A few more cheap thrill toys for the Mini arrived. The parts that I procured for the Mini are piling up. Many of these would not be installed until Spring.
This is a pair of cross braces for the convertible Mini and is a popular modification for hardtops like my Mini.They are bolted between the front strut towers and the forward section of the chassis box beam. I suspect there are there to minimize chassis resonance that is unique to the roofless chassis of the convertible. They are cheap and look all business so why not.
they are surprisingly light and made of my be 20 gauge steel
this is a spacer to augment the factory engine mount which is hydraulic
it is from Australia
this is what it looks like - the rectangle recess fits onto the support pad of the engine mount
The reason that I bought this support pad is it is reasonably priced at just $13. While I am concern it may significantly increase drivetrain vibration I wanted to give it a try as it is quite easily removed should I find it unlivable. Since it augments the hydraulic engine mount I reason that it should prolong the life of the engine mount. Additionally, should the hydraulic fluid chamber breaks the engine will still be well supported by this polyurethane spacer.
here is the stock engine mount without the added support pad
here is what the engine mount with the support pad added; you can see it bears much of the weight of the engine
It took all about 30 minutes to install, once I remember that I need to loosen the cast aluminum bracket of the engine.
I immediately started the engine to find out if there is any increase of vibration. Yes, it has pronounce vibration in the cabin at about 1500 - 2500 RPM. It just crosses the threshold that some interior plastic trims like the glovebox vibrates audibly. It is not too annoying. The Mini sure feel more raw throughout the RPM range in a good way. I want to leave it on and see what it would be like in the next few weeks.
While writing this post and examine the photos I realized I may have installed the support pad upside down. As it was a bit of a struggle to slide the pad into the engine mount, I didn't have the luxury to visually see which is the right orientation - right side up vs up side down. Now I am quite sure I have it installed upside down.
looking at this photo closely I realized I had install the polyurethane pad upside down
Update 17.12.06:
Like the saying goes, hurry up and do it twice to get it right. When I installed the poly spacer for the motor mount yesterday, I was so preoccupied with jacking up the engine too high and risk damaging the driveshaft or other things. I was only able to get just enough space between the cast aluminum bracket and the engine mount to slip in the spacer. I did not have a good view as how it seated except to ensure the pad of the motor mount seated inside the rectangle recess of the pad.
Today I went and examine if I indeed installed the spacer upside down. This time I use the proper procedure - by removing the cast aluminum bracket from the engine all together.
to save time I drove the Mini up onto this improvised low rams
this how it should be installed, with the pad of the motor mount rest atop the spacer - this is struggle in progress
patience pays, a bit of care goes a long way to not tearing the rubber
this is how it should be with the spacer under the rubber support pad
the under side features of the cast aluminum bracket that rests on the motor mount
I was not expecting by correcting the intended orientation of the spacer the NVR would be much different. This is because with the spacer, most of the engine weight is borne by the spacer and hence much more vibration.
Sure enough the result with the correct orientation, there is even more vibration as even less weight is seen by the hydraulic damping mechanism. So here have you, the result of a lot more drivetrain vibration energy not damped. I am very sure I cannot live with it as it passes the threshold to cause a lot of plastic trim and glovebox to vibrate.
While it may seems a setback of a wasted purchase and labor lost, I am happy that I have this experience to show the importance of the stock engine mount.
restore back to the stock motor mount without the support pad - this is how a working hydraulic mount should look with the correct height
I have not reinstall the trim piece for the Alpine CDE-133BT head unit as I do not want to impart wear and tear by having to pull it off again. It is very difficult to remove and I was afraid I might break it. The unit is no longer available.
Finally I am tired with the work-in-progress look so I set out to put the trim back.
I have a few Alpine head units in my vehicles, and there is a CDE-143BT also with the edge trim removed. The question is which belong to which head unit. They look almost the same until upon closer inspection. CDE-143BT is the refresh model and the styling has been bastardized.
top belongs to the CDE-143BT; it is bulkier with thicker depth
the Alpine CDE-133BT with the edge trim re-installed
the display is scrolling the text of the (http) web streaming from the Safari browser in iPhone via Bluetooth
Bosch wide band oxygen sensor datasheet
misc photos ------------------------------------------------
inspection brass hammer
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