A week and a half ago my wife, Rachel, took our pepper white 2004 MCS into the shop to have a new pair of tires fitted and our front end aligned. So when smart, hard-working and beautiful Rachel called me last Friday to inform me that she was stranded in the Mini and could not shift the car into any gear, I was a little surprised.

After having the car towed home I began the slow dance of running back and forth from poking under the bonnet and consulting my favorite Mini Cooper Forum. After a day of doing this I can now provide the following diagnosis:

1) Front rotors are at or below minimum thickness, pads not far behind,
2) the driver's side steering rack gaiter was disconnected and grease flung everywhere (thank you N+B),
3) there is a power steering leak at the return hose,
4) there is a coolant leak at the thermostat housing,
5) the radiator support stucture is cracked at two or three different places,
6) the OEM (Luk) pressure plate was broken into two pieces,
7) the clutch disc was getting thin and the flywheel was due for replacement,
8) the shifter and selector cables were loose and have worn bushings,
9) there is an oil leak coming from my supercharger/water pump causing the supercharger assembly to be caked in and oil and what appears to be black soot mixture,
10) the leak may have seeped into the clutch housing because the inside of the housing is coated in the same nasty mix, but strangely enough not on the clutch plate,
11) the leak definitely damaged the gasket between the supercharger and the air inlet pipe.

Being the amateur mechanic, and having already removed the front half of my car, I decided that I would tackle this job on my own. I have tracked down several how-to's for brakes, clutch/flywheel and supercharger repair, thank you NAM Members. What I am looking for now are suggestions on brands for different parts. Bear in mind that my Mini is a daily driver for my wife and while we both like to go fast, neither of us will be heading out to the track or AX events. Price followed closely by quality are the main considerations. These are the items I am looking at purchasing -

Flywheel - Fidanza steel flywheel with replaceable wear plate.
Clutch - Exedy OEM or Valeo
Rotors - Brembo OEM
Pads - Mintex or Euro-ceramic
Tie-rod ends - Lemforder or Mevotech

Any suggestions?

Also, when I unbolted the flywheel, some oil seeped out over the last three bolts I was removing, I wiped it away and haven't noticed any more but will check again in the morning. Is this oil seep normal or should I replace the shaft seal?

Any input is welcome.

 

Bently Manual /EBC Green Pads

 

Thanks for the input. Yeah, definitely the Bentley Manual because the H*ynes Manual is awful.

 

"amateur" mechanic?? Wish I was that amateurish and could tear my car apart to that extent myself...

Fidanza flywheel will chatter, just depends on what you are willing to listen to. It drove me nuts and now I have the OS Giken clutch/flywheel. VERY much quieter. There is some noise at times, but most times nothing.

 

Thanks for the info. I don't want a noisy clutch, but money is definitely a consideration. I will check out the OS Giken clutch/flywheel. I couldn't tell from the description whether the Fidanza was solid or dual mass.

I am definitely an amateur. I made a number of mistakes during the tear down. See tie rod ends x2 on the shopping list.

I appreciate the encouragement and the suggestions.

 

Apparently this is quite good. It's what I am going with when my clutch goes.

http://www.txwerks.com/servlet/Detail?no=371

Maybe I am missing something but how does a single mass flywheel chatter?

 

the flywheel doesn't... but the internals of the gearbox do

 

Some suggestions if you are still parts hunting:

1. http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html...at=SpecialMini. Scroll down about 1/4 way. TMS cross-drilled rotors. On sale for $119.90/front and $89.90/rear. I have these.

http://new.minimania.com/web/Item/NMB1103/InvDetail.cfm. EBC Yellowstuff kevlar pads as an alternative. $119.95 for the front. They don't require warming up like other ceramic pads. I've also learned, combined with the above rotors, they actually have low dust. The drilled holes help to dissipate it inward.

As for rear brakes, since they are not used as much, I just went with what was provided in stock at Autozone for their ceramic house brand. They work good, too.

7. http://www.customcarscentral.com/act...-cooper-s.html. ACT Streetlite steel flywheel. Weighs 13.8 lbs. $382.99. I previously bought this at Eurosport Design, but they discontinued it. I was told awhile back that you don't want to go lower than 1/2 weight of the stock flywheel, which is 27 lbs. Keep this in mind if you decide to go with an aluminum design.

http://www.eurosportdesign.com/p-124...utch-kits.aspx. SPEC Stage1 clutch kit. 235 lbs. clamping force, which should be good for pulley/CAI/exhaust/tune setups. $265.

...

For other stock-like replacement parts, try Bavarian Auto: http://www.bavauto.com/. Some are at great prices. As an example, OEM control arm bushings are only $57.95 each.

 

I saw that early this morning and decided that I would be doing the same. I have a call into Jeff at txspeedwerks to see if he can work with me on the shipping since I am local, can pick up and will have to pay tax on the purchase. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I looked into drilled/slotted rotors, but they were more pricey than I was willing to go. Also, I have read that the benefits of cross drilling do not outweigh the risks caused by the reduction in structural integrity.

I was looking at this flywheel and debating whether to go with it or the Fidanza. In the end I went with the Valeo because of the txspeedwerks recommendation at http://www.motoringalliance.com/foru...ooper-s-6.html

Thanks for the input.

 

You don't say how many miles are on your clutch, but I'd consider going with the stock clutch......

 

No, I didn't, but...

I'd say one too many miles.
As far as the stock clutch goes, it is WAY more expensive to add the stock clutch together with the stock flywheel.

Thanks for the input. Also, I have been a huge fan of that jag since I saw Harold and Maude 20 years ago.

 

Thanks!

I'd been a huge fan of them since I first worked on em over 40 years ago!

Here's a link to the rustoration I did on it if you want to see......

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/505677

 

the valeo from my understanding IS the stock clutch.,. just doesn't have bmw written on the box and it costs a whole lot les because of that. the stock flywheel is the valeo dual mass, but you can get a valeo single mass if you want.

 

Luk and Sachs co-manufacture the OEM Clutch and flywheel assembly. The Valeo kit is a conversion kit from a dual mass to a single mass flywheel. Valeo is not associated with Luk or Sachs in any way.

 

That sounds about right.

Also,

Thankyou, glad somebody else knows what is actually going on. Next time I have a motorcycle engine on the UCONN engine dyno I will post a video if I can so you can hear what GOD AWFUL gearbox chatter really sounds like.

 

We carry the Valeo single mass flywheel clutch kit, and know some people have had great luck with it. Otherwise go with just an OEM clutch.

As for brake pads, we use alot of the EBC green pads for daily drivers. Also our Zimmerman rotors are great.

And if your going to do this a Bentley Manual can be a huge help, even if you just use it for torque specs.

Also we offer FREE tech support for any parts you buy from us.

 

I snapped a couple of pics to show some of the damage inside the engine compartment.

I am still working under the assumption that my supercharger or water pump was leaking oil causing the buildup you see on both those items and the front of the engine block.

I think that same leak entered into the clutch housing because there was a clutch dust/oil coating on the inside of the housing. Most of it is cleaned up but you can still see some remnants around the base of the guide tube. My guess is that the contamination inside the housing accelerated the clutch failure by increasing the heat on the clutch pressure plate, weakening it sufficiently to cause it to snap into three pieces.

Any suggestions on a cleaner to use on the inside of the clutch housing? I intended to use carb cleaner or brake cleaner applied to a paper towel, I just want to make certain that these won't affect any factory coating that may be present on the inside of the housing.