I personally installed Malibu Stacy’s first suspension mod, custom anodized strut tower reinforcement plates from Way Motor Works. Perhaps you saw them on display at MOTD…



Using a 13mm socket and 3/8 wrench, I first loosened the three bolts...



and removed them by hand, being careful not to drop them down the engine bay.



Then I prepared the area by wiping off all the dust…



and laid the passenger-side plate in place, M7 side up.



Next, each of the bolts was set back in…



and hand threaded until tight. I followed that up with the torque wrench, tightening until it indicated that 25 ft lbs of torque was reached (click!).



Then I polished up the pink…



and repeated the same procedure on the other side.



Now Malibu Stacy has some beneath-the-bonnet bling to show off! Jealous? Go get your own.



Tools required:

- 13mm socket
- Socket wrench
- Torque wrench 0 – 25 Lbs
- Shop rag

Approximate time from start to finish: 5 minutes

Thanks to Way and Matt for the pink plates, and to Ed for supervising, photographing, and contributing to this complex and highly technical write-up.

 

Woot

NICE!!!

 

Nicely done! We certainly could use more write-ups featuring the Women of NAM! Y'know- for... the diversity. Yeah. Diversity.

 

Brains looks and she can MOD.


Good job.

 

Harumph. I would have pegged you for the stealth black ones.

 

Now, if only you could get a matching pink strut bar . . . that would be sweet.

 

Now you know as well as I do that girls only put black under there bonnet if they want people to see it.

 

Thanks, guys!

 

good job and nice write up!

 

Great job on the photos

 

The side benefits to this install were discovering a cracked shock mount and leaking motor mount. Not surprising, or uncommon.

 

Other than colorfull, what do you get out this aplication?

 

You mean there's something else?

They are supposed to help eliminate 'mushroomed' shock towers by dispersing the energy involved. Do a search on 'mushroom' for details and examples.

 

M7 Strut Tower Reinforcement Plates

Through the years, customers and friends with MINIs have had one common complaint: the strut towers mushroom after heavy impacts from the shocks and low aspect ratio tires. At a first glance the shock towers take on a slightly convex shape barely visible at a fist glance, but if you would compare it to the original sheet metal, you would find the horizontal plane has been moved as much as 3/8" upwards, throwing the suspension out of any possible alignment fix. The problem will most likely show up as a slight pull either left or right depending on which strut tower is buckled. The M7 SRP will solve this problem by sandwiching the sheetmetal and shock top plate, creating a homogenous top surface that will not bend, even during hard impacts. Adding the SRP to your MINI, is an inexpensive solution to an expensive fix. The plate is made from CNC machined aluminum, hard anodized black to prevent chipping, or oxidization.

Courtesy of www.waymotorworks.com

 

Great "how it's done" thread!

Looks like I would have to get rid of the tower strut I put on. Top photo, is the black bar a strut bar?

 

sigh ...

 

She had that done before that F150 in the background was even in the air!

 

Yes

 

We did this at the hobby shop on the Marine base. Not even 5 minutes after I finished, some guy walked up and asked what I'd done and how long it took. I was so proud to tell him!

 

<hijack>

You did this on base?!
Now that you've told us, does that mean you'll have to kill us?
Or was that only in Top Gun?

</hijack>

 

Look at that hottie , umm, umm...the MINI that is Nice mod Mrs. Cat, the pink makes Malibu Stacey even more Malibu-ey.

 

Is she's gonna kill us, it won't take long because she can just jump onto the Highway to the Danger Zone.

 

Shoulda done the pulley while you were under there. Nice work!

 

Good point, Chris. It's just a few more bolts...

 

I did some research on mushrooms through google and have plenty of examples to share.