Irish Mini Owners Club

I believe it's possible to replace the front subframe with the engine still in place. I thought I'd see if anyone here has done it before and if they have any advice/things to watch out for?

Thanks,

J.

the engine is bolted to the subframe so unless your new subframe has another engine bolted to it its not possible....

You could suspend the engine from an engine crane and then drop the subframe out.

You'd have to undo the engine mounts on the subframe, undo the exhaust where it joins the manifold, split the front brake line where it meets the subframe, split the track rod ends from the hubs and pop out the driveshafts. Depending on the routing of your battery cable too you might have to undo it from the starter motor.

Subframe should just unbolt and drop down then.

Have I missed anything?

Neil

dayoungfella wrote:You could suspend the engine from an engine crane and then drop the subframe out.

You'd have to undo the engine mounts on the subframe, undo the exhaust where it joins the manifold, split the front brake line where it meets the subframe, split the track rod ends from the hubs and pop out the driveshafts. Depending on the routing of your battery cable too you might have to undo it from the starter motor.

Subframe should just unbolt and drop down then.

Have I missed anything?

Neil

is it worth the hassle Neil, really ?

The reason I'm asking is that I've damaged the front tie rod mounting (broken the welds & twisted the bracket a bit). I'm going to attempt to get it back to it's original position and re-weld it but I'm assessing what I'm going to have to do if I can't fix the mounting.

J, Your best bet is to straighten it and reweld it, if you havent already got heavy duty adjustable tie rods, get some. They will allow adjustment if the subframe is slightly out after repairing it. The standard ones bend all over the place autotesting. Then next time you have the engine out to do the box or whatever, you can change the subframe in a few minutes. Did that happen up in citywest?

Damien

I'll have a go at straightening it during the week hopefully I'll get it close to where it's supposed to be. I've ordered a set of the adjustable tie rods, I was hoping that they would do as you said i.e. compensate if the bracket isn't in the exactly the right spot. Glad to get a second opinion

Yes it happened up in citywest, I was having real trouble circling the pylons and I decided to go down to the spare test and practice, unfortunately this was at the end of the day and I was tired so I approached a pylon too quickly, the car understeered and I hit a kerb.