This is embarrassing...

I'm in the process of rebuilding the rear shock assemblies.

I've got them all apart and don't know how the rotational positioning of the upper mount plate and upper spring seat pad goes.

The Bentley manual doesn't have too much regarding this.
The Koni manual smartly tells you to mark prior to disassembly.
Too late for that now

A video I found shows the opposite positioning compared to the manual.
https://youtu.be/G06WK8MORcQ

It looks like the fat side of the upper plate goes to the outside of the vehicle.
Then I don't know where to position the pad locator...

Does anyone know or have any sources?

Thank for your help guys!!

 

Also,

I figured out why I went to disassemble the rears all ***** nilly.

I made sure on the fronts.
The fronts have the spring pads that mate to the spring pads.
Then the spring pads are shaped to mate with the spring.
There's no screwing up the position of them.

The rears don't really have this feature.


Edit:
I don't know if this matters.
Can't really find anything saying it does except for the Koni instruction to mark before dissembly.

I mean, if it mattered, it would've been mated like the front, right?
And the rears are only mated at the top.
I don't understand why this is the case...
Am I overthinking this?

References:
https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/MINI/38-SUSPEN-Rear_Shock_and_Spring_Replacement/38-SUSPEN-Rear_Shock_and_Spring_Replacement.htm

http://www.billswebspace.com/R53SpringsRCAInstallation.htm

 

On the rears, if it doesn't fit the right side, then it's the left side and vice versa. They'll only fit one way.

 

If you look up at the mount location from under the car, you should be able to see an outline of the top mount.

 

Thanks, yup, I found the upper mount plate goes with the fat side to the outer side of the vehicle.

The upper spring seat looks like it doesn't matter since it can be rotated the full 360 degrees.

So back together it goes!

 

Alright!
Contrary to what I first thought, it looks like how the rear spring sits on the bottom spring pad does matter.
As I rotate the spring in relation to the bottom spring pad/perch, the spring will go from cockeyed to straight.

Now, when I tried mounting the struts, they don't quite line up.
I tried jacking up the strut, but it's still not lined up.
Are they supposed to line up perfect and not require forcing into the correct position?

Has anyone had experience with the lower mount on the rear struts not lining up?

Thanks

 

Just to close this off...
It was a bit tricky to compress the shock straight without any other movement.
Once I did though, it was just a matter of moving the trailing arm to match.
All good.