24 replies to this topic

[aidan8888]

Can anyone walk me through how to swap the engine mounts please, I am hoping to start this soon and any advice would be nice!

[indymini]

I suggest you go up top to the search bar and type in engine mounts and you'll get a bunch of suggestions and problem solvers. Rather than wait for a specific answer you can browse at your own pace and keep suggestions you can use.

[aidan8888]

I found two results, my question and your answer.

[chrisandsarah]

You can if you are careful do it with both the engine in and without thw need for.removing the.driveshafts.

Ive not done it in a while but as far as i remember its a case of removing the wheels, removing the hubs. Then a jack under the engine sump. Remove the 4nuts and bolts holding the engine to the subframe.

Jack up the engine. I vaguely remember that i had to remove the radiator to get at the mount easier feom above.to unto the 2-3 bolts holding it onto the engine.

It took me 2-3 hours with a fair amount of fannying around.

Mine was an auto so i have spacer plates between the engone and subframe, they are a bit of a sod to get lined up. Thinking about it you will need to disconnect.the exhaust clamp or the y piece dependant upon the type of exhaust.

Hope this sort of helps. The search is a bit pants. I find googling 'theminiforum subframe mounts' works :)

[tiger99]

You can do one side at a time, and on normal Minis (can't say whether true for MPi etc) you will not usually need to disconnect very much.

First, grille out to get easier access, probably not necessary, but I always fit grille buttons so it only takes a couple of seconds.

Then drain radiator by removing bottom nose, with something underneath to collect the coolant, top radiator mount off, bottom radiator bolt out (two VERY awkward bolts on early models, a single, nice, easy long bolt from the front post 1976 approximately).

Jack under sump at radiator end (wooden block in between to minimise damage). Just lift engine very slightly. Disconnect mount bracket from engine, two long bolts from front. Disconnect mount from subframe, which is two bolts through from top, nuts and washers on outside of subframe. (Car could be on axle stands, wheel off, but not strictly necessary).

Remove complete engine mount bracket from car, and remove old mount from it (3 bolts). A good time to clean and paint the mounting bracket.

Now we cheat! take new mount, and first check that its holes line up with those in subframe, as there have been tales of them being wrong recently. (If they are wrong, slot the subframe holes fore and aft as necessary with a round file, and fit a large washer on reassembly.) Obtain 4 steel (not Nylok) self-locking nuts, 5/16" UNF (those for hardy-spicer drive flanges are perfect). Take your two new mounts, one at a time, and secure the steel locking nuts in place using the old bolts. Weld the nuts to the outer end of the subframe flange, avoiding going too close to the rubber, A large tack weld is sufficient. Drop them quickly into a bucket of water after each weld, to avoid burning the rubber. You now have mounts with strongly fitted nuts, which will work, unlike the nasty ones with rivnuts sold by some suppliers.

Now reverse the disassembly at the radiator end, i.e. fit up the new mount to the engine bracket, put bracket loosely on engine, lower into place, with much pushing and shoving (tyre lever between subframe and mounting bracket etc helps) until bolt holes line up. Insert bolts from below, and tighten everything at that end. (There is the trick, the bolts go in from below so all future maintenance is easier, but they will not fall out due to the welded-on locking nuts.)

Leave radiator out for now, you may need clearance for the fan as you jack the other end.

Now to the awkward end. Shift the jack over, and lift gently. Remove the bolts through the subframe, as before. Lift slightly, and remove three bolts into clutch cover. Note that these are 5/16" UNC, not to be confused with the others. If you need more access, take care as you raise it on the jack. Watch out for exhaust, starter cable, clutch hose, and engine steadies. Often you will have to undo the top engine steady, sometimes some other bits. Take mount off, reassemble with bolts inserted from below as before. Sometimes it is easier to take the clutch cover off, to get the mount off, but one cover bolt is very awkward.

Once both ends are done, radiator back in, hoses connected, new coolant, job done.

[aidan8888]

Thats what I was after guys!

Thanks for the intel.

[aidan8888]

Ok, I made a start on the nearside mount today, it came off easily enough, however it is a bit tricky putting the new one in.
I have bolted up the 3 engine side bolts, however the engine wont lower enough to line up the two bolts that connect to the subframe, it only needs to drop 1cm or so, I tried prising it down, hammering the block and jumping on the engine, it wouldnt go down.

Any ideas?

[tiger99]

If it is being stubborn, you may have to disconnect the top and bottom steady bars and the exhaust so you can rock the engine about more freely, but it is not always necessary.

First trick, which you have probably tried, involves a good piece of timber as a lever between the gearbox and side member of subframe to push the engine away from the side you are doing, so the mount can slide down the slope.

Another trick is to loosen the bolts at the other end. If all else fails, put the jack back in, and take out one of the through bolts that hold the mounting bracket to the gearbox extension piece. Let the jack down slightly. Put bolts in, jack up till it lines up, and put the through bolt back in.

There is always a lot of pushing and shoving, and when you get one end down, the other end does not want to, but it will go in the end.

If it is particularly difficult, you may need to take the two through bolts out, do the drivers side mount and bolt up loosely, fit passenger side mount loosely, and then jack up and down until the through bolts can be inserted. But you may need two means of supporting the engine to do that. I recall having to do it that way once, when it was being particularly stubborn, but they vary, sometimes it is easy.

I would love to know how it was done in the factory, because it was doubtless accomplished in seconds, with the subframe held on some kind of jig and the engine lowered from above. The subframe would be out of the shell, but that makes no difference to the relationship betweem engine mounts and the subframe, it just gives more working room. The problem is actually the same on any rubber mounted engine, the mounts always want to be wider than where they fit. Perhaps they just used levers and crowbars specially mabe to fit the task?

[aidan8888]

Bloody hell, that was tricky.

I managed to get them replaced! in the end i took out one of the bolts from the gearbox bracket on the ratiator side, all the mounts lined up and it was done, nearly. The only problem I then had was that the gearbox bracket wouldnt line back up, so I used a crowbar to lever that back in to place.

All in it took about 6 hours for a n00bish mechanic to do. Thanks "chrisandsarah" and a massive thank you to tiger.

[chrisandsarah]

Glad you got it done. I usually go by a rule of taling an estimated time and multiplying by 4 haha. It is a bit of a sod to line the engine up, though a spare pair of hands help :)

[Chance]

I am about to tackle this job myself today...I have the mounts and i cant crack on with anything else yet so ive decided to do these.

In the haynes it says for the drivers side mount that a lot of stuff needs removing and to jack the car up and put it on axle stands.
My drove slopes towards the road..will i be able to do it without the axle stands as above??

cheers

[chrisandsarah]

I didnt use axel stands. Just put a few blocks of wood under the subby
In gear, handbreak on, chock.wheels

[tiger99]

6 hours is not bad in the circumstances. Next time (and if you keep the Mini, there will be a next time), you might cut that in half.

The first one I did was a right pain! It was a van, with no removable grille. After that, standard saloons never seemed very hard at all, but they do involve a bit of a struggle at the end.

[2-alex-2]

i have to do this son when my mini returns from getting a respray could this be done easyer if it was on the small ramps you get then jacking the engine up fomr there ?

[Tom7]

The problem I had when doing mine was that I just couldn't pull the engine down far enough even with a friend jumping on it and rocking it. I had to put the subframe on a jack and a stand and put a strap around the engine and under the jack so it would pull the engine down as it lifted the car. They are clearly too thick as now they are fitted the rubber looks very compressed and I get a horrible vibration in the car at idle, wish I hadn't bothered now.