I found two 05 boxes with about 7K on them for about $2850.....(last week) That plus 12 hrs labor is out of my budget.

 

I'd love to drop a mini one D gearbox in my 2003 S.
| G | |
| e | Overall |
| a | Ratio |
| r | |
+--+---------+----------+---------+
| 1 | 11.425 | 12.789 | 12.570 |
| 2 | 7.181 | 7.793 | 6.990 |
| 3 | 5.397 | 5.651 | 4.510 |
| 4 | 4.407 | 4.615 | 3.550 |
| 5 | 3.656 | 3.828 | 3.050 |
| 6 | 2.986 | 3.126 | 2.410 |
| R | 11.130 | 11.944 | 11.130 |
+---+---------+-----------+-------+
| > 06/2004 | 07/2004 > | One D

Thats a true 6 speed if you ask me, unlike my 2003's gearbox which is really a 4 speed with 2 half gears thrown in.

 

Is the 02 box different so that 05 gears won't fit? Can you not get the 05 gears from Mini as replacement parts and retro fit or is it a completely different design?

 

I would believe the cost of the gears would be prohibitive. Once you did a rebuild with the new parts if they fit you'd also have the install time. Finding a used 05 with LSD would be the best bet money wise. My $.02 only

 

There's a single part number for transmissions at MINI, in other words, they don't sell individual gears.

 

Thanks for the info Eric. Reman units from the factory are about all you can get any more from most car manufacturers.

 

After some sound dampening measures and properly installing the steering comlumn boot, the sound is there but nowhere near before. It's still there but much better.

Again from Eric, "The low-end acceleration rivals my TurboKompressor car, with more immediate acceleration. Where my car accelerates like you would imagine a turbo/supercharged car does (not really laggy, but not immediate), Cosmic's car has instant torque."

 

Cosmic Purple just dropped by Atlanta on his way home to the DC area from Louisiana. Great guy.....we spent a couple of hours together.......he is a homeopathic doctor with tons of education and a bad case of the Mini disease....we got along great. I took him for a "spirited" ride in my car and then he took me in his. CP was generous enough to let me drive his car,..which i did, and he declined my offer to drive mine. This thread is about gears so here are my impressions of the gears...... WOW, our engines put out similar power but his abililty to do a burnout like a top fuel dragster is pretty impressive. The car pulls from any gear and gets through the box quickly. He was sporting runflats and stock wheels for the long drive so I did not push it like I was pushing my car (and it is HIS car) but with better rubber, lighter wheels and 200 less lbs of molasses in the rear this car would scream out of the corners. I kept saying ..... I'm in 3rd or I'm in 5th surprised that is wasn't 2nd or 3rd. The engine clearly likes this gearing as it pushes pavement out of the way and behind it like a bull swats a fly.... For my dailey driving it is too much as all gears rev much higher.....it needs a switch like the WMS exhaust....track mode,..street mode...dream on....... If my car was primarily a track car, I believe I would make the change when I put my LSD in........ I did not find the additional noise annoying.....just the sound of a machine...., which I like. I could write more b...... Thanks to CP for contacting me and spending the time.........to CP...peace.

 

Great report, but now I'm bummed a bit. How can we get a cross between an 05 MCS tranny and CP's gearing?

 

I think i would be fine with the 05 tranny myself.....the biggest culprit is 2nd...it is just to long and tall........ I have contacted Germany,....wish me luck...... I wonder what a machine shop would charge to make a set?

 

After a 3000 mile road trip with the new gears, they are not so bad. I got to meet up with SpiderX for a minute and it was interesting to ride in his car for a little comparison. I think we both came to the conclusion that after a certain point in modding the engine, things level off significantly. Changing the gearing is a significant mod, and it would be nice to have more options. Though these new gears may not be ideal for the highway, the car got relatively decent gas mileage driving at highway speeds. Cruising at 75- 80 was no problem. It's just that after that 85 is the same as 135. It's a wild high revving ride. Acceleration is pretty consistent all the way through and it happens fast. A little overdrive would be nice.

