Base Rack Fitting

Mod Description

Are you one of those freaks who likes to cycle or one of those types who likes to put a bike on the back of your car so it makes it look like you are healthy. Here is how to fit the base rack.

Mod Details

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The Base Rack

The base rack is the starting point for a couple of storage solutions on the smart:

Bicycle rack
Ski rack

Fitting On A Coupe

Many thanks to Martin Lowe for the information below.

The package contains:

The base carrier- no assembly required
Left and right hand bracket for the upper support arms
Allen Keys 6mm and 5mm
Multi-point wrench ( part number 0002959 and it will cost about £7-8)
Operating Instructions (potentially!!)
Thin bladed flat headed screwdriver
13mm spanner to undo the support strut bolt in step 1

Mount The Upper Support Brackets

Open the rear glass hatch and using the thin blade screwdriver gently lever the circlip on the support struts head at the tridion end.

Important! Do not pull it away totally, as it will fire itself across your garage or street.

You only need to free it enough to remove the head of the support strut from the ball head.
Use the 13mm spanner to unscrew the ball head from the tridion, then use it to secure the mounting bracket in place. Replace the head of the telescopic strut on the ball head and push the circlip back into place. Repeat the process on the other side.

Mount the Base Carrier

Remove both the towing eye covers on the rear bumper using the thin bladed screw driver to lever out at the bottom. Open the base carrier out and insert the lower bolts into the towing eyes and tighten with the multi point wrench.

Open out the two upper supports, using the 6mm Allen key remove the securing screw and rubber washer from the mounting, and locate the end of the support arm into the recess and secure using the washer and shaped screw.

Tighten to 15nm (about as much as is comfortable by hand with the supplied Allen key). Holding the Allen Key in place tighten the lower bolt beneath the mounting bracket with the 5mm Allen key to lock the upper bolt in place.

Smart recommend removing the two mounting brackets when not in use, I did not feel this was essential and did not have any problems with them. When the frame is mounted you will not have access to the boot via the back.

Fitting On A Cabrio

Many thanks to Miss Toad for this information.

Stuff You Need

Rivetter
Electric drill
Magnet on a stick
3mm and 4mm bits
Two small rubber grommets
Some pale paper masking/sellotape
A fine felt tip marker pen
Some string
Vaseline or grease
Some stiff wire (undo a coat hanger)
10mm socket and handle
A ruler
The allen keys that come with the rack (or better ones)
Some courage!

What’s In The Box?

One big wishbone with two smaller black arms
Two small black brackets that fit the ends of these smaller arms
Two small rectangular plates with three holes in them
Two 3mm pop rivets
Four 4mm allen bolts
Two large headed 5mm allen bolts with large washers
A special hand tool for fitting the wishbone
A couple of cheap allen keys
Some bizarre instructions.

To carry bikes you will also need the Smart bike rack kit.

Fitting The Rack

On a cabrio fold down the roof. Prepare the wishbone of the rack by wrapping the ends of the thin black arms with cloth. Remove the two blanking plugs in the rear bumper

(Being careful to lift the two thin forward facing arms to their maximum position) bolt the upside down wishbone thing in their place with the special tool. You will see that the two wrapped arm ends now rest on the bodywork at about the same place on each side. Into these arms insert the small black brackets, and secure with the two 5mm allen bolts and washers. You will see that the little bracket has a flat plate with two holes in it, and a ‘bump’ between them. Pull some of the rubber trim off the back edge of the B pillar, clean the pillar edge, stick a bit of sellotape about 12cm long on the B pillar edge and place the plate on the rear edge of the pillar. Measure from the top of the pillar to the top of the plate, and then do the same on the other side.

Lift the black arms as you do so (they have ‘stops’ on them so they only go so far), and when the measurements on both sides are equal mark the top and bottom edges of the plates on the tape on the back of both pillars. Remove the wishbone thing and the two brackets and put to one side.

3. Place one of the flat plates with three holes in over the sellotape with the top edge and bottom edge lined up with the pen marks. Try to ensure the inside long edge of the plates is butted against the sharp edge where the rubber trim was. Using the marker pen or a scriber, mark through the top and bottom holes of the plate onto the tape.

4. Take courage!

5. Using the 3mm bit drill the centre hole of the three. Change to the 4mm bit and drill the upper and lower holes. Ensure the 4mm bolts can go through the upper and lower holes easily with a bit of clearance, and that the pop rivet will just fit the central hole. Check that when the flat plate is placed over the three holes you can put the 4mm bolts and the 3mm rivet in the holes in the plate and through the holes you have drilled.

6. Using the 10mm socket, remove the rear light cluster on the side you are working on, and then pull out the two packing sponges in their polythene bags. Thread the wire down through the middle hole of the three until you see the end in the space where the light was. Attach the string to the wire and pull the string up and through the hole. Remove the wire, and attach one of the flat plates to the string through the middle hole by threading it through and then tying on one of the grommets. Smear the non grommet face of the plate with vaseline and pull the plate up into the B pillar and jiggle the string to get it in position flat against the inside face of the rear edge of the pillar. Through either of the other holes insert a 4mm allen bolt and ‘catch’ the threaded hole in the plate, tighten it slightly and then try to thread the other. Once both are in, tighten them up securely. Now tug the string so it snaps. The grommet will land inside the pillar but does no harm if left there for ever.

7. Grease the middle hole and push the pop rivet through the hole in the pillar and the plate that is now inside it. It must go all the way so the flat of the rivet head is flush with the sticky tape on the B pillar. Use the rivet gun to tighten and ‘pop’ the rivet.

Now remove the two 4mm allen bolts and the redundant sticky tape, clean the B pillar edge, grease the 4mm bolts (and the head of the pop rivet) and attach the bracket to the B pillar. You will see the ‘bump’ in the bracket neatly covers the head of the rivet, and the grease will prevent rust froming on the raw edges of the drilled metal. Refit the rubber trim.

8. Refit the sponge packing and the light unit and repeat the procedure for the other side.

9. Now attach the wishbone to the back of the car with the special hand tool, slide the black arms over the brackets and secure with the 5mm bolts and get ready to answer glib questions about why you now have a pram handle on the back of your car!