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Suspension :: MCS Spring Install How-To (with big pics)
*EDIT May 15 2010 - fixed the broken photos, my apologies!!*
The purpose of this article is to show you how to install aftermarket springs on your Mini Cooper or Mini Cooper S. I'm kind of jacking RandyBMC's old writeup and inserting some pictures and commentary. Standard disclaimers apply, if you break your car, don't whine to me.
We'll start with the front. First, jack up the front of the car and support it with jack stands. Be sure you've loosened your lug nuts first.
Remove the front wheels, and you'll see this:
Remove the swaybar droplink from the strut, using a 16mm open-ended wrench and a 5mm allen key to hold the bolt stationary. You can see it is removed here:
Next remove the brake lines and ABS sensor from the strut, they simply pull off their clips attached to the shock housing.
Now it's time to remove the lower strut bolt. You can see the wrench attached to the bolt in the previous picture. An 18mm socket will remove this for you.
After this, the hub carrier will be free to move away from the shock housing. If it is not, use a hammer to whack away at the hub carrier and it will pop loose:
Remove the top three 13mm nuts (yes, you need to pop the hood for this one) on the shock tower:
The spring and shock will now to be free to come out. Whip out your trusty spring compressor and air tools, and get to work:
Compress the spring.
Remove the strut nut cap. Remove the top nut (18mm) with your impact wrench (you DO have an impact wrench, right?):
Remove the old spring, and install the new spring, making sure the bump stomps line up with the spring properly.
Compress the spring, attach the bump stops, and put the nut back on top of the mounting plate. Impact that back on there, then uncompress the spring. Finished result:
Re-installation of the shock is the reverse of disassembly. A quick review: insert shock housing, tighten top three nuts, insert shock housing into hub carrier, tighten carrier bolt, re-attach ABS and brake lines to shock housing, re-attach swaybar bolt.
Re-attach your wheels, drop the front and re-tighten your lugs. You've finished the front.
Now, onto the rear (much easier). Jack up the rear, remove the wheels.
Remove the brake lines and ABS sensor from the strut housing, they're pictured here:
The lower strut bolt is masked by a rubber boot. Simply remove the boot by hand.
Remove the 21mm strut bolt - you'll need a breaker bar, trust me:
Now, remove the top strut plate bolts (13mm):
The rear strut will now slide right out.
Now it's time to compress the rear strut coil and remove the spring. No pics here, same as the front. The top nut on the rear strut is 13mm. Zip zip that off with your impact wrench after compressing the spring. Remove the rear spring, insert your new spring, compress, and attach top. Remember to make sure the bump stops line up.
Reinstallation is the reverse of disassembly. Here's what it looks like back on the car:
Re-attach your rear wheels, lower the car and tighten your lugs. Congratulations, your new suspension is installed.
Here were the results using M7 springs, the pics are bad as we finished around 12:00am (took about 4 hours taking our time), will get more pics at the dyno day tomorrow. Any questions about the install please feel free to ask.
Front:
Rear:
Comments, questions, criticism welcome. Performed on an '04 MCS, M7 springs.
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'04 Indi Blue/White Mini Cooper (no mods yet)
'01 Audi A4 1.8T (with mods)
Last edited by twoturbos1mission; 05-15-2010 at 06:36 PM.
Reason: re-add photos
good write up. what a nice looking MCS! (it's mine)
will have to add some more after pics when you can actually see the car.
Couple extra comments: be sure to be caught eating some pizza ala the first pic. and always use a good bottle of beer for scale when showing the spring
Also, i apologize for the filthy car, it got washed after the install.
On the '02, and probably some other years, the driver's side stock strut is harder to remove as the hub won't drop quite far enough. Did you have that problem with the '04?
We had to whack the driver's side with a hammer and give it little force for it to move. It didn't seem hard to move out of the way, we had to give equal consideration to the pass. side.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlm
On the '02, and probably some other years, the driver's side stock strut is harder to remove as the hub won't drop quite far enough. Did you have that problem with the '04?
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'04 Indi Blue/White Mini Cooper (no mods yet)
'01 Audi A4 1.8T (with mods)
this procedure doesn't work on all the cars, due to suspension design changes or differences between the mcs and others?? good for you if it does!
when i tried this (randy's posted) procedure on my 9/2002 build 2003 mcs, no way could i get the front struts off without either compressing the strut springs on the car or breaking the tie rod and hub joints. i had about 3/4" to 1" interference between the strut and the well liner.
there previous posts about this and randy confirmed it by phone.
this procedure doesn't work on all the cars, due to suspension design changes or differences between the mcs and others?? good for you if it does!
when i tried this (randy's posted) procedure on my 9/2002 build 2003 mcs, no way could i get the front struts off without either compressing the strut springs on the car or breaking the tie rod and hub joints. i had about 3/4" to 1" interference between the strut and the well liner.
there previous posts about this and randy confirmed it by phone.
The service manual states that you also need to move the tie rod out of the way, as well as the lower control arm. I'm sure doing this guarantees you'll need an alignment, but these procedures might be necessary for certain vehicles.
FWIW, there are no MY-specific changes described in the manual, other than the swaybar link removal procedure and the strut components. These differences are pre- and post- 03/2002 builds.
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'04 Indi Blue/White Mini Cooper (no mods yet)
'01 Audi A4 1.8T (with mods)
[QUOTE=twoturbos1mission]The service manual states that you also need to move the tie rod out of the way, as well as the lower control arm. I'm sure doing this guarantees you'll need an alignment, but these procedures might be necessary for certain vehicles......[QUOTE]
absolutely not true. i've done it and the alignment doesn't change; you don't mess with the adjustment of the length of the rod. another post says that helix also uses the factory method.
