Lowering The Engine
The engine bay is quite restrictive so lowering the engine a bit can help a lot.
Mod difficulty:
Mod Credit: evilution
access to the pulleys, tensioners and belts. You can also change the alternator and waterpump.
Remove the rear panels, Jack the rear of the car up,
remove the wheel and remove the wheel arch liner.
The belts have a protective cover held in with a pair of slide out clips.
There is one of these located on each side of the suspension spring cup.
Using a pair of pliers, wiggle and pull and they will slide out, the guard will come loose.
Remove the bolts from the X beam on either side and remove it from the car.
Place the head of a trolley jack under the gearbox housing and take the weight.
Underneath the X frame you will find 2 bolts for the engine mount, remove them.
Now as you take the weight off of the jack, the engine will move down.
The movement is happily taken up by the other 2 engine mounts.
If you require it to drop a bit further, loosen the other mount bolts slightly.
With the jack lowered fully you should get about 8 inches of clearance on the belt side.
It is better to lower the engine instead of the entire cradle as it means there is less
weight being lowered, the wheel does not move down when the engine is
lowered and most importantly, the brake lines do not twist or skew.
The cradle should only be lowered when using the proper drop bolts.
What you will need is Smart part number 450 589 00 62 00 (lowering pins).
You have 2 lengths of bolt, partially threaded with all the same thread.
As you stand at the rear of the car, the longer bolts are the ones used nearest you.
Using these bolts requires a lot of set up. You have to:
disconnect the handbrake,
disconnect one end of the engine earth lead,
unscrew the pipe that goes into the side
of the air box,
remove the undertray,
disconnect the clamp holding the brake pipes against the side of the car,
place a jack under the engine,
swap the 4 cradle bolts over,
then you can slowly lower the jack.
Should you wish to make your own drop bolts from threaded rod, washers and nuts...
Long bolts - 30cm
Short bolts - 26cm
Threaded length - 5cm
Thread size - M12
Thread pitch - 1.5mm
Tensile rating - 8.8
By printing this document I state I have read and understood this disclaimer
