While I was poking around in the engine bay today I noticed a couple problems.

Can someone explain to me if this is bad, and what I need to do to fix it?

1. Crack in rubber strut area. See Picture:






2. Slight knocking noise at idle coming from this rubber and metal arm piece. If I hold the piece solid, the noise stops. See picture:

 

The first one is a broken upper strut mount. You can buy an oem piece to fix it or go with an Ireland Engineering fixed camber plate.

The second one is a motor mount. I'm not sure whether you can buy the rubber piece & replace that or you will need to replace the complete mount.

 

Thank you Crashton! God I love these forums.

 

Welcome to NAM canuck.

Lots of helpful folks hear. They have tought me a lot.

 

Awesome. I am hoping to meet some local Mini enthusiasts here in Arizona. I recently moved from Canada and don't know anyone!

Would this strut mount be a proper replacement for my cracked one?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KYB-S...Q5fAccessories

 

Crashton and I always used to argue. But now we seem to always agree.

If you drive your car as anything other than a daily commuter, get the IE fixed camber plates and get the car alligned. This will help in corners for sure. If your car is a basic commuter with lots of freeway miles, then get the stock parts.

As far as the knocking from the engine brace, if the extra motion from this can be cracks in the rubber. But there are other mounts as well, and they should all be looked at. There's one under the engine that goes from the sub-frame to the oil pan, there is the one near the one that is broken that is a known failure point, and there is one that supports the transmission side. It's often the case that as one of these goes, the rest have to work harder and they start wearing out faster.

And yes, the KYB part is the right thing. But before you buy that contact Classic Auto Campus and see what they charge for the stocker if you're going that way, as they offer 20% NAM discount. But also think about the IE fixed camber plate. It is more, but it's stronger and corrects a "design flaw" in the stock geometry. Check this link and this one for details. Here's a brief camber plate install I wrote for MC Squared.

Matt

 

Oh no here we go again Doc.

I've read somewhere on this forum that The KYB strut mounts are of low quality. Like Doc says go oem or for a nice improvement in handling go with the IE fixed camber plates.

Call Classic MINI in Ohio if you want oem parts. They give a nice NAM discount.

Classic.... 888-459-3464

 

Welcome to Arizona... Dynamic MiNi Collective is the local club... lots of events going on

Hugh

 

Damn you guys are a fountain of knowledge.

I think I am going to go with OEM for now. It is just a daily driver, but I am trying to make it into a "fun" daily driver hehe, and that includes making sure all maintenance is up to par.

Hugh, that is SWEET. I am going to join right away and come out and meet other enthusiasts

 

You may find that the fixed plates are no more expensive than the OEM plates. Artoo is my daily driver and I love the plates, they are much stronger than OEM, and will prevent any mushrooming of the tower as well. In your case I should say "any further mushrooming" as you'll probably have to do some hammering to get either of the plates in.

Rich

 

Thanks Rich. I guess I have some more thinking to do.

 

Are these what you are talking about?

http://www.waymotorworks.com/ireland...e-r50-r53.html

If so, then it is not a bad price.

Would it still be beneficial to use these, along with a strut tower bar? Or should I forget the tower bar?

 

Yes.

The bar is mostly bling but if you choose to put one in the plates won't get in the way. I use a JCW bar simply because it looked sooooooooo good.

The plates are not hard to install but frankly you should check your lower control arm bushings to see if they are gone as well. For those you can get the PowerFlex bushings (and go for inner and outer balljoints as well. Way sells it all as a kit to make it easy) although that install is not simple.

Good luck,

Rich

 

Awesome help Rich. Thank you!