I am getting ready to install some coil overs and I have been poking around the car trying to figure it out before tearing it apart. The rears "looked" too simple to be true. But, alas!! they are that simple.
Thank you again. Looks like my MINI is getting the suspension installed this weekend.
On the '02, and probably some other years, the driver's side stock strut is harder to remove as the hub won't drop quite far enough. Did you have that problem with the '04?
We had this problem today. I was on a lift doing a swap to a coil over setup so this is what we did:
We raised the lift and wedged a 2x4 under the bottom of the spring seat. We kept the top bolts finger tight for this, in other words we kept the top in place. Then lowered the car until it compressed the spring and lifted the suspension.
At this point we hit the buckle with a rubber mallot and the buckle dropped down the strut rotated foward and away from the buckle. By now the spring had extended back out and the 2x4 was just leaning against it.
Took the 2x4 out of the way removed the top screws and pulled the strut out. Wala!!!
Putting the new coil over back in was a breeze, it was 2 inches shorter.
One tip that I could suggest as well. Something I missed and it really screwed me up. There is a flange on the back side of the strut that needs to go into the groove int he buckle make sure that lines up as you slide the strut back into the buckle. I didnt and it baffled me for about 15 minutes.
Thanks for the instructions. We only had to deviate a bit on my '02. The front driver side strut is a complete PITA as it won't clear the hub carrier. After reading the forums and scratching our heads for several hours we tired something different that worked like a champ. Let me know if you have questions with this procedure.
1) Drop the hub carrier as instructions above describe. If you find you are still short a few inches, try the next few steps.
2) Remove the wheel well liner to allow for more working room.
3) Remove the 3 screws on the shock tower allowing the shock housing to drop down.
4) Now use your spring compressors to compress the spring while still on the car.
5) Remove the strut nut cap and the top portions of the housing.
6) Now you should have enough clearance to remove the spring and bottom portion of the housing together.
7) We did the reverse on the install to be safe (assembled the housing on the car).
BTW... Thanks twoturbos1mission for the excellent DIY write-up. It really helped me out with my JCW suspension install. Kudos to you for taking the time to post it!
We just changed to H-Sport springs in my 04 MC, and had the same problem with the driver's-side strut. Our solution was to compress the spring in-place with 2 sets of channel-locks. that way I could lift the strut slightly to get it out. Worked perfectly!
Be sure to note that some springs require a bit more attention in the final disassembly. With the H-sports, the bump-stops are changed before rebuilding.
Thanks for the instructions. We only had to deviate a bit on my '02.
I installed camber plates on a friend's 02 MCS a couple or three years ago and had the same issue with the strut bottoms not clearing the steering knuckle because of insufficient suspension droop. Had to compress the strut while it was on the car, which was a considerable PITA due to the restricted space available. Same problem both sides.
Other cars I've worked on that have a similarly clamped strut (e.g. BMW E46) were able to clear the knuckle (sometimes with slight persuasion...). However they don't have to worry about front driveshafts and CV joints.
I like your "tropical play sand" bag, we have something similar, it's called a beach and they can be easily found year round. You just drive until you hit one.
Also I noted your product placement for Bass Pale Ale. But no explanation how that product was used in the installation process. I'm sure it was an enhancement and purely optional depending on the "thirst factor" of the mechanics and photographer.
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#43 Street Modified (SM) Class SCCA Hawaii Region
2005-2009 Solo Run Off and Points Champion (Hawaii)(2nd 2006 Points)
2005-2008 Overall PAX: 8th 2006, 7th 2007, Tied 10th 2008.
2010-2011 Modified FWD RallyCross (Points Champion) http://www.sccahawaii.org/pics2008/s.../img_38944.jpg
My brother and I installed my M7 springs this weekend using a laptop and this posting as a guide. We finished in under 2 hours using a lift and airtools. Thanks for the write up!!!
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Now...2010 PW MCSC
Then....K9MINI ,IB/IB,JCW full 04 package,04mcs,Whalen+Rogue SSkit ,Aero kit,Nology wires/screamin demon coil,M7 strut brace,Alta CAI,17" R90s+ more
My brother and I installed my M7 springs this weekend using a laptop and this posting as a guide. We finished in under 2 hours using a lift and airtools. Thanks for the write up!!!
Thanks for the photos, it cut my learning curve in half. Just completed the job. No problems what so ever! Actually, I intended to use two ratching nylon straps to compress the springs. Used them on the first front strut and the work very well. On the other three, I just used the impact to loosen the nuts and uncompress the springs for removal. My M7 shorter springs would compress by hand just enough to get the nuts started and the inpact drove them home. If I can figure out how, I will post a couple of pics.
Thanks again love the looks of it, if I can keep from running over something over 2.5 inches high now.
I just did a spring install Tuesday without a impact wrench. It isn't too hard to remove the strut nut but you will need someone to help hold the strut while you loosen it. I will go look up the torque specs for you. Be right back!
The front strut retaining nut gets 47lbs. The rear strut retaining nut gets 22lbs. Hope that helps. I got the info from the Bentley Manual. The install isn't hard but it did take me about 4 1/2 hours. It was my first spring install and I only had hand tools. Good Luck with your install.
(it's mine)
love the looks of it, if I can keep from running over something over 2.5 inches high now.
