finally found the correct motor mounts from allmag salvage mini parts in tampa fla. this helped align the motor and transmission so I could get the shifter cables to fit correctly. today we got the clutch master cylinder to clutch slave cylinder lines that allmag salvage provided. I bought new master and slave cylinders on line and am going to try and figure out how all these fit. whish us luck. thanks gaild

 

we installed the hydraulic lines to the master clutch cylinder and the slave cylinder. attached feed line to brake fluid reservoir and pumped fluid thru to the slave cylinder. opened bleed valve and attached clear plastic tube ,placed tube in clear plastic bottle with some brake fluid in it. pumped clutch pedal until there were no bubbles in line. tapped on cylinder until no more bubbles. closed bleed valve. attache slave cylinder on bracket. tried clutch pedal, worked fine. very firm!!!

 

gaild back for more help!!! we finally got the correct cv axel shafts. the first ones we got on line were not right.with help from another provider, got the correct axels. they are now in and have filled the transmission with new redline lubricant. shifter and cables are in. the problem is I tried to shift into all gears, 1 thru 6 ok. won"t go into reverse. can"t start motor yet . getting all the electronic modules reprogramed by way motor works. any ideas about not going into reverse??? thanks gaild

 

I don't have much to offer but are you sure your clearing the reverse detent past the gate? I know these cars you kind of have to muscle it in there. My little 22 year old nice hated it going into reverse when I first taught her how to drive a manual gear box but now she can throw it into reverse like a champ. I'm contemplating getting another R53 and I've found the exact one I want that's been kept up better than expected but unfortunately it is an automatic. Don't know if I want to go down this rabbit hole but rowing through gears is an absolute must with these cars.

 

Hello! ive been buying parts for the past couple months in hopes of doing this conversion myself but am getting mixed signals on whether or not I need to pull the engine for this conversion. Any help would be awesome thank you!

 

Just did this swap, super fun quarantine project, heres my write up on it: https://github.com/somehobo/R53s-manual-swap . excuse it being on github I wanted to take this chance to learn markdown, hope this helps anyone!!.

 

auto vs manual mounts

 

I’ve been looking into doing a manual swap on my 2006 mini cooper s r53 because the auto is starting to go bad and I would rather have a manual. My friend had a 2002 mini cooper s that he had a lot of good racing parts on but it got left in a lot and he would like to give me the transmission. But I have seen on this thread that the 2005 and up are preferred, why is that? Would the 2002 trans fit in my 2006? Would I need to get the car reprogrammed? And are there any more parts I should take from his car in order to perform the swap? Thank you!

 

How many miles on your car and has the transmission fluid and filter ever been changed?

The pre-facelift manuals have longer gearing so some prefer the facelift transmissions because of the (slightly?) better acceleration from a stop. I don’t know all the details of each, but here’s a list of some things I remember about this swap:

• Some programming is needed to let the car know it now has a manual.
• The Aisin auto cars have the engine mounted closer to the passenger side vs the manuals. Some/all? engine and transmission mounts are needed because of this. Other misc. mounting brackets are also needed
• Unless you have a fairly new passenger side hydraulic or performance upgrade motor mount, it would probably a good idea to put a new one in since they fail often.My original mount failed at 17k.
• A manual wiring harness is needed. Not sure if this is compatible between facelift and non due to the different ECU’s or anything else.
• I don’t remember any manual swaps ending with working cruise control.
• Manual drive shafts are needed.
• Some prefer the later shifter box and cables.

 

Your friends 2002, is it a five speed or six?? you need INPA from bmw tuner website which is free and a $25 cable and laptop. Its finicky and i spent hours perfecting it before using it on the car. I did the battery terminal explosive delete mod and needed INPA to delete the seatbelt code that it created. I like the old single cam engines because its more simple then a dual cam. less failure points. I didn't need a harness swap, INPA laptop programmed a check box to "GETRAG" and everything was good. I left the original parking circuit in Park for starter operation. I sold the car to a friend who is still in town here. Say goodbye to cruise control, I never figured that out. No neutral safety switch. go to car-parts.com for junkyard listings of transmissions that fit. I used the GETRAG 6 speed and there are other 5 speeds that work.

 

I didn’t know there was such thing as an atf fluid filter but I really just would prefer a manual and I can take most of these things from his car but I would definetly get a new mount thank you so much for all the help! I’ll check and see if it’s pre or post facelift

 

his is a six speed which is appealing to me especially because it has a racing flywheel and racing clutch. But all the programming and such looks pretty complicated especially because this is my daily driver and I’m about to get my liscence, but I have done transmission removals and installs but I have never done a swap to a different year. I just changed out the manual transaxle on an Impreza.

