Putting in the Catless DP from Way and trying to save a buck by doing it myself.

MyMini is on jackstands in the garage now thought i would just bang this out on a Sunday... It all seems fairly simple, but I have run into a snag. I can't for the life of me get the front subframe/radiator support to slide forward for the room to get to the down pipe bolts.

Followed the YouTube guide from Bentley. Is there something I am missing that they don't show in the video. Have double checked but there is no bolts or anything that I can see I missed.

I have swapped out the sway bar on the Mini myself already and have lifted 2 of my previous jeeps myself so feeling a little silly.

Thanks for the help and if someones Search-Fu is stronger than mine I would love a link if its easier than.

2007 R56 S

 

looking for some tips on how to slide it forward. How much force did you need? any tips for leverage?

 

I didn't put the car in service mode. After removing the top heat shield and loosening the lower heat shield, you should be able to slide the DP off the car from underneath. Install the new one in reverse. It's a pain and takes a couple hours but it's done. I installed Way's DP as well.

 

I also did not put it in service mode. I used a 10mm hinged ratchet wrench to access some of the heat shield bolts. I also had Way's DP.

Be careful when you remove the nuts from the studs on the turbo. One of mine galled and eventually striped out. Luckily I could retap the hole.

I've heard that some can corrode, preventing it from going into service mode.

 

I didn't put my car into service mode either. Get a selection of wrenches, sockets, and extensions in 10 mm and go after the heat shield. The far passenger bolt on the upper shield is slotted, so you don't have to take the bolt all the way out.

ratcheting wrenches are your friend.

I had one of the studs back out of the turbo, I bought bolts to use and have had no issues (one stud and two bolts).

While you have the dp off, check for an oil leak on the oil cooler/oil filter housing and turbo oil lines. Look with a flashlight from underneath.

Have fun,
Mike

 

I'm another person who go the WMW DP and did not put it into service mode. In fact I didnt even remove the studs from the turbo. Took some magic but I got it on without stripping a thing. Now at the end of the job I did leave a couple screws off the the lower heat shield due to frustration, but everything is fine and working! In fact I still haven't gone back to install the 2 screws. Theres no noise and everything is secure, so I'll wait till I end up having to replace the turbo oil line to put it back on.

 

I've read somewhere that the shield should be put back on. However, the lower one kicked my ***. If I am running a Cat-less down pipe heat treated for up to 1600 EGT, would it make a big difference, or hurt performance if left off. I figured that shield was there due to the stock CAT.

Thoughts?

 

thanks for the advice everyone! The ratcheting wrenches were a big help, was able to get it done without service mode. Ended up taking much longer than planned, but love doing it myself.

The ratcheting wrenches are an amazing invention and I suggest anyone woking on a Mini or other vehicle with tight packaging pick some up.

 

I had a failed gasket on my oil filter housing that I finally got around to replacing this weekend. I was adding the detroit tuned oil line kit at the same time for good measure so I needed to take the downpipe off. I had tried about a month ago to do this without putting the car into service mode and failed.

I ran into the same problem you had where I followed the bently video and then couldn't get the bars to budge at all. I even got some ratchet straps out and nearly puled the car off the blocks trying to yank it forwards.

After looking at it some more I found 2 bolts on the end of either extension bar that bolt the radiator support to those extensions that should have slid out. They were some combination hex and torx head with an integrated washer, they came off easily and then the whole front end came forward no problem. I was a little nervous just letting the front end hang there but I really didnt want to disconnect the AC or electrical lines, I propped it up with a block of wood to make sure it wouldnt fall off on me.

Once I had that moved forward a few inches, the whole front of the engine was exposed and I could see all the heat shield bolts no problem. The hardest part of the whole job was just figuring out how to undo those fender clips.

 

I've done it both ways: with radiator 2" away from the turbo heat shields (1st time), and in service mode that buys another 3-4" of space.

You could not pay me enough to try to contort around in 2" of space to install the heat shields back on.
But both approaches are clearly doable and have been utilized successfully.

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