I am a new mini owner.

You may ask, how did I get here?

My daughter will only drive an automatic transmission, I purchased a chili red 2003 Cooper R50 with a cvt transmission. It has 87,000 miles. Two months after the purchase the cvt failed which is evidently not that uncommon.

I found your forum a valuable resource as I researched my options. I paid $7k for the car and did not want to pay $7k with installation for replacement cvt installed.

I found a local 6 speed from a 2006 R53 in a local junkyard. The dealership where i purchased the car is contributing $1200 to what will be about a $2500 project for parts only. .. As is no warranty so I was happy to get some money ... I plan to do all the work myself. My first purchase was the bentley repair manual.

From the junkyard I will purchase used 6 speed, manual shift pedal assembly, clutch master and slave cylinder, trans mount, shifter assembly and cables for $1,300.!

From local auto zone left and right cooper s drive lines for $150.

From way motor works a new clutch, pressure plate and flywheel for $500.

way motor works will reprogram the ECM $450 to accept the 6 speed instead of the cvt automatic.

My daughter doesn't want a manual transmission so I will turn it into my daily commuter.

 

I posted most of my cvt to manual 6 speed at www.psmini.org

Our local Seattle area mini club.

A long project, mostly due to lack of time to commit to the project due to other life priorities.

 

Hope it goes well. We have a CVT as well, but with only 48K on it. Hope it lasts a while longer. FWIW - I have 4 daughters and 2 learned to drive stick and love it. But I suspect that once you drive the car with a stick in it, you won't want to let her have it...