Raising the motor on the Mini Cooper S (R53) to install:

·    TSW Upper motor mount

·    WMW 15% Pulley

·    Detroit Tuned Tensioner Stop

·    Tensioner Damper Poly Bushings

 

 

Well, it’s not necessary to raise the motor to install the last two items but they are easier to get to and why not go ahead and do it all while you’re in there. I had owned my MCS for about a week before deciding it was time to do some things right away- I knew the upper motor mount was leaking/failed when I bought the car and wanted to do the pulley upgrade. While looking at Way’s online store (Way Motor Works), I found there were some other items I could/should go ahead and get/install while doing the others- Work Smarter, Not Harder. Way had a great package deal with the pulley, belt, plugs, and tensioner stop and provided a loaner pulley puller.

 

Standard Disclaimer: ANY USE OF THIS INFORMATION BY YOU IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

 

 

 

Raising the motor

 

The motor has to be jacked up a bit for access to the supercharger pulley and in order to replace the upper motor mount. Start by jacking up the passenger side of the car (or both sides) and supporting the car with jack stands- You may want to loosen the lugs on the passenger side wheel before jacking since it will be coming off.

 

The first step is removing some nuts/bolts to allow the motor to be jacked up.

 

The hose/wiring holder bolt should be removed using a 10mm socket/ratchet:

 

 

 

 

Next the upper motor mount bolts need to be addressed- loosen but don’t remove the driver side motor mount bolt:

 

 

Remove the passenger side ground strap nut/bolt (13mm wrench or socket) - be careful as the bolt is captive underneath:

 

 

 

Remove the passenger side motor mount nut:

 

 

Remove the lower motor mount bolt closest to the oil pan:

 

 

 

 

After removing the wheel, remove the passenger side wheel well cover, there are several plastic Phillips head screws that can be helped out by inserting a small flat blade screwdriver under the screw head in the opposing slots on the base. There are also two screws, one on front and one behind that need to be removed:

 

 

 

 


 

Place a jack under the motor oil pan, I used a piece of wood to spread the load and centered the jack where the oil pan drain plug is:



While jacking the motor up, you want to listen and look for problems: wires or hoses getting pinched or tight, interference of components, power steering pump/fan, ignition coil wiring, etc. The motor just needs to be high enough to remove the mount OR to access the pulley.

 

 

 

 

Replacing the upper passenger side motor mount

 

Since the upper bolt has been removed to lift the motor, there are only a few more things required to remove the old mount. The mount has a support that bolts to the strut tower, this bolt should be removed.

 


Only one more bolt remaining: the bottom one. It requires an external Torx, E12 socket to remove:

 

 

 

Comparing the old and new mounts:

 

 

For installation I will defer to the TSW provided instructions which are located HERE, remember to install all bolts removed and torque to spec.


 

Replacing the pulley:

 

Before using the tensioner tool, there is a vacuum hose in the way that needs to be removed- just press on either side and pull to release:

 

 

 

The tensioner tool has two pins that go into the lower part of the tensioner and the supercharger bolt is used as a fulcrum point:

 

 

 

While the tensioner tool is used to compress the tensioner spring, insert a small piece of wire or a hex key into the SECOND slot on the tensioner holder. The serpentine belt can be removed from the SC pulley:

 

 

 

The OE pulley is press fit on to the supercharger shaft and will have to be removed using a pulley puller. The OE pulley has a plastic center piece pushed into the threaded SC snout, it can be removed with a small flat blade screwdriver:

 

 

 

 

The pulley puller I am using is the CravenSpeed puller, it will allow the pulley to be removed without removing the tensioner assembly. Since it uses the SC snout as a point to push the pulley off, a bolt is used to protect the SC shaft nose- some use the bolt that held the ground wire to the passenger side mount. To reduce friction and help with smooth removal, apply some anti-seize to the bolt head after the bolt is screwed into the snout:

 

 

 

Because of the amount of force it will take to remove the pressure fit pulley, it was suggested by both Way and CravenSpeed to LIBERALLY use anti-seize with the puller:

 

 

 

The puller body will slip over the pulley and mesh with the belt grooves on top. Once it is in place the puller bolt can be installed. A wrench is used to hold the puller body while another wrench is used to turn the bolt- this will pull the pulley off the SC shaft. It may be easier to access the puller bolt by having a friend push the motor back and/or hold the puller body wrench as the puller bolt is tightened:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clean all of the anti-seize off the SC shaft nose before installing the new pulley.

Way suggests using the CravenSpeed pulley installation instructions found HERE to install the new pulley, they also have a picture of the belt routing for installing the new belt. Remember to reinstall the vaccum line after installing the belt and using the tensioner tool to release the tensioner.

 

 

 

Installing Tensioner Stop and Damper Bushings:

 

The tensioner stop prevents the tensioner from slamming into the crank if/when the belt breaks. Since this was being installed it was also a good time to upgrade the bushings to poly as another preventative failure item. The tensioner damper is held in place with two bolts, these will be removed so that the tensioner damper bushings can be installed (removal of damper not necessary if only the stop is being installed, this can be done one bolt at a time). If the motor had not been jacked up for other projects, accessing the damper bolts would have been easily done from below after removing the wheel well cover:

 

 

 

To remove the old bushings the metal sleeve is pushed/pulled out and then the bushings press out easily:

 

 

 

Bushings are installed the same way they were removed- insert poly bushing and once seated insert metal sleeve. The bushings come with lube that looks a lot like the anti-seize I used on the pulley puller, I used it around the bushings themselves and the metal sleeves inserted into them:

 

 

Now that bushings are in, time to reinstall damper with tensioner stop. Install one bolt at a time trying to keep stop end parallel with damper while tightening:

 

 

 

After installing JCW cooler spark plugs (aka NGK BKR7EQUP), enjoy your new found power and peace of mind.