Hi,

The bearings in the gearbox of my race / rally mini cooper S have failed. It is a 2002 RE32 cooper S. The car has done around 35-40k of racing and rallying, so the failure is not surprising.

BMW Australia will not sell the bearings, but only an entire new gearbox @ $A4500 (around $4000 US)

My mechanic has stripped the gearbox, and found details on the bearings. They are INA bearings, and we have size details and part numbers

However, INA here in Australia do not have the bearings. I have tried several INA bearing distributors in the US, but none so far have been able to help me. I think I am hitting a brick wall, and suspect that the dealers are not supposed to sell these OEM parts to third parties

Does anyone have any ideas as to where to source the bearings?? If I can't get them I am going to have to throw out the gearbox for the sake of 3 bearings, and pay $4.5k for a new one We have been trying to source these for several weeks with no luck

There must be someone out there who has experience with rebuilding gearboxes etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Robbo

 

Which bearings do you need? The diff ones?

 

I work for a Nascar team in the Charlotte Nc area,we use a lot of INA bearings,I personally purchase INA bearings from BEARING DISTRIBUTORS AND DRIVES in Charlotte as they are a distributor for INA.If you are interested in getting them shipped to you from the US,PM me and i'll gladly give you the contact info,the girl i deal with is a sweetheart and she knows her stuff.
Bill

 

What team do you work for?? I work on a nascar grand national team in california(Bill Mcanally Racing), with the goal of working on a cup team as a crew chief.

 

Probably want to post this in the 1st gen section.

 

Hi,

Thanks, I didn't realise I'd posted it in the 2nd gen pages by mistake. I'll repost in the 1st gen pages

Cheers

Robbo