 

Or two?

 

Cosmic Purple
Could you tell me what your gas mileage on the road was please. I'm just wondering. Thanks

 

After including a correction factor of about 13% for larger injectors, the average was about 26 - 27 mpg driving 70 mph and 24 - 25 mpg when really motoring along. But the computer says 27.6 to 30.1 mpg average.

 

a correction factor for larger injectors? in the ecu programming or in the mini computer or manually?

 

I was told by 2 different techs that after changing to larger injectors, the mini computer doesn't accurately calculate the mpg anymore. The larger injectors are squirting out more fuel than the computer calclulates, so it appears that we are getting better milage. Eric at Helix said that its about 13% off for 400cc injectors. I didn't question how he came up with that figure.

 

So you multiply it by hand by 13%? I'm just trying to understand the process.... What is your mileage by dividing miles by gallons? Thanks!

 

You would multiply the total by 87%, or you can multiply by 13% and then subtract it from the total.

 

I understood this well, before I even asked my question, but the reason I ask is that theoretically the mini computer can be programmed to adjust the mpg readout by adding in a correction factor [early models had this ability, I once heard], but I've never been able to figure out how to do it. The menu option is disabled on my car....

Hope this becomes clearer. I was just curious.

Anyways, how did your mileage change from before to after, with no correction? Thanks!

 

Without any corrections, with the larger injectors, Highway milage at 70 - 80 registered at 33 - 34 mpg. Playing around it was about 29 on the highway. Now, 70 - 75 steady speed milage is around 28 - 29 and playing around it goes down quickly to 24 - 26.

 

These numbers are what the OBC calculated, right? Or are they miles driven divided by gallons consumed?

 

OBC Calculated

 

What mileage are you actually seeing, though?

 

Cosmic Purple
What mods have you done to your car. I can't believe you could get more than 22-23 miles to a gallon of gas with any serious mods plus the gears you put in. I have an 03 JCW with bigger injectors and various other mods and get 22 -23 miles to the gallon Hwy. all day long. Before mods with just JCW I got 30-32 mpg Hwy. Something just doesn't seem right.

 

The car is about as modded out as it gets without twincharging. The headwork with larger exhaust valves and schrick cam was done by Pilo/DPR with solid tappets from the British company BBR-GTi. It is running BBR's stage 4 software, which they claim increases milage when in closed loop mode. The intake and runners are coated inside and out. 05 supercharger, 16% pulley and lots of other mods from all over.

This is BBR's software promotion:
"BBR MINI COOPER S EVO-2 SOFTWARE ONLY
[SIZE=2]When we designed our 220 to 275BHP Cooper S conversions we mapped the ECU's accordingly to achieve the best possible power and economy. Looking back we realised we had ignored the possible advantages from modifying the manufactures original software on an unchanged mechanically (standard) car. As a new BBR starting point to Cooper S tuning we have recently carried out extensive engine dyno testing to improve the original software. We realise not all of you out there want another 40+ BHP, most would be happy with another 18BHP, far crisper throttle response and improved engine vitality. Now here's the magic part, with our new software installed, as an addition to the increase in performance, the engine which guzzles fuel in its original form now has far, far better fuel economy! Our own demo Cooper S returns well over 300 miles per tank full and will average up to 39MPG and that's with DB driving, and he doesn't mess about!"

[/SIZE]
For the actual gas milage i will do a calculation based on fuel and miles driven in the next week or so, but according to the OBC with correction for the larger injectors, it appears between 22 - 27 mpg with the new gears and 25 - 30 before. Before the software and the head, with less mods and shark injector, the car got 18 - 23 mpg. It doesn't make sense but maybe BBR's software is at work. I must say that everything they sell is a little pricey, but perhaps there is a return on fuel economy from the software.