Haha, people always get bugged out when talking about impact guns (prob due to rampant abuse at tire installatin shops). Yep, used it to loosen and tighten the nut on the strut. And no, I did not lean on the impact gun when reinstalling the nut...lol. Spin it up till its tight, check the torque with a torque wrench. Plus, I can adjust the torque on my impact...

Heh...I dont think I used a manual wrench on the entire install. Air Ratchets and Impact guns for me...manual tools are WAY too slow, haha

 

Well as long as you know what you are doing. Its just that some people out there will use the impact gun to put everything back on without knowing the risks involved.

I really wish i had some air tools but i guess i could use some working out

im assuming auto part stores wouldnt rent out things like air tools...

 

The springs/RSB are due in this friday!!

Quick question...

For those that did the install themselves, did you guys use special tools? specifically this one

 

Just installed my springs yesterday. It was realatively easy and strait forward. The total process took me between 5-6 hours.
It was fun to get my hands dirty again and I enjoyed feeling the click of the ratchet mechanism in my hands. I dodn't really think that air tools would have been much good for me. Having air tools MAY have brought the time down, but it's quite a bit more satisfying to burn your own calories on your own MINI
As for the looks of the newly lowered MINI I can only say "why doesn't the MINI come like this?"
As for the ride: it is much stiffer and I now scrape going in and out of my driveway. The stiffness doesn't really bother me because that I what I bought them for: a stiffer and lower MINI. Nice job Dan Thanks!
BTW, do I call them Mach "Vee" springs when I verbally tell someone or is it Mach 5?

Ghosthound:
As for your question about the special socket: I did need to use something similar, I happend to have in my garage a spark plug socket that fit over the bolt, allowed an allen wrench to pass onto the shaft, and had a hex end that I fit a boxed end wrench onto.
I also used a spring compressor that I rented and I could not see myself being able to finish the job without one: rent a spring compressor.
As for the torque specs: I used my click style tq wrech on the BIG bolts (you will see what I mean) and I put them to 80 pounds. As for all the other smaller bolts I just tqd them with my 3/8 drive as much as I felt they could take, probably about 30-40 lbs maybe more iduno.
I also used locktite on every single nut/bolt that I removed and later installed, except for the lug bolts.

EDIT: almost forgot to mention: when you do the rear springs: dont forget to make sure you mark the alignment of how the pieces are oriented before you compress/remove the spring as is pictured in page 3 of ALTA's PDF write up found here https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t=%22Howard%22

pictures to come later

 

cool, thanks for the pointers!

 

We say it like "mock five." I originally was going to name the company with the number 5, but even ten years ago that web domain was already taken. So I went with the V. But still pronounced it "five."

--Dan
Mach V

 

*must make mental note* I assumed it meant mach 5, like 5 times the speed of sound, but i always pronounced it in my head as mock veeee

 

here are some pics I took this morning:






My gallery has pics I took before lowering

 

That's better!
Kinda makes it hard to not look back at it after parking...

 

Looks good Zach!

I still look back sometimes and it's been almost a year !?!

 

my car isnt even lowered yet and i already have to look back a couple times whats going to happen after i lower it!!


Interestingly, i got my swaybar from "mock 5" today but my springs are coming in this friday. I didnt realize they shipped things out separately but all is well!

 

Same here! I actually paused for a second when I called them for the first time and they said "Mach 5". Totally know my Roman numerals and thinking of it like Mach 5 speed of sound wise makes perfect sense, just never thought of it.

Then again I did the same thing with Mac OS X instead of Mac OS 10 for awhile, so it's to be expected I guess.

 

See my gallery for before and after pictures......

I installed my Mach V springs the other night.....and I'm super pleased with the results. Its funny how the lines of the car change when lowered. The whole body looks thinner and the roof line looks lower....like I chopped the top a couple inches.

 

That looks Great

 

how the heck do you get the bottom of the front struts out?? ive applied liberal amounts of penetrating lube but still no give!!

 

ok, its not that they are binding, the lower control arm just does not rotate out enough to allow for the bottom of the strut to pop out... any ideas?

 

Did you remove the bolt that ties the bottom of the strut(bolt goes thru a tab that comes off the side of the strut) to the lower strut mount?....if so, it should come right out.

 

If your working on the passenger side.....then it was much tougher to get that side out (as mentioned in the instructions). I turned the the brake assembly to the right (like a right turn) about 45 degrees. Then rocking the brake caliper and hub to the front and back, and pushing down at the same time. The three nuts that hold the top of the strut in should be only loose to allow the strut to hang, this frees up your two hands to rock and push down. Once it gets down to that last little bit....grab he strut and pull it out.

Good luck....

 

yeah, i removed that bolt, i also tried turning the brake. I will try rocking it some more. Thanks!

 

WOOOOW!!!

I just came back from my test drive after the install... now THAT is how driving a MINI should feel like!!

 

That's the fun part

Glad to see you eventually got it, now lets have those pics

 

I will post pix in a day or two! haha im having tooo much fun!! I almost felt sick due to the speeds i was taking highway on and offramps at.


Quick question though... should the alignment be done immediately or after the springs have some time to settle? I obviously want to get the alignment done asap but if the springs are going to settle some more, i would assume waiting a little wont cause that much excessive wear on the tires.

 

another set of mach v springs installed
looking good i must say

 

nice!

 

Definitely looks good

Love the red trim, nicely turned out car.