How strong is the cooper S's auto transmission? Can it take up to 300hp? I didnt know which thread to put the question in so if it needs to be moved then go for it. and thanks for any replies!

 

The real question is how you plan on driving the car. If you are planning on racing from stoplight to stoplight, you may not see 60,000 miles with no mods to the engine. Conversely, if you replace (as opposed to drain the pan and refill) the transmission fluid on 15,000 mile intervals and do mostly rolling starts before getting into the power, you could probably see 100,000 miles with engine mods. There are versions of the Aisin-Warner transmission that handle 314-ish hp and 340-ish ft/lbs (in a 4,800 lb. unladen vehicle weight) with no failure issues. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the rated torque spec. for the Aisin-Warner transmission that is supplied with the MCSa.

 

hmm true, never really thought of it like that. well the mini would be a weekend car 3-4 days driven at most and i'd prob drive it pretty aggressively. typically from a rolling start since it'll be city/hill country driven. maybe the drag track every now and then. i know i'd try and get a tranny cooler for it and maybe a better torque convertor (?). and thanks for the fast reply!

 

A transmission cooler would be a nice addition; however, the Aisin-Warner transmission has a wierd provision for transmission cooler. Not saying it can't be done, just not the traditional front-mounted transmission cooler. Also, don't hold your breath looking for an improved torque converter. I have done some looking around for torque converter and transmission upgrades and have come up empty. Not saying they are not done; just that I haven't been able to find any from the sources I used when I was building my '03 C5 (and they didn't know of anyone who was working on the Aisin-Warner transmissions).

 

yea i figured that much about the torque convertor, usu. when items are availible its pretty easy to fall into finding out about products, but ive yet to hear anything about the auto tranny on a mini s at all, nevermind a performance part for it. do you ahve any idea where i could find the hp/torque specs on the mini s's auto trans? and does it have a name? (ex. my chev. cavalier has a "4T40E" auto tranny)

 

I tried sending an e-mail to Aisin-Warner directly and the silence of their reply was deafening (I am still trying to recover my hearing...). I also tried googling to no avail. I lost focus after going through 10 pages (out of 2,000,000 hits on the search) of search results. Of course I may not be as accomplished a googler as others....

 

lol yea i know the feeling man. :(

 

The company that seems to be most frequently mentioned in the Import Tuner crowd for autos is Level Ten. Those 1000hp automatic Supras use modified Aisin transmissions.

On Mini2 there is a mention that the MCS auto is similar to the one in the TT, and Level Ten does modify automatics for other Audis so it's probably reasonable to ask them.

 

Now that is a great piece of news. I will try contacting Level Ten.

 

Keep up the work guys. I am looking for ways to keep my tranny running right and so far so good. But I haven't done anything for it in its 21k miles of hard driving, dyno pulls and several 1/4 mile times.

 

Well, the first thing you could do to help your transmission would be to completely replace the transmission fluid.

 

I've considered it but not looked into it. I worry about a $1k bill

 

How do you get to a $1K bill?

 

umm replacing the tranny fluid isn't that hard on any auto as long as you take your time. just like replacing the oil in MOST cases, you do it once and the next time its amazingly easier.

 

Well, on the MINI replacing the a/t fluid is a bit more involved.... The transmission fluid cooler is a dinky little thang on the top of the transmission body. As far as I have been able to determine, there are no lines that come out of the transmission body that lead to a front mounted (air-to-air or air-to-water) transmission cooler. Therefore, how to completely replace the fluid (not just the fluid in the pan, but also the fluid that is in the torque converter and transmission body)? The solution that I have used (which was agreed to be the best under the circumstances by a highly recommended independent transmission shop) is to drain and refill the transmission fluid pan, drive the car for around 5 miles and then drain the fluid from the pan and refill. Do this two more times and on the last refill, replace the strainer that is inside the pan. This approach will get around 95% to 98% of the old fluid out. I am trying to find a solution to the dinky little cooler on the top of the transmission body. Maybe the next time I have to do a 3-stage fluid replacement, I will get pissed off enough that I find a solution to the cooler thang. If anyone has a better approach, please share it.

 

yea its a pain but not hard. on my chev you can drain it and and fill it easily, but to have the right amount of fluid theres no dipstick, only way to do it is to put it on a level surface (while in the air) and fill it until starts to come out the other end. but the way the tranny is set up is that if its not level then the fluid wont get to all the correct areas therefore not completely filling it. since i live in hill country thats def a HUGE pain to do, but not hard by any means.

 

Let me chime in for a sec about Level 10. I used to live in Vernon, NJ only a few miles from their shop. I can personally vouch for their quality of work, having had them do performance upgrades on my BMW auto trans some years ago. The shop was always spotless when I visited and the owner was **** about putting out only the best work. If anyone can perform quality, reliable performance work on our transmissions, these would be the guys I'd trust.
Rich B.

 

Waiting for an e-mail response from Level Ten.... Hope it is sooner than later.

 

Still waiting for an e-mail response from Level Ten.... I wonder if I am going to get a reply.... The silence is getting louder....

 

Any insight Mdsbrain?

 

They do have a telephone number listed

And it's kind of wasteful to change the fluid three times to try to get all of the old fluid out. I mean if you are changing the fluid frequently enough then a little old transmission fluid (or motor oil, or brake fluid in the ABS, or coolant) isn't going to hurt anything. Actually, changing the fluid three times more frequently is likely to be far better for the transmission than changing it three times in a row because you waited too long and it smells burnt, and uses the same amount of oil.

BTW many old Fords have a torque converter drain plug, while the standard recommendation for GM was to drill a hole and seal it with a pop rivet

 

My experience with vendor inquiries is that if they are interested (meaning they have a product or service that is applicable to the subject of my e-mail inquiry), they will respond.

Interesting observation. I think you would be correct if one were to do the change/replacement of fluid at say 30,000 or 45,000 miles versus doing a single drain and fill at every 15,000 miles. I wonder if your observation holds for a simple drain and fill at say, every 5,000 miles versus the replacement at 15,000 miles.

 

Lets just call it an assumption

 

Okay, call it an assumption. But what was the assumption based on? $300/hour labor rates? Or???? I am not trying to put you on the spot; it is just that the $1,000 number strikes me as way too high. Even with my obsessive approach to 3x drain-and-refill, my cost (in the S.F. Bay Area labor market) was ~$450.