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well, this project seems to be finished. Thanks to all for your help and replies to this issue.
Yesterday, Doug helped me to properly install the poly bushings and now the car handles a lot smoother and softer.

cheers,

Abel

I think Dan meant to say jack pad (they are small squarish pads on the front and rear corners of the floors) close to the sills.

thanks Dan, I will try that when I go under the car to get the poly bushing for the tower bolt.

Excuse me my ingnorance, but what is exactly a "kack pad"?

thanks,

Abel

You can jack the car on or near the front corners of the front subframe enough to get the weight off those points. The back of the subframe should sag down enough especially if you loosen the tower bolts. You may have to undo the engine steady brace(s) to the firewall as well.

Or you can put a block of wood under the floor directly below the firewall panel - the vertical panel will distibute the load and not bend the floor pan. That tiny clip that looks like a kack pad is NOT! It is only a clip for the body assembly jig when it was built.

Or if your car has the sill jack pockets at the floor crossmember and it is in solid condition, you could jack one side of the car from there.

While you have the carpet and subframe mounts out, check the floor for metal fatigue cracks at those mount locations. I had a creak/snap sound in my car when going on/off the throttle, which turned out to be such a crack. The cause was a broken engine steady bracket at the firewall, which allowed the engine to apply too much front-back rocking torque on the subframe, resulting in metal fatigue.

thanks Steve. The email you sent me earlier makes more sense now.

While I am under the car, I wanted to replace this aswell //www.minimania.com/part/21A2599/Subframe-Mount-Rear-Of-Front-Subframe-Mk4-Mini--Cooper-On and wanted to ask what's the best way to do it. Where should I jack the car?

thanks,

Abel

The plan was to use alloy tear drops at the front, Plastic at the tower tops and std rubber at the base of toe board. I did not make that clear which could happen when you install them often and try and tell someone else how they go. I noticed it right away but sent an e mail rather than point it out here. Steve (CTR)

Well, in my opinion, if between the subframe tower and the bulkhead crossmember there's an aluminum spacer, the vehicle already had a solid tower mount kit installed which many consider the ultimate upgrade for handling and longevity.  The polyurethane bushes won't be as rigid, but possibly transmit fewer vibrations and ultimately less noisy.

I have solid mounts on the towers and the 'teardrops' at the front and like them.

my car is a 1978, so I figure it is a later subframe.

As for the cluster of bushings, yes, I need to figure out the proper way to install them. This is an 'improvement kit', as described by the manufacturer

Absolutely, but the photo of the purple poly tower bush siting under the aluminum bush with the large bolt prompted me to assume that it's a later subby. 

I don't know if it's just me, but it looks to me as though there's one too many bushes under the bolt head.  Maybe the poly bushes come with a full-size thick washer that looks remarkably similar to the alloy top-bush?  (Image from earlier post:  Tower Bush)

I image an earlier two bolt subframe will have a different toque value

This might help:

From the Rover MPI Mini Workshop Manual RCL-0193ENG-2nd-Edition:

SUSPENSION

Wheel nuts:

Alloy wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Nm

Steel wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Nm

Upper arm to front hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Nm

Lower arm to front hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Nm

Front hub to drive shaft - nut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Nm

Front subframe turret bolts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Nm  (49.41 lbs/ft)

Front damper to body bracket - nut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Nm

Front damper to upper arm - nut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Nm

Front subframe to body - nuts and bolts . . . . . . . . . . 25 Nm

Rear damper to body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Nm

Rear damper to suspension arm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Nm

I've tried to get a good measurement from the various forums the best I could come up with is to set the Hi-Lo to the same length as the original trumpet.Standard alloy trumpet lengths front trumpet height as standard is 3.750" and the rear is 12.375" on the latest post 1979. The earlier ones were around 12.125". Dimensions from the knuckle end to the rubber cone seating face.

I also got this picture which may or may not help.

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all the new and refurbished parts went back in without much trouble. Now I am trying to find the specific torque on the tower bolts. Anybody knows that?

Also, regarding the ride height, I installed hi-lows and wanted to ask what's the appropriate height for the front, measuring from the wheel arch to the center of the wheel,

thanks,

Abel

oh, yes, that and replace any rusty bolt and nut I found along the way

make sure you grease the car frequently from now on! its the only way to prevent this kind of situation. 

thanks to all for the replies and the help. As Doug mentioned, the left side did not present any problem at all. Now that I have the upper arms out, I'll give them some clean-up, paint and wait for new parts to arrive to put everything back together.

regards,

Abel

I'd think he'd want to put a kit on one side. Steve (CTR)

+1 its the best way IMHO to remove it.. always worked nicely for me 

Abel and a neighbor tried again to remove the left top arm pivot pin.  Once the penetrating oil had done its work and they got the arm in just the right position the pin levered right out.  

I went over today to help him with the right side and it went perfectly.  That pin had no rust and was well lubricated so the pin slipped out as easily as they did on my car a few years ago.  

I just joined the club and removed my upper a arm. Got it back together. For those that are about to do it , slide the rubber  ring grease seal on the a arm (the side that faces front). Now onto the steering rack boots and alignment.