1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Subframe's goin' back in!

I got the MINI back together around midnight Saturday night. I got home from the auction and into the shop about 3 o'clock. I hit two minor (self inflicted) snags in building up the subframe and installing it.

Whenever I take something apart, I usually chase the threads with a tap or die. This takes time, but I feel like it's well spent. Working on cars is a hobby, so I'm not trying to push'em out the door as fast as possible, but I DO want the job done right. I didn't have a M14 x 1.5 tap or die, so I didn't mess with the threads for the bolts that hold the control arm bushings in the subframe.

When I assembled the right side, all went well and I tightened the bolts (not torqued, just about 15 ft-lb or so) As I was assembling the left side, the bolt got a little hard to turn. I thought it was started, so I used my wrench and made a little mess of the threads on the end of the bolt. I called around to my friends who use tools, and nobody had the right size. I wound up running up to Chattanooga to Northern Tool to get a tap & die set for large metric fasteners. I cleaned up my mess in a few minutes, but I wasted 3 hours calling around and driving around to get the proper tools.

After I snugged down all the bolts, I torqued everything to spec and reinstalled the subframe. To my utter surprise, it was straightforward and went together easily. the second snag was when I tried to reinstall the aluminum bumper. I had already torqued down the crush tubes, so they didn't line up. I had to loosen them to get the bumper on, then retorque them. Not a big deal, but I knew better in both mishaps and did it anyway...

Including the Inverse Torx sockets and the tap & die set, my little job set me back about $600. I got new control arm bushings, a new steering rack bushing, new sway bar bushings, fresh power steering fluid, fresh transmission oil, new PCV valve, new ball joints, a dipstick tube o-ring, and a crank position sensor o-ring. This wasn't a cheap job, but I bet it would have been worse if I'd taken it to a shop somewhere or a dealership.

I took the MINI for a run to my buddy's house to exercise our 2nd Amendment rights. It was about a 30 mile run and I had to go over a mountain. I didn't push it, I just enjoyed the drive. The difference was amazing. The steering wheel now self centers after making a turn, the car doesn't dart in a random direction every time I hit the brakes, and I don't have to fight it constantly while driving down the road.

The deterioration happens so slowly to your front end parts, and the fix is so immediate that it's always amazing to see the difference. I've used polyurethane bushings in other cars and usually there is an increase in road noise or vibration. The only difference I can tell is that the car now drives much better.

I guess the takeaways are:

If you don't have Powerflex control arm bushings, you need them.
Dropping the subframe really isn't that hard.

 

Just installed the Powerflex Steering Rack Bushing. It was pretty simple. I torqued all the bolts to the spec in the book.