I finally got this done! Figured out I'd share some tips to make it easier for the next guy/gal.

Typed out DIY with tips, sorry no pics but if you know your Mini and are decent with a wrench, this should be easy to follow.

There are 3 mounts that hold up the powertrain: upper, lower and transmission. If you intend to do the transmission mount too, you should do it at the same time as the upper engine mount (because you'll need to access it and completely loosen it to lower the engine enough to remove the transmission mount).

TIP: it gets hard keeping track of all the bolts and screws. Take pics before you remove anything and then each step of the way. You'll refer to these later, trust me. For each section you remove, put the bolt/screws/clips you remove in one plastic bag and mark what they were for, section by section.

TIP: Take a pic of headlights with hood closed before removing, noting particularly how they're centered within the hood opening. When reinstalling headlights, put in the bolt first and then the 3 screws but do not tighten ANY of them fully. The hood can contact the headlight if not centered. Close the hood lightly to test fit a few times and when happy with location, tighten the main bolt to hold in place and proceed from there with minor adjustments.

UPPER MOUNT (22118835566)

1. Remove headlight
   • Pull off rubber gasket. Then, 1 bolt and 3 Torx screws per headlight (use a power tool, much easier and smoother. I tried to remove these scews by hand & the little metal square in the back begins to rotate which it's not supposed to do. A power tool just rips them clean out) Now unclip headlight connectors and remove the light. Then put the clips back in their original place (without the headlight) so you dont lose them.
2. Remove the motor cover by simply pulling it off. It's secured by pressure tabs.
3. Place a floor jack under the center of the motor to secure it in place, so it doesnt drop when you remove the motor mount.
4. You'll need reverse Torx (aka e-Torx/star, etc) sockets to remove the 5 bolts from the motor mount. BMW Specifies these are all 1-time use bolts so you'll need new ones along with the new motor mount.
5. With the motor secured underneath by the floor jack, remove all 5 bolts and throw them away. You should now be able to finagle the motor mount out of the car through the side. Theres good videos on YouTube showing this. You may also need to lift or lower motor a tad using your floor jack to make it easier to get it out.
6. Now, insert the new mount & then lift/lower the motor to just the right height so that the mounting holes all line up. Then work in the new bolts gently by hand (power tools might cross-thread) with a hand ratchet.
7. Torque to specs (I just tightened as much as I could as it was late, I was tired and didn't know the exact specs. I also recalled that I was able to remove the original bolts by hand without too much of a struggle, so they couldn't be torqued all that much anyhow)

LOWER MOUNT
(you have two options here: you can just replace the main bushing or replace the entire lower mount. I decided to replace the bushing with Powerflex. Either way, its the same procedure to get it out and replace)

1. Lift the car and safely secure as you're going to be underneath so take every prudent precaution. I like extra jack stands all around me for peace of mind.
2. Remove the underbody plastic covers (8mm screws)
3. You should now be able to see the dogbone mount attached to the car frame and the motor as well. . It's secured by 3 e-torx bolts.
4. Secure the motor in place with your floor jack (in fact lifting the motor just a tad make it easier to remove the lower engine mount) and then undo the 3 bolts, remove and replace!

MANUAL TRANSMISSION MOUNT (22316853453)
This is the HARDEST one to do. I nearly gave up, then a neighbor (35 year mechanic) showed up and made me look dumb. Lol.
Again, BMW specifies you do not reuse the original bolts, up to you. Also, this one has the most prep work, as you'll see.

1. remove driver headlight (3 Torx screws, use a power tool to remove quickly yet smoothly. I tried slowly cranking by hand and the metal square in the back of the clamp just annoyingly begins to turn with the screw as it slips out of its weak shell)
2. lift car (doesnt have to be too high) and remove driver-side wheel and wheel well cover. Put on jack stands as you'll need your floor jack to lift and support your motor.
3. Support the motor with your floor jack in place.
4. You'll need to remove: airbox, battery & then battery tray.
   • The battery tray is tricky because the DME/ECU sits in there in its white plastic box too. Undo the 1 bolt holding the ECU box in place, loosen it out of the battery tray and you can swing it up and out of the way. You can hold it up and out of the way with a short bungee cord, you dont need to undo any of the connectors to the ECU.
   • Next, remove the 5 bolts securing the battery tray in place (3 in back, 2 in front). There is also a fat hose sort've clipped to it in front, just take that out of the clip.
5. You should now be able to see the transmission mount. There are 8 bolts securing it in place, 7 e-torx & 1 standard bolt in the wheel-well. With the engine supported, remove all 8 bolts. This is where it gets tricky, you wont be able to just remove the transmission mount as it wont clear the transmission itself by a few millimeters. This is what you'll need to do:
   • loosen the 3 bolts securing the motor to the upper motor mount (on the passenger side) completely. Now, you should have the transmission mount bolts all removed as well.
   • GENTLY lower the motor itself by releasing the floor jack thats been supporting it. You'll now still need another 1-2mm to get transmission mount out.
   • You'll need a friend and a pry bar here! You or your friend will need to use the pry bar to gently move the motor toward the passenger side. All you need is about 2mm so it isnt too much. With one person pushing the motor, the other can now get the transmission mount out of the car.
6. Do everything in reverse and you're done!

Theres a reason BMW wanted to charge me $2,700 to replace all 3 I guess!!
My upper motor mount was in shambles, these go bad every 30-40k miles or so (per BMW service tech). The lower mount was also loose but not totally done for like the upper one was. The transmission mount was very soft compared to the new one as well. Considering how soft the rubber is for all three, BMW had to have known they'd need to be replaced often and could've made it much easier to do so but, they didn't. Oh well. Hope this helps some of you out!

 

@2014MCS_Miami here are the torque specs for the upper engine mount. Note the engine mount to cylinder block also calls for a 90-degree turn after hitting torque, as these are torque-to-yield aka TTY aka stretch bolts (hence the instruction not to reuse). Also note the engine mount to body (side member) bolts are also TTY but the torque is way high by comparison (pretty close to lug nut torque in fact).

If you want torque specs for the other mounts just give a shout. Nice writeup

 

this is awesome, thanks for the added info!

 

Thanks for the info. I would love to have the torques specs for the lower mount and transmission mount also, please. What is your source for these specs. Thank you

 

Lower mount (the "dogbone" mount):



Transmission mount:



Source is BMW TIS.

 

Thank you

 

Thanks again, but would you happen to know the part numbers for the replacement bolts on the Transmission Mount? Is it 7 of the M10 with pn 07129908650 and 1 of the M8 with pn 07119907865?