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What a pita , lol... it was going ok until a bolt snapped in the knuckle..
ille try drilling it out tomorrow ifnot ille just order a used replacement..
I had a hell of a time getting the control arms into the control bushings. I had to grind abit of the inside bushings were oblong shaped and was IMPOSSIBLE to press on. So that took a bunch of extra time... unfortunately ille have to go back at it tomorrow's and get as far as I can without that knuckle.
i also hope I set the preload tension correctly on the rev9 coilovers because of course there were no instructions. My luck I got them too stiff and ille have to completely reset them while there on. Ugh..
I found the cause of the clunking on the passenger side too I believe. The strut mount has a big crack In it...i SHOULDA just seen that and through in JUST the coilovers and not opened such a big can of ****.
awe well. This is the mod life rite ????
Again , I'd like to thank megadan for helping me out...
I needed a knuckle and he had one so I didn't need to wait on shipping and was able to continue on working..
buuuuuut I went to inspect the axle bearings because the boots have been torn since purchasing the car aaaaaaand their JUNK. SOOO new axles and lower strut mount bolt ordered.
maybe ille do the rears tomorrow since I gotta wait for the other stuff to get here anywaanyways.. lol always 1x step forward and 2x steps back when working in these cacars.. but it's expected so it is what it is... no pain no gain.
Control arm bushings : Am I seeing that right or are my eyes playing tricks on me?...
How did you manage to pull the control arm brackets without removing the subframe?
Or is it that you only dropped the subframe halfway?
Greatly appreciate any insight. I'll be preforming a complete refresh on my front end in a couple of weeks and I kinda dreading having to entirely drop the subframe
Dropping the subframe is really only a 45 minute activity, and can be done with the bumper on if you remove the shocks separately. This makes doing LCA, tie rods, and...everything else much easier. I've never done LCA bushings in-situ and they can be such a PITA even with the subframe out that I've never even considered trying it.
Dropping the subframe is really only a 45 minute activity, and can be done with the bumper on if you remove the shocks separately. This makes doing LCA, tie rods, and...everything else much easier. I've never done LCA bushings in-situ and they can be such a PITA even with the subframe out that I've never even considered trying it.
Not intending to divert or hijack your thread Adam...
Thanks for that tip megaDan.! I think I can visualize what you are referring to
I've pre-pressed a pair of lower control arm brackets with powerflex bushings so I can just bolt them in. I figured that would be one less headache to contend with beforehand rather than having to deal with spending the time trying to hack out the old bushings at the time of refresh.
To your point regarding struts/shocks = I'll also be installing a new set of Bilstein B14 coilovers at the same time. So I may have that advantage if it's easier.
Thanks.
We now return you to our regular scheduled thread hosted by MiniManAdam
Control arm bushings : Am I seeing that right or are my eyes playing tricks on me?...
How did you manage to pull the control arm brackets without removing the subframe?
Or is it that you only dropped the subframe halfway?
Greatly appreciate any insight. I'll be preforming a complete refresh on my front end in a couple of weeks and I kinda dreading having to entirely drop the subframe
yes , I only dropped it half way , I lowered it on a jack just far enough to remove the control arm bracket/swaybar bushing bolts..
Dropping the subframe is really only a 45 minute activity, and can be done with the bumper on if you remove the shocks separately. This makes doing LCA, tie rods, and...everything else much easier. I've never done LCA bushings in-situ and they can be such a PITA even with the subframe out that I've never even considered trying it.
so I coulda left the crash tube attached ??? I just assumed they had to come off when lowing the subframe.
lol I'm sure I took off more than I than to but better safe than sorry..
I made good progress today..the rears went rite in , no problem.
buuuut my order was for some reason canceled after 3x days of waiting for it to ship from wmw so now i STILL need a lowrr strut mount bolt abd i cannot for the life of me find what size it is..i we t to ace and Menards with my 1x good bolt and neither had anything that woulda worked unfortunately.
so I coulda left the crash tube attached ??? I just assumed they had to come off when lowing the subframe.
Nope, I'm an idiot. I was preoccupied and was confused by some of the 'uniqueness' on the last vehicle I serviced. Bumper skin and crash bar have to come off to get the crash tubes off. But radiator and shroud can stay on and coolant can stay in. Sorry for the confusion. STILL super easy and I'll buy anyone some of my favorite chicago dogs from Sammys if they can find a quicker method.
