After about 800 miles after the first rebuild I lost 3rd gear, then a couple hundred miles later 5th went out when cruising on the interstate at a steady speed... Then it all went downhill... Of course without those gears the car was rendered completely useless. All shift linkages were in good working order. So we got to work.

The mystery starts...




Well here's the case opened up.

Everything was still together like it should've been.





Part of the broken 5 great synchro





Yea... That's shot to ****.





Everything was assembled still, no pins missing. Everything was good. Just the 5 gear synchro hub shot.





Damn. That's a problem.








Lots of aluminum shavings... Also some steel.





Bad bearing. About to lose it's pins.





So where did this rebuild go wrong... The mystery starts.

 

In for the education. I dropped my Midlands at 153k --- rebuilt from John the Mini Guy in NY and perfect since then. *knock on wood*

 

That's about when mine bit bullet, 145ish. Rebuilt it by buying a Midland tranny rebuild kit, input and output shafts were already assembled, from a source that will remain nameless for the time being... Seemed way too easy. Now I'm not sure where to go from here. Hopefully the distributor will make things right, if not legal action will happen. Then Coopa will be dead, and I'll start parting it out. �� Not what I wanna do.


How did your transmission's demise start out?

 

So my story is interesting. Eased into 2nd gear and loaded up the throttle at 153k and all sorts of crunchy sounds came out. Front wheels locked up - wasn't fun.

Initially I parked the car for about a year (LOL - I have 8 vehicles). I started to miss the MINI so I found a trans from a wrecked base model. It had 83k on the odo so I was like "ship it". Got it installed... and I kept my initial trans even though the case and internals were all junk. 2k miles later the replacement had a 5th gear whine that got louder and louder... I knew it was about to go so I bought a rebuild kit from the UK ( http://www.minigearboxes.co.uk/ ). My plan was to do what you're doing and learn to rebuild them myself, but I wanted to rebuild a spare not my primary. So I grabbed the manual and uploaded to my site FPVLab ( http://fpvlab.com/banners/midland-gearbox-manual-2.pdf ). Now I was armed for the fight. A few days later I woke up (I parked overnight on a hill at some hot blonde's house - lol) and the box was stuck in 3rd gear. Even using another car to pull the weight off of the driveline it wouldn't budge. I'd had enough!

I contacted "jontheminiguy" on eBay to buy an already rebuilt box from him... this would have allowed me to get the car on the road immediately, and I could take my time rebuilding a spare box to put on the shelf. Jon had spare boxes - but of course none were rebuilt as rebuild kits were hard to come by for a while from Gearboxes Limited. We made a deal... I send him my rebuild kit and my junk trans (the original trans in the car) and he would use my kit to rebuild a trans he had in stock. Deal!!!

My fresh trans came in - installed and reminded me of how my trans used to feel in 04 when I bought my MINI. He THEN offered to buy my 5th gear whine/locked trans - so after 1,000 miles on his rebuilt box I sent that trans off as well and he sent me the money. In the end I sent him 1 JUNK trans (my orig), 1 locked/5th gear whine trans that was soon about to eat itself but could def be saved and rebuilt, my rebuild kit. In return I got a fresh rebuild with a year warranty IIRC.

He was a great guy to work with - he even sent me pre-paid packing slips for trans/rebuild kits so that I had to pay nothing for shipping.

 

Why don't you just do the 6 speed swap from the MCS? They are a bit more robust and will allow you to keep Coopa on the road.

I am not a convert. Yet. I have an 05 MCC that had a catastrophic failure and is in need of an engine and transmission. The 6 speed, that has already been given a thumbs up from a local transmission guy, is in the garage and I am just trying to decide between a low mileage take out and a rebuilt long block.

I'm not normally a fan of telling someone that an upgrade is their best solution, it seems like a better alternative than just parting out your car.

 

Yea well, Coopa is still on the blocks. I recently purchased an S model... Damn I've been missing out! I love it!

As for Coopa, either I'll get the tranny sorted out. No thanks to John Tee from the UK and his lack of customer service. OR I'll keep it for a parts car. Either way I'm still motiring on!

 

As Jason said above, the 6 speed swap is very popular to do and many people have done it on here that can lend some good advice. Hope you get it figured out, but congrats on the new MINI.

 

I still miss the '05 R53 that I had a few years ago. Tried to replicate the feeling with an '08 TT (3.2 6sp quattro) and with an '09 135I (6sp M-sport). The 135i was the closest but did not replicate the feel even though I think that it handled much better. I totaled the R53 :( and sold the other two (which I will regret until the day I die). I am hoping that the 6sp in the MCC will feel better in first and second than what I remember of the 5sp.

On a side note (that I hope doesn't get me banned), I am the occasional owner of a '98 Beetle (5sp 2.0L) that my wife drives, and it actually feels pretty similar to the Cooper.

Remember that that supercharger whine is like cocaine on wheels.

 

I will only do the S trans if I do the Cooper S block, which will only be if I ever hurt my Justa motor. Right now I've done some weight reduction, I/H/E, lightweight flywheel and short-throw (the flywheel woke up the little Justa nicely). It actually pulls very well and of course is grippy in the corners.

I wish I could lighten the doors with a manual window conversion (yeah I know - I'm special - lol) and I'll probably look into some lightweight 15 inch wheels.

I'm in Puerto Rico (there's a huge Cooper following on the island actually) so if I find a good deal on a wrecked S I'll likely drag it home.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but the Cooper S short block has a lower compression. That would hurt performance if not paired with a turbo or SC. Typical to BMW form, the physical block and head are identical. The rotating assembly gives you your differences in compression (in this case).

Now If I were practically given a wrecked, complete S, I would give some thought to a complete swap, but would probably cherry pick it for what I can use in a 'Justa' and part out the rest.

 

^ That's what I mean... the complete S swap.

 

In Puerto Rico, that is probably the best option to get an S. In the US, the cost difference is such that it makes more sense to sell the Justa and buy an S.

 

Pricing is about the same here as in Atlanta (where I am from). I passed on the S bc my bolt-on stock block GSR Civic hatch dominates them at Deal's Gap and in chance runs on the street. Wasn't worth the money to me, although the MINI is a whole lot more refined of course. At 37 I still feel silly driving the Civic hatch around, but I don't mind stepping out of the MINI. But I loved the look of the MINI so I grabbed a base for a DD in 2004. The only way I'll have the S motor/trans is getting a wrecked one to swap, I wouldn't get rid of the old Justa nor outright buy an S. In 12 years I've basically only put a trans in it and door lock actuators... she's been a good little car. I have other stuff for performance.

 

Tranny and door lock actuators are all I've had to replace on the Justa as well. I'm loving the S though. I guess I'm just going to keep the Justa to use for parts. Both interiors are the same, and both cars are black, so I've body panels and interior stuff.

Unless I can come across a rebuilt Midlands to drop in, I could flip it and make about $2500 to $3000 depending on the tranny cost. Not sure if I'd ever do that, but I feel bad just letting it sit there and.... Rot?

I'm sure someone would enjoy it.