okay. mini-mad a special thanks to you for your replies when we had the laptop downstairs, the timing of it all worked out well!
so far, the brakes are pretty much done except for a small problem we ran into with the adapter fitting above the d/s flex hose, now we are moving onto the steering (all that is left is a good bleeding of the system and I think we'll be right). so far the four U-bolts that secure the steering rack to the firewall have been dismantled, the tie rod ends obviously unbolted and (after a bit of frustrating fiddling) the pinion gear was dropped down and out of the steering column enough to free up the rack to be able to be moved in mostly a horizontal direction, but there is say 1cm of vertical "wiggle", i guess is all you could describe it as.
obviously now the problem is that the rack won't fit when I try to pull it through towards either the passenger's side or the driver's side. After loosening the four nuts that secure what seems to be the frame to the body from underneath, I still found that there was no movement in the whole structure and no more clearance could be achieved.
can anyone explain a bit more to me where the top sub-frame bolts are? furthermore, can anyone explain to me the general securing points of the frame to the body?? I must admit, staring at the frame its really not all that obvious how it is bolted to the body. If anyone has a schematic diagram of the construction of the mini onto its frame, i would really appreciate if you could post it up because at the moment I'm a bit lost. As i say, i've undone the bottom 4 nuts, but I can't for the life of me figure out where any other securing points are... but then again, i'm used to looking at vast expanses of chrysler engine bays, nothing like these mini's!!
any help much appreciated.
cheers!
the only fasteners visible at this stage around the tower area are the two bolts shown with the blue arrows below... I find it very hard to believe that these bolts are frame securing points, but I guess its only a small car...? 
