Thanks Jeremy. I never even thought about doing the work myself. I do have a rack I could use here at the shop and I do have another car I'm driving. Hmmm, and we did just a hire a new mechanic that probably could do the work too....hmmmm.....you got me thinking again, lol.

 

its not too hard to pull the tranny.....I'm lazy and work alone 99% of the time, so I just pull the engine and tranny out together. It is 100x easier taking the tranny off and putting it back on by yourself. Of course I dont have half the crap on my motor like the SC motors, but i have a heck of a lot of IC piping and turbo lines....lol

 

Sorry to go off topic here, but to finish up my OBX story..here are a couple pix of my problem. Seems there was a hidden problem...look at my tranny mounting points....2 are gone of the 3. One is stripped and the other is missing.

 

OK that CV is scrap! Unless you're good with an ARC welder and grinder. That's why it was sliding all around in your OBX. How did the c-clip look like?

And woh your motor was either hard mounted everywhere and gave out on the trans mount or it was soft mounted everywhere and gave out on the trans mount. Time for a new inner CV and captive nut welding on your frame rail. Good luck!

Jeremy

 

The c-clip was brand new...the old one was a bit worn. The motor has poly bushings but otherwise uses stock motor mounts. I'm getting a new CV, and the frame is being rewelded as we speak. The tranny is coming apart this weekend for inspection and possibly LSD replacement.

 

Hope all goes well. Do you know a good welder?
Sorry to hear about your problems.
Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Just wanted to post a followup on my story as the saga continues. The tranny was pulled and a MINI friend of mine offered to inspect it and take it apart if necessary. A week later, I find out that he didn't do anything but clean it up and had another friend look at it who said it "looked fine". Sigh.

I took the tranny back to the shop, they put it back in place with the new welded mounts. Using a new axle, new c-clip, they find that the axle is even looser than before the tranny was pulled out. They can actually pull the axle out by hand after snapping it in.

Not a good sign at all, and I'm just really pissed at the time I've wasted. At this point it's either crack the tranny open and replace the diff or drop in a replacement tranny with factory LSD...I'm doing the latter. I'll keep the old tranny and OBX Diff and upgrade it at a later time when I have more time and money.

Thanks for everyones suggestion...maybe I'll be back and running next week on a factory tranny and LSD....I'm already at the breaking point...if this doesn't fix it...I'm scrapping this MINI and getting a clubbie.

 

Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sad to hear your tranny laid around for a week with nothing done. Are you getting a used tranny or one from MINI.

Hope your back on the road soon.

 

My shop found a 2005 MCS Tranny with LSD from a MINI that was rearended with 30,000 miles on it. Thanks!

 

 

Oh Richard I feel for you.

Really though why the eff didn't they try the inner CV/whole axle in the diff before they reinstalled the trans and diff to the motor!!! The OBX output is scrap if a new inner CV is sloppy in there. Good luck with your new trans and diff.

Jeremy

 

Probably cause they took my word that the tranny and diff was checked out and didn't have any issues with it. I dunno. Thanks so much for your support and advice.

 

Seeing this, I have to agree with J-higgs, the outputs from the OBX are probably bad, no need to replace the whole transmission.

 

It's just a cost and time issue now. The cost to open the tranny, and replace the OBX will be more than replacing with a used tranny and I really need the car back in the next week for a show.

I do plan to keep my old tranny with the OBX and will work at my leisure to fix what's needed down the road. I enjoyed the performance of it, so since so many of you had good luck with the OBX, I'd probably get another one or get the parts to fix what I have and do it myself since it will be out of the car already.

Richard

 

There is a video on Youtube somewhere of splitting the trans and replacing the dif. Seems easy.

 

Well, I learned a good piece of info reading this article. Turns out the SVT Focus used the same Getrag 6-speed manual transmission. Ford part number is M-4204-SVTF . Here's a link for the SVT Focus differential: http://www.tousleyfordparts.com/part...catalogid=5684. I'm sure there are other sites that carry it. Retail is $779; this site charges $632.50. I think this is what I'm going with whenever I change out my clutch.

 

See my sig. That is where I got mine from.

 

How does the SVT LSD compare to the Cusco or Giken units?

 

Its not exactly a "SVT Focus" LSD. Its a Torsen built LSD that Ford Racing supplied/stocked. The focus didn't come with one or had one as a factory option.

Its different from Cusco and OS Giken in that it is gear driven as opposed to clutch driven. A clutch LSD is more aggressive, requiring you to adjust your driving lines under certain conditions. But it will distribute more power to the wheel with traction than a geared one. Also a geared LSD will act like an open diff when a tire leaves the ground and sometimes on ice where as the clutch preload in the clutch LSD will allow it to still distribute power to the wheel with traction.

 

A trick to use on ice with the gear type lsd would be to able the brake pedal.

 

True but if the difference in price isn't a huge point for you the OS Giken LSD is definitely more "ultimate driving machine" lol

 

I can attest the the fact that torsen does have traction issues at times, but really only when it is cold, wet and you are on the wrong tires ("hey it's 40 degrees and I am on summer tires, in the rain"!) if I had the money would have done the cusco, but that is much more expensive. I've beaten the **** out of it and no issues so far.