 

Don't be scared of INPA. just get a laptop and a cable and this software https://www.bimmergeeks.net/downloads

I don't think a 2002 six speed will fit in your 2006 car. There are listings on car-parts.com. Theres a six speed with limited slip in North Carolina, about 90 miles away from me for example. Look at used transmissions on ebay also. Find pictures of all the models and see if the bellhousing bolt pattern is the same, that's the easiest way to figure a lot of swap stuff out for free. Rockauto has a $300 single-mass clutch kit. You don't need a racing clutch because there's not a lot of torque, even if you have 240hp a normal clutch is fine. you'll also need a shifter and the linkage attached to it. You need different axles, halfshaft mounts, the clutch/brake pedal swapped out, a master cylinder and a clutch fluid reservoir, I used one from a 2000 Ram Truck. I did all this stuff to a 2003 model, its probably similar on a 2006. Tell your friend to sell you his entire 2002 car. My best advice is to always have a solid daily driver and ALSO a car that you wrench on.

 

Thank you so much I’ll probably stick with mine then because even tho it’s an auto it’s still a six speed and it does have a limited slip

 

https://cambioautomaticodobrasil.com...0803f2ebff.pdf

Download this PDF while you can. I think that your auto is a TF60SN and I've rebuilt one. Not a successful rebuild but all the same. The problem with mine was the total housing that splits in half for disassembly "went bad". My issue was a third gear to second gear deceleration thump/jolt. The large aluminum outer housing holds a dampening piston that cushions the 3-2 downshift and when the inner piston made of steel rubs the wall of the cylinder made of aluminum, the aluminum cylinder gets larger and leaks and can no longer dampen.

TF60SN needs proper fluid level and proper coolant that it gets from the engine. Use Valvoline MaxLife ATF and read about the thick plastic "straw" that sets the ATF's fluid level. It works like a toilet tank's overflow tube. INPA also has transmission relearn tools and also diagnostics. Don't abuse an automatic transmission by racing or rough driving. Rebuild it and put a new pump in it and a new torque converter and then its safe to race haha.

 

yeah so mine hesitates from second to third under hard acceleration or will be really jumpy like when someone is driving a stick for the first time. And sometimes it will just not shift for a while and stay at redline for a while but I’ll just try to baby it and see if there are fluids and filters I can change

 

Seems like the pump is running out of fluid at high rpm.

Theres a few bolts to take the pan off but you shouldn't take it off and you shouldn't change the filter. There is one bolt on the pan that is a huge pain the remove and retorque afterwards. It's not worth the trouble. Order a second "straw" tube, in this video the guy calls it a "snorkel tube", but use the second one you bought as a fill tube after a drain. It's got the same threading and you can connect a long silicone hose to it to feed fresh ATF while the engines running and in park. There is a fill plug at the top of the trans near the shifter selector but its a pain too, tight fit and reverse torx bit. It just sounds to me like you're low on fluid. If your axle seals are worn than fluid can escape over the years. Torque converter seals can leak and other shops in the past can fudge the fluid level. It's best to be aware of the level as theres no dipstick.

Slightly more dangerous than it needs to be but this guy made a good video on the technique.

 

Where’s the parking circuit you mentioned and what did you do for it? I’m doing the same swap in a couple weeks.

 

this is the PND21 switch that is on the top of the autobox. its mechanically linked to the shifter inside the car. its responsible for Park or N Safety switch to start the car. you could leave the switch plugged into harness in P or N OR unplug it and use a jumper wire to make the same connection. this same jumper could be installed on the clutch pedal as a N safety switch. I used a jumper and put the car in "racecar" mode with the warning that it'll "start while in gear" and the current owner is sharp, he never loans out his car. so really, these wires are connected to activate the starter relay's ground so that 12v can activate the relay. eautorepair.com was a huge help for connector pinouts. you could use a voltmeter to find the proper jumper but i used wiring diagrams so that i didnt fry anything

 

Sounds easy enough. Any time I’ve owned a manual I never parked it in gear. I’ll just have to give that same warning if were to ever lend it out which I don’t see that happening lol, thanks!

 

Always leave a manual car in first gear while parked. It's a like a second parking brake. A better explanation of "racecar mode" is that "Turning the key starts the car even if the clutch isn't depressed, no matter what gear its in; even neutral, because the neutral safety switch is bypassed." Sorry for long-windedness.

 

Apparently all my vehicles are racecars.

 

hahaha next I'll demonstrate how to put your toploading washing machine into "Expert Mode"

 

How much did the ecu tuning cost and what do i ask for from my tuner?

 

you need a laptop, a cable, and INPA installed on laptop. bimmergeeks has inpa for free.