Did you put the stands under the front tires, or was that a typo? Ramps under tires is ok, stands under tires is bad juju.

 

I have an H-sport rear sway that i purchased from M7 (could be 25mm). It took about an hour to install, very quality instructions and equipment (esp. the greaseable shackles). Just be careful who you let help you because when they drop the car off the jack stands the car may slip and the jack stand might go through the lower rear quarter panel and make you cry when you come back to see it. :evil:

 

That's a good point about the plastic blocks. Reach underneath and in the center of the block there's a hole with an attachment pin in it. If you stick your finger up in this hole you can tell if the pin is seated all the way.

One of my jack blocks fell off early in ownership. The dealer replaced it and at a later date when rotating tires I found that this pin as well had worked it's way loose. Since I've pushed it all the way in it hasn't budged in the last 10k miles.

Still it's easy to check when you're about to jack the car up and could save a real headache.

Jeff

 

If you don't know how to jack up your car, you shouldn't be working
on the swaybar by yourself as you will have to get under the car to
undo the subframe bolts.

Here are a good basic pointers..and how I raise my MCS onto stands
for the rear. (I raise the front exactly like how early_apex has it on
his picture when i did my H-sport springs..no need to raise front for
installing rear swaybar).

Use the below at your own risk. I will not be responsible if you
accidentally drop the car or drop the car on youself.

1. Park on a level driveway or garage.
2. Use chokes on the front tire, put the car in gear, pull e-brake.
3. Loosen your rear lug bolts on the wheel while the car is on the ground.
4. Take your hydraulic jack and find the black strip that runs down
the side of the car. It covers a metal lip (or 'rail'). Place the hyd
jack forward of the rear plastic block, not aft.

5. Raise the car slowly and monitor undercarriage closely while you
jack up to make sure you're not slipping or damaging/bending the
chassis.

6. Raise the hyd jack just enough so that your jackstand can barely
get under the plastic block.

7. Place jackstand under plastic block.
8. Lower the hyd jack gently onto the jack stand.
9. Do the same for the other side.
10. Remove your rear wheels and place one wheel under the car for
your safety while working under the car.

Take your time and be careful, and most of all, have fun!

btw, this is the jack stand I use..by http://www.griotsgarage.com
You should use a stand with a flat top like the one pictured below.
The plastic block sits prefectly on the flat spot of this jack. ACHydraulic
sells a completely flat one with rubber pad.





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03MCS IB/B: 123, Aerokit, R90, Milltek, Pilo Intake, H-Sport, Alta Rear Swaybar, 6CDMP3, etc.

 

Thanks for the info. While painting my calipers I just did the two sides seperatly. Doing driver and then passenger. I feel comfortable with jack up vehicles, however I do not want to damage my MINI. With most vehicles there are pleenty of places to put the hyd jack, but with the mini I take a few more precautions since I love it so much. Thanks for info though.

 

>>no need to raise front for installing rear swaybar).

With just the rear on stands didn't the plastic blocks have a tendancy to not sit flat on the stands? I put the whole car on stands to avoid that. Since the whole side comes up when youjack and the front, it's not much more work to do 4 stands as opposed to 2.

 

flow on what early apex said about jacking all four corners, just be extra careful that the stands are centered so the plastic blocks are exactly in the center, and becareful when lowering the car and removing the jacks so the car doesn't slip an inch and cause damage.

 

Thanks for the reply. Now, when you take off the wheels.. whats this abouttorquing the tires back down? Is this something thats required. A few other MINI owners have told me about that.... I guess I am just in the dark on this topic. Any info?

 

Ideally you would have a torque wrench and torque all the wheel bolts down evenly. Harbor Freight has a cheapo torque wrench on sale for $9.99 right now. Probably not the most accurate thing in the world, but should be ok for wheels.

The way a clicker torque wrench works is there are markings on the handle that tell you how many lbs of torque the wrench is set at: 10 20 30.. etc. The bottom of the handle rotates up along the range of numbers, and has 0-9 stamped into it. If you put the 0 on 50, the wrench is set to 50 lbs. turn it a little more from 0 to 4, and it's set at 54 lbs.

When your wrench is set, get your bolt snug, and start to tighten it slowly with the torque wrench. Eventually it will make a loud *click* and at that point the bolt is tighened to the set torque. You'd want to set all the MINI lug nuts to 90lbs.

One more thing to add to putting the car on stands: when you take the wheels off, stuff them under the sides of the car. That way if the car falls, there is a chance it will land on the wheels instead of right on you. You'd still be looking at a -bad- day, but a little extra insurance can't hurt.

_________________
<img src="http://my.athenet.net/~mtr/mini/minirowsm.jpg">
<hr>

04 Blk/Blk/Anthraccite MCS

 

With just the rear on stands didn't the plastic blocks have a tendancy to not sit flat on the stands?
>>


nnn, forgot to mention that the griotsgarage jackstands are low profile so
basically not high enough to put the car in such a slant. :smile: The plastic
blocks sit completely flat on the flat part of the jack stands.

Just be sure to use chokes on the front tire as you will be raising the
subframe with your jack...if you raise it too high, the car will start to lift
off the jack stands and possibly slip off...another reason why I did not
want to use all 4 stands.

 

Here's a how-to for those interested:

http://outmotoring.com/How_to_rearswaybar.html

http://outmotoring.com/Project_Out_Motoring.html

enjoy your ride!

 

Aaron, great write-up. :smile: Actually, that's what I used when I did the install.