I do. The biggest hassle is getting access from above. If I remember correctly you have to pull the airbox assembly and battery. Not hard, just fiddly.

Then I believe a pried/levered the engine/trans assembly to the right just a tad to be able to slide the mount in and out. I must have had a floor
jack underneath the transmission.

 

I have been playing with mounts since I began my build in January. My car is roughly 400hp, a good candidate to test the mounts survivability.

I found the GP3 upper mount with Powerflex inserts + OEM transmission mount with Powerflex insert is the best combination so far. It is resilient and takes the abuse without bursting or collapsing. But ALL THREE mounts must be on a similar level for survival and performance to be good. What I mean by this is:

A. If you did your upper motor mount without correcting the dogbone or the transmission mount (which can be gotten to without doing crazy work), it will fail prematurely.

B. Even if the dogbone and upper mount are new and good, a shot tranny mount will allow way more vibration and movement than you want and will accelerate the wear on the other two.

C. Doing the tranny mount is not impossible. It requires loosening/removing the upper mount bolts, connecting the engine to an engine support up top and pulling and/or lowering the transmission position out of the way of the mount.

Using the GP3 mounts (upper engine & tranny) is an option for those who don't want additional stiffness. I used the OEM tranny mount b/c it was stiffer with the inserts for one and the GP3 is beefier and the Powerflex mount insert didn't work there. The brand new GP3 transmission mount is still in the box and for sale if anyone wants it since I went in the direction I did.

 

Hi
you want sale 22316886197?

 

Yes DM me

 

I was quoted $1200 by MINI to replace. Replaced it myself while upgrading my intercooler for $40.

 

Great, would you do it for me too? I'll pay you. Where are you located? Anybody has someone to recommend for this job in NY area that already did it and has the tools?

 

Sorry fren. I moved to Florida from New York 2 years ago.

 

Update we have aftermarket/oem for https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Sit...h/22116886196/ GP3 mount

And

Aftermarket
22118835566

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-bremmen-...2118743621~om/
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assemble...22118743621kt/

 

Are these just more heavy duty mounts than the standard Cooper S?

 

The 22116886196 is the newer revision GP3/JCW parts stock maker aka OEM so you save some $$$. If you want to use that version of the mount.
The aftermarket bremmen parts 22118835566 is a money saver /newer revision of the stock Cooper S part. If you want to use that version of the mount.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-powerfle...pff5-1321~pfx/ works with both as prevention/helper.

I know most people have the older versions and might want to do these and then get the little yellow dog bone polys at the same time.

Hope that helps.

 

Uhhhh

Current BMW GP3 part (and the one discussed upthread) is 22118835574, which itself is listed as a supersession of 22116886196. Now, I have absolutely no clue what the difference is between them (do you? would love to know), but heads-up

 

Nope, but i do see that little white SK sticker on the Lemforder one, but the next one that comes in could match the white SK sticker of 22118835574 MINI part.

 

Where? I am in Miami!

 

For the record, I have the latest GP3 upper mount with the Powerflex inserts and been hammering it with a 400hp B48 motor, still good to go and even after the CRAZY heat we saw a couple months ago where night temps were as high as 110+

If I plant the pedal and lift mid-boost the engine and tranny still trash a bit but gains composure fast also. I think once Direnza finishes the redesign of its more solid mounts I will end up using them given the power levels I am running/plan to run

 

How is it holding up so far?

 

Any used car you're buying for $1800 is destined for failure sooner than the MINI you're refusing to repair. No doubt about that.

 

How was it getting those bushings inserted? No one speaks of it being an issue, but every pic I see makes it look like there's barely enough clearance to get all 4 of them in without a fight.

Are they just compliant enough or did it take some wrangling somehow?

 

Install them before putting the mounts in the vehicle and you can handle most of the physics. Other than that...

For the upper engine mount, dish soap works very well as a lubricant. And the center component moves, so you're not trying to get them into fixed-clearance locations. There is more room to work in the upper pair than in the lower, so I would put the lower ones in first. You'll get the idea. Silicone spray or grease might also work as a lubricant. I used Dawn dishwashing liquid, which was fine, but over time the blue color discolored the bushings, go figure. Just use something that doesn't degrade polyurethane.

