azuul
01-17-2006, 01:59 AM
Thanks to Keith and his awesome set of tools, today we (well, mostly Keith) replaced both of my damaged strut top mounts. I have loaded up some pictures to document the repair. Keith saved me at least $700 of repair costs at the MINI center!!! And, I am sure that Azuul is better off for it. Also, while we were waiting for the WD40 or other lubrication to do its stuff, we took off, cleaned, and properly adjusted my supercharger (forgot to take pictures of that).
Anyway, we did it by the book (the Bentley book). Jacked up the front end of the car, removed the wheels, lowered the caliper assembly off of the strut, released the hoses, removed the strut top mounting nuts, released the ABS and brake hose cables, removed the linkage bolt, and manuevered the strut out. The hard part was removing the strut retaining nut. But with some ingenuity, Keith was able to remove them both. Then we cleaned everything up, put on the new strut top mount and reversed the procedure to reassemble.
While we were waiting for the lubricant to do its stuff, we took off the intercooler and cleaned it up. The MINI Center had messed up the intercooler bellows (probably need new ones). They were not properly sealing the intercooler, so there was a reduction in boost pressure,. (thanks Keith for setting me straight on this). We cleaned the intercooler and the bellows with acetone before replacing. One of the bolt mounts was stripped, so I still need to do a little touching up there.
Anyway, it was a very successful day, and Keith was great. Again thanks and I hope the pictures do the work justice.
Hmmm, apparently my pics are too large to upload. I will try to make them smaller so I can upload.
Anyway, we did it by the book (the Bentley book). Jacked up the front end of the car, removed the wheels, lowered the caliper assembly off of the strut, released the hoses, removed the strut top mounting nuts, released the ABS and brake hose cables, removed the linkage bolt, and manuevered the strut out. The hard part was removing the strut retaining nut. But with some ingenuity, Keith was able to remove them both. Then we cleaned everything up, put on the new strut top mount and reversed the procedure to reassemble.
While we were waiting for the lubricant to do its stuff, we took off the intercooler and cleaned it up. The MINI Center had messed up the intercooler bellows (probably need new ones). They were not properly sealing the intercooler, so there was a reduction in boost pressure,. (thanks Keith for setting me straight on this). We cleaned the intercooler and the bellows with acetone before replacing. One of the bolt mounts was stripped, so I still need to do a little touching up there.
Anyway, it was a very successful day, and Keith was great. Again thanks and I hope the pictures do the work justice.
Hmmm, apparently my pics are too large to upload. I will try to make them smaller so I can upload.