Hello all - I have a very early 2005 MCS that was not built with LSD as it wasn't offered at the time. Would like to know if anyone has installed LSD in a 05 MCS, brand and what it cost and if it's worth it or better off to trade in my 05 and get an 06.

 

you will find lots of posts on this on the net and probably on the NAM forums as well.

Gear driven LSD, seems more established and more tested than OEM version.

 

what he said ^^... And if you're going to trade your MINI in wait a year and trade it in for an '07 with the better engine and turbo... That thing is gonna be so easy to tune for high horsepower... Anyways, Good Luck, oh and have you considered retrofitting the MINI LSD into your '05?

 

That's the end game plan is to get an 07 - but in the interim - I've driven my buddy's 05 with LSD and now I have to have it... :-)

I have a feeling once you get at the parts to update the LSD it makes more sense to put a quaife in.

 

or a Ford...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...highlight=ford

 

A quaife is a quaife, regardless of who sells it.

 

Do you folks think it would be possible or even cost just as much to buy the LSD from MINI and have it installed? That way when the car is sold or traded it has the MINI parts in it rather then a completely aftermarket part?

I believe I read the quaife is what is in the MINI.

I am just curious...

 

I had this same problem about a year ago. Was going to put in the quaife (around $2k installed) but realized we wouldn't lose much more than that trading in our 04 for an 06 with similar options + LSD. We got our new 06 last week and have no regrets.

 

duplicate post...

 

I've been in the same position as you. I have an early 05 and no LSD. Like yourself, I have to have one!!! Your best option, if you want to keep the Mini you have now, is to install the Quaife. It's the track warrantied, tried and true LSD system and it's gear driven so it won't wear out like the Ultrik. I'm not sold on the Ford unit, due to some grinding to fit. If your dead set on having the factory LSD, then you've got to fork out a lot of $$$$ (around 4-5K) for a factory tranny, or you can find a salvage (takes a lot of patience) or a racer who's replacing the factory LSD. It seems most have just replaced the Mini altogether with an 06 and LSD, considering you'll spend as much for a Quaife installed as you will for upgrading to a newer Mini. The plus side to the Quaife is that's it's far superior in performace to the factory LSD, which is made by GKN.

 

It would probably cost less than that to trade your car in on a new Mini.

 

Absolutly. I figure, that if you've got an 05 MCS w/o LSD, you'll probably be in the 12K miles to 20K miles range (if it's a daily driver like mine). It would seem that you'll most likely sell about 2-3K lower than what you paid for it. So, I would think that a trade in would be the best and EASIER option. On the other hand it's about 2K installed for a Quaife, and it is a more sophisticated unit than the GKN stock unit. If car manufaturer's were more parts friendly, you could avoid having to buy the entire tranny unit, and buy the stock LSD unit for around $700 (just a guess). But of course, BMW makes too much money on parts to do that.