compressed. This way, the grille slides onto the bolts, making alignment much easier. From the image, you can see they really blend in to a black grille. As Malsal suggests, fasten the end and bottom grille trim to the grille. I suggest aluminum pop rivets, which don't leave sharp tips to grind away at paint or flesh. A couple of dabs of clear silicon to the back of the grill or trim where it rubs also helps (letting the silicone cure before putting the grill back on!).

Yes you just need the two screw mounts to hold the grille in place. Rather than looking at the big grille buttons i made up my own quick release grille which consisted of two 3/16" or so phillips head bolts which screw into two pre drilled holes with nutserts in them and are out of sight. Just screw the side pieces to the main grille with some short screws.
Mine had fog lamps and i just ran the wires under the grille, there was no need to remove them and if they are factory lamps they can be loosened slightly and tilted forward if need be.
They use a lot of that waxoyl in the wet UK so i guess it helps.

Hi friends ??. I’m going to install a quick release grill kit on my Mini for ease of servicing the lower, front portion of my Mini ( for adjusting ignition timing, changing parts, etc ) . First of all , am I correct that once the grill is removed for this mod, only one hole is needed to be drilled on each side of the front opening for the two quick release knobs to be bolted to, and from then on the grill is quick release ( as long as the quick release bolts alighn with a slot between grill horizontal slots ) ? Now, assuming that I get the quick release knobs installed, will I be defeating the purpose by installing a pairs of fog lamps ? What I mean is the fog lamps will have to be removed each time I want to do the quick removal of the grill ? One final question ; I’m planning to buy a large kit of waxoyl to do the underside and door inside bottoms, water traps etc. Has anyone ever tried it, and if so, how were the results ? I remember seeing it on MG Migbets, MGBs’ etc. Thanks gang for any and all replies. Derwood.