I have 2002 mini cooper S, I am going to try to add some pictures soon. Me and my brother are replacing the clutch on my mini. The thing is that I replace it like 2 years ago and it went bad again, I maybe got 10K miles out of that clutch. The reason I think it went bad so soon is because 2 years ago when we were putting the outer clutch cylinder; we were not able to put it back on the spot were it is suppose to go. When ever we try to put it on the right side(facing the front of the mini) of base(which is part of the of the outer shell of the transmission) were it mounts on, the cylinder wouldn't close, so the clutch wouldn't engage. We tried everything to place it on the right spot, we follow all the instructions on the service manual, we bleed-ed the clutch numerous times, and still we couldn't get it in the right place. To solve the problem, we bolted the cylinder on the left side of the mounting base, which meant the cylinder was move about 2 inches to the left from the spot were it was suppose to be located at. This allow the clutch to engage but I believe, it also made the clutch grind slightly while the car was running and over time ,causing the clutch to go out a lot sooner then what it was suppose too.

I'm hoping someone can help me with this problem; are we not bleeding the clutch correctly, of do we need a special tool to bleed the clutch?, maybe the outer clutch cylinder clutch went bad, if so how can I tell? anything will help. We barely dismounted the transmission today and we are hoping by tomorrow to have the old clutch out and to get the flywheel ready for the new clutch. I'm will also appreciate if someone can give me some tips of which clutch would be best for my mini. I had in mind a stage 1 or 2 performance clutch. I do drive the mini regularly so I do not want something to drastic but I do want a clutch that would be better than the stock so it could last a lot longer.

Any tips will be greatly appreciated, I hope I hear from someone soon. Thanks a lot.