Procedures
1) Place a suitable chock or block under the front wheels to prevent the car from rolling
2) Jack up the car by placing the jack under the differential housing and support the body.
3) After making sure that the weight of the axle is fully supported by the jack and that the springs are fully unloaded, remove the shackle pins from the springs.
4) The spring can now be removed by removing the bolts passing through the front of the spring and into the attachment plate. The "u"-bolt must also be removed when the spring can be pulled out of its mounting.
5) Assembly is the reverse of these procedures with the following exceptions:
The MINI MANIA Competition Spring Set allows for adjustment of ride height by being physically thinner than the stock units you removed. The required spacers can be made by sacrificing the stock springs:
1) Bolt the springs together with the appropriate bolt nut and washers.
2) Using a power hacksaw of some description (a "Sawzall" with a carbide blade or stationary metal band saw is suggested unless you need plenty of exercise and hacksaw practice), cut off the first 3 inches or so off the stock spring assembly. This stuff is REALLY hard, so it will take a while. You may want to take a drilling template off the stock spring and make up a stack of shims from mild steel if you have no access to power cutting tools.
3) Clean up the edges and paint them to reduce corrosion. You now have a stack of correctly sized and drilled shims with which to adjust ride height.
4) To maintain the ride height, stack the shims on the top of the spring to approximate the stock ride height. This can be varied by moving the mounting point of the spring up or down by stacking the shims you made on the top or bottom of the spring. Be sure that you keep enough shims in the system to approximate the original spring mounting thickness or the original hardware won't work!!
You can now use the original hardware (u-bolts and mounting bolts). The height of the stack of shims on the top of the spring is the approximate change in ride height you will achieve. If one of these shims is too thick, use one for a template to make up thinner ones out of sheet stock.
