I just purchased a 2003 Mini Cooper. I love the road feel and styling of the car. It was so much fun to drive... for three days. Then it got stuck in reverse and became a cute addition to my driveway, but I'm not angry. I see this as an opportunity to take out the engine and transmission and upgrade/repair/maintain as needed. I would like to pull a couple more hp out of the engine while I'm in there, but reliability and fuel efficiency are my biggest priorities(I'm thinking a header and decent intake upgrade along with an ecu re-tune ought to do the trick... maybe a cam). I would really appreciate any and all advise or links with information about this and information about where to find the best parts.

The car is a 5spd base model and has 125k Mi on it

I have worked as a mechanic in the past and I am not afraid to spend the time and money necessary to do this thing properly.

Thank you and I'm excited to become a contributing member of this forum!
-Lucas

 

I wasn't there to hear what happened but consider that it might just be your clutch. The throwout bearing is notorious for grenading and at 125k it's in prime explosion territory. A bang followed by the car being stuck in gear is exactly what I heard. However, the pedal also felt different after it happened, so there is that to consider- does your pedal feel any differently? Can you engage and disengage the transmission (in other words, could you drive in reverse if you had to?) If the clutch seems like it's operating correctly then it might actually be the transmission.

Don't know much about HP upgrades- I've decided to keep our R50's (two of them) mostly stock.

Here's some videos of my clutch being worked on by me and another member of our local club (PSMINI):

Part 1: Part 2:
And here is an important-to-watch extra thing from when my wife's car was repaired just recently:


DO NOT try to remove your clutch fork by pounding it out and look to see if it is cracked!

Is that a Washington State plate I see?

Val

 

+1 , get the clutch, guide replaced, check the fork and replace the pivot bushings and bring it back to life.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2003-Cooper-R50-Base-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W10B16A/Drivetrain/Clutch/

 

Welcome, OP, and congrats on your car. The Midlands trans is a notorious weak spot, but if you catch it early, bearing replacements will get you back on the road without too much pain.

I've welded those clutch forks in the bell housing to good effect.

 

If you're going to try to eek out a few more horsies from the R50 engine, and plan
on keeping the MINI for a while, you might want to consider swapping the Midlands
to a more robust transmission like the one for the R53 (6-speed Getrag - ones after
7/2004 have a better set of gear ratios for the R50 than the earlier ones). This involves
a bit more parts than just swapping in a Midlands, however - need to also replace the
mounts, flywheel, clutch, clutch lines, shift lines and box, starter, axles, and a few
other things.


I just had this done last summer on my 2003 MINI Cooper and am very pleased with the outcome.


The Midlands is already a little iffy with a stock R50, and if you add header, cam, ported head,
ecu tune, intake, and some aggressive driving, it's probably not going to hold up that well.


Here's a starting point, and there are a few threads here on the subject if you search:


http://personal.stevens.edu/~jdunn/F...heWeakLink.pdf

 

Thank you guys so much for the input. I still haven't figured out the best solution to this broken car, so please keep the advise rolling.
-Thanks

 

We've done several 6spd Conversions as it is a great swap that will be so much more reliable. Plus it ends up with better MPG and it all bolts in.

Otherwise a new 5spd isn't too bad and will have a 2yr warranty, it will also come with the new fork and bushings.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/r50-mid...nsmission.html

Then for a clutch we only use the OEM on the R50 as the others have been less than reliable.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/oem-min...per-non-s.html

For performance our Way/DDM intake is the best bang for the buck
http://www.waymotorworks.com/way-ddm...ntake-r50.html

 

I've decided to fix the Midlands and sell the car. As much as I'd like to dump a bunch of time and money doing a swap and beefing this car up, I think I would be better off saving up for a newer cooper a with low miles. I get the feeling that driving this 2003 will be like plugging holes in a leaky boat and I just want to sail.

If you guys know the best source for midlands parts, I would appreciate it.
-thank you

 

We have most of the midland parts listed, it mostly the only transmission from MINI that has most of the internal transmission parts in the catalog.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2003-Cooper-R50-Base-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W10B16A/Drivetrain/Manual_Transmission/