I don't have any hands-on with the lower mount or transmission mount, but I would imagine that similar tactical would apply.

 

Just posting for the record.

I have extended warranty but the dealer quoted $1700 for the work.

This is my 4th Mini and I'm really disappointed that after 33,000 miles this has happened. I had noticed a bit of vibration when idling on occasion and a couple of times had the slightest bit of difficulty getting into 2st gear.

I read through most of the thread and several people reported that their dealer did the replacement for free. I'd like to hear how you approached this because that's what I would like to do. 😇

 

sounds absurd. Engine mount is part of drivetrain I’m fairly certain.

 

I've sent a message to my local dealership appealing for them to pay the cost of the repair. I don't know if this will have any impact at all but I've got my fingers crossed. I appealed to them to pay for it because of a numbered list of reasons. I said I was a good customer, that this was the 4th Mini I've bought from them. That I paid a WHOLE lot for the extended warranty. And finally, that the car has 33.5K miles on it. In fact, I'm still paying for the car because the third Mini I bought was in May, 2018. That one was totaled when another driver hit their gas pedal instead of brakes and totaled my first 2018 Mini on Halloween. In November, I bought another without the benefit of a trade in so it's been rough!

 

Hopefully everything works out. If they deny you again, try to call MINI corporate and explain the situation. They might be willing to put pressure on the dealer.

 

+1

 

Absolutely phenomenal post, thanks for taking the time, you put a lot of effort into that!
I have a 2017 F56 Cooper S w/ Manual trans (Sept 2016 production date, 40k miles) so very similar to yours.
I am about to order the 22118835574 upper mount and Powerflex yellow bushings.
Recommended mount is the 22118835566 but based on this forum I will order the newer version.
In hindsight, would you still recommend this approach, or would you suggest going with the 22118835566 and no Powerflex bushings?
Thanks again.

 

@Andy from Hull thanks for the thanks -- glad it helped! And very cool that your 2017 F56S is just a month older than mine -- we've effectively got the same car!

My current take: definitely go with the GP3 mount (22118835574) and definitely go with the Powerflex bushings. Do *both*. The only change I would make is to a minor bit of my installation process (I'll get to that).

Since installing the GP3 mount and the Powerflex bushings about 2 years ago, I have watched discussion after discussion about the upper engine mount situation on multiple F-series MINI forums. There appears to be a solid consensus (amongst those paying attention, at least) that the Powerflex bushings benefit the longevity of the mount, and that this matters in turn because the GP3 mount -- whatever its benefits from being "upgraded" - is far from bulletproof. So an investment in the GP3 upgrade from standard when the cost differential is low remains sensible, and an investment in preserving that upgraded mount also remains sensible.

On my car, I do check the mount from time to time and I have yet to find obvious signs of degradation (not that there would be any until it had hit solid failure, I imagine, but still). The mount is in a tough to scrutinize location so the visual may not mean much outside of inspection using a borescope or similar (which I haven't done, but maybe I will). I remain happy with the install work I did and the parts I chose. I remain aware -- but only when I'm paying attention -- that the bushings do sometimes transfer engine vibration into the body at dead idle (like at a stoplight) but it is generally not noticeable enough. More like -- once in a while I catch it and go "oh yeah, I remember that, I know what that's coming from." It's the sort of thing that someone really attuned to their car will note, and probably nobody else will.

The one change I would make is to my install process, and it's minor. When I did the install, to aid in getting the Powerflex bushings into the mount (which you should absolutely do before putting the mount in the car, btw), I greased them up with Dawn dishwashing liquid. Slippery stuff and definitely kept the silicone of the Powerflex from getting caught up in the tackiness of the rubber used in the mount. However, that Dawn dishwashing liquid's blue color ultimately got cooked into a brown/black that discolored the Powerflex bushings. No functional concern -- it's 100% aesthetic, and more of a "hey I didn't mean to do that" than anything else. Were I to do the install today, I would use silicone spray instead, and if that wasn't good enough to do the trick, I would use a clear liquid soap of whatever kind.

Hope this is useful! And thanks again!