Alllllllllmoooooooost done , the adjustable front swaybar end links should be here tomorrow and then I will adjust the height better and make sure all 4x corners are exactly where I want them.. If you look at the front , I want them to raise it about .5in so there's about 3/4in wheel gap evenly all around all 4x wheels...
the new axles went in with 0 issues, idk WHY if was SO HARD to get them to seat in my other mini..
AAAAAAAND I FOUND OUT THIS CAR HAS AN LSD !!!!!!!
sooooooo that's always nice to know , too bad my Grey car doesnt..lol my fast one doesn't have an lsd..haha I'm ghetto.
I got all 4x corners pretty equally set but ad it settles I will have to readjust them one last time.. lol I onky jacked up n lowered the car probably 40x today.. lol I'm BEAT.
BUT the tesla endlinks I ordered ended up working out awesome. It took minor modification to the inlets to accept the larger bolt end on the links but totally OK to save 50% and get a much beefier end link then too.
if I have time I'm hoping to finish the car tomorrow and limp it down the block to the local car show as it's memorial day show and it's their biggest all year. I'm already going to be taking the grey mini but I'd really like to get this one there too as i know most the people there as its alot of local peeps.
anyways here's how it's sitting sofar guys.
Check out how well the end links fit too !
O yea , lol i HAD to install my 5mm spacers but i wanna buy as think ones as i can because the tires only need about 1mm of clearance because they're so fat. Lol they were rubbing abit.
Last edited by MiniManAdam; May 26, 2023 at 05:06 PM.
Scored a few goodies off a mini in the salvage yard..
my 421 headers from summit also came so ille have to get the new style collector welded on and wideband bung. I got a full wideband kit to install out of my other mini because i put in a wider sweep aem one in that car for when it goes e85..
I had to do so percussion maintenence on the strutbar to get it to sit down flush. Then i sanded it , sandblasted it , anti rust coated it and then hit it with some black wrinkle paint and ille clearcoat it tomorrow. I also snagged 2x sweet rear adjustable control arms but unfortunately the other 2x were snapped from the crash ..
I pulled the aftermarket taillights off of it to for my buddy, they were the exact ones I have on this car.
I got the control arms and strut bar for well under 100$ so I'm happy even with the little repairs I had to do.
I been setting thr cpilovers too , i got all 4x corners where i want thwanbut i need to ad some more pretension because i want it abit stiffer of a ride still. Though its abit stiffer than stock rite now i have a spefic stiffness i prefer.
Wow, that must be a brace from 2002 era. Most of those companies are no longer around.
I was guessing it was old by its condition.. i also couldnt find any info on it so I don't know if monster mini was the brand name or what. It's definitely a heavy-duty bar ille give it that but it's gets a 0 for style points...lol it's ugly imo but itle serve its purpose well.
Yes their are a bunch of people that made parts for the MINI back in 2002-2005. Most of them are now gone. Its was the F&F days. Everybody had parts, sadly most moved on. Lucky we are still hear to keep it moving.
So I just couldn't get the rear end to sit perfectly even. The right side always wanted tl sit higher unless i set the coilover way lower but that wasn't the rite way to do things..
so I said " might as well put on the adjustable rear control arms because I might need to adjust it around that then " and once I did.. OMFG , these can't be normal, look how squiggly my 2x lower rear control arms are..
I set the adjustable control arms both side at -3 degrees of camber only but that enough fir a dailydriver. And wouldn't ya know it ? the rear end sits level now.. so ima let it sit over night and settle and test drive it somemore tomorrow and see if I need to adjust anything more or if I got it as good as I can and then it's time for it to get an alignment.
I also swapped on the alta intercooler I had onto this car just because the grs motorsport looks much better on my other car.. they perform identical actually. They're the 2x best air to air intercoolers I've tried yet and I've tried A BUNCH of different ones now.
Old header and midpie are removed and I'm having the Xforce collector welded together and a wideband bung put in.. omfg I'm sooooooooo ichy from that old header wrap going everywhere while taking off the old header. I tried my best to keep blowing it out under the car but it just continually snowed bits of fiberglass all over me. Lol my arms n legs what ever they touch feels like a cactus..I sat in the cold shower for like an hour hoping to rinse anything off I could..lol not much of a help as I lay here squirming around...
ah well.. it'll all be worth it once the new style headers on and it will sound better and pull abit better low end due to better header design..
What manner of terror befell those control arms?
