is there any advantage to doing this with jack stands over ramps? Just ordered mine today... excited to do this mod! doing it on both mine and the wife's R56

 

I used ramps when installing mine. Easy-peasy. Took longer to jack the car up and put the ramps under the tires than to actually install the inserts. Just rock the engine back and forth while you are putting the bolt back in and it's a piece of cake.

 

Thanks BBoshart.

Is the aero kit preventing you from driving up the ramps?

 

I have standard Rhino ramps and they rub if I try to drive up them.

 

Off topic but BBoshart...those stripes are really nice!

 

Thanks! I got them from Aesthetic Creations when I ordered the car in '08 and they have held up almost perfectly since then. Just one small nick after 39000 miles.

 

Did this installation today on my MCSa 2010. It wasn't so easy. Put the car up on my rhino ramps, crawled underneath, loosened front bolt, dropped back bolt. Popped the bushings in and then tried to swing the arm back up.
Right off the bat, I realized that the arm itself sat slightly tweaked to one side. The bushing was thus rubbing against the right side of the bracket. With force I could push it up but regardless the hole for the bolt was off by about an inch.
I remembered reading that people needed to rock the motor to pop the bolt in. I tried and it was useless no matter how hard I pushed the engine would not rock enough to line up for the bolt.
I tried jacking the motor up. Not good enough. I tried getting help, two of us under there couldn't move the engine enough. We tried everything we could without damaging anything else to try and get it to line up. Nothing worked.
I called Way, he verified all we needed to do was rock the motor. We tried again. No go.
Finally with me under the car lining up the bolt and my helper pushing his back against another car will leg pressing the oil pan was able to move the motor into place.

It then all went back together easy.

In neutral no vibration. In gear while moving none. There is now zero lag and almost no torque steer.
In drive while sitting in traffic however it's vibrating and its a pretty significant vibration.

total time 2.5 hours. It wasn't easy. Not sure what the issue is with my mini but it didn't go as smooth for me.

I would recommend it though.

 

Maybe I'm missing something here, but how does adding a stiff insert on top of a 'squishy' insert help make something firmer, when the 'squishy' insert was originally up against metal?

 

The squishy insert has holes in it that make it really squishy, so inserts like this just fill the voids. If you want an even cheaper way of attaining the same thing, you can remove the bushing, tape off one side (after cleaning everything) and fill it all up with sikoflex. Let it sit for a day or two to fully cure and bolt it back in.

 

I did this. Huge difference. Didn't tape up one side, just used a smoothing apparatus. I also baked it in my oven for a couple hours at 100 deg C. Made it a lot firmer than my initial air-cured version

 

That's a great idea if you're a bachelor
For anyone who's married 'tho, it's going to stink and your wife may kill you !

I tried the smoothing method before, tape is definitely much easier, just turn it on it's side and fill it up. This method works for stiffening up most of the suspension bushings as well, like the big front and rear control arm bushings.

 

Look at the squishy one, it has two holes that the insert goes into thus making a stiffer mount.
Tadaa!

 

Hahaha, it actually didn't stink, but I doubt any woman would put up with it.

Next time I do it for some other MINI, I'll try the tape.

 

Installed mine today. Took about a half hour. Had no issues at all.

 

Did mine today, along with the oil change, and the hardest part was getting enough swing on the torque wrench to get them to 80 lb/ft of torque. I was working on the ground with 2 jack stands tho. Took more time to jack the car up then it did to get the bushings in! Haven't had a chance to see how it affects how it drives yet.

Took a test drive, and it does make quite a bit of difference. I do feel a little vibe at idle, but other than that it does seem to feel a bit better.

 

Did mine today and from start to finish was 10 minutes; I have access to a drive on lift. Very slight vibration in nuetral but probably would not be noticed by a passenger or someone not familiar with the car.

Works as advertised; excellent value and super easy to install.

 

Has anyone noticed when the temperature is cold there is significantly more vibration at idle than normal? I can also hear it vibrating as well.

 

That's normal. The polyurethane inserts are in direct contact with the mounting bracket, and have a much greater diameter, so they will transmit vibration from the engine. Without the inserts, the metal of the bracket and the metal of the torque arm are separated with rubber in between them, and the contact point is about a third the diameter.

 

anyone have a how to install video before I buy this... I've done one on a g35 but you guys are talking about getting under the car and jacking it up and all that... i'm getting nervous =X

 

Doable without any videos. It's prolly one of the easiest mods you can do.

 

lol i just went to NM webpage and found the 3 step process luls i feel so noobish now. AND MAN that part is a lot bigger than I thought it was! the engine damper i installed on the g35 was small.

 

Do they work for Automatic trans?
Thanks!

 

So my torque wrench only goes to 75 ft/lbs, could I do that, then add in another half turn or so to get to 80?

 

NO!!!! Another half turn would probably be way too much. If you snap that bolt you will have a HUGE problem. I think its a screw going into a threaded hole, if it breaks you'll need to tow the car to someone who can extract the broken part if you can't. If the broken screw is in a hard to get to place for a screw extracter some disassembly may be required. Borrow, rent, or buy a bigger torque wrench.

 

Just make it tight you don't need to use a torque wrench. Just use how tight they came out as a reference.