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The mentioned change of the engine mount. Iam not a fan of that for a daily car, but as the engine goes out anyhow i will try it.
I drive mine daily with the Race (black) bushing in and it's awesome. You shouldn't have a concern about it at all. The tightens the car up dramatically.
I have the yellow bushings installed. A few months now. At first, there was a fair amount of vibration. I didn't find it too annoying though. Feel was improved, but I wouldn't say it was night and day. Now, vibration is totally gone. I believe the feel is still quite good, but if vibration is gone, must be a little slop that's worn in, and maybe I just got used to the feel getting slowly sloppy too... As I understand it, urethane bushings do eventually get permanently deformed over time. Whether that's less time than OEM rubber start to deteriorate, dunno.
I think if I were to do it again, I'd be interested to try a DIY fill of the OEM bushing. Never done that before, but it seems like a good solution.
I have the yellow bushings installed. A few months now. At first, there was a fair amount of vibration. I didn't find it too annoying though. Feel was improved, but I wouldn't say it was night and day. Now, vibration is totally gone. I believe the feel is still quite good, but if vibration is gone, must be a little slop that's worn in, and maybe I just got used to the feel getting slowly sloppy too... As I understand it, urethane bushings do eventually get permanently deformed over time. Whether that's less time than OEM rubber start to deteriorate, dunno.
I think if I were to do it again, I'd be interested to try a DIY fill of the OEM bushing. Never done that before, but it seems like a good solution.
Good idea and possible if you find the right shore strength "Smooth On", but as long there are brgs available for 60 bugs, i take them, still believe you pay at the end for that direct punch, however the lighter flywheel didnt change a percent of comfort.
thks for the info also before on the black ones, as the car is in the garage i will give them a try
Is there an install vid/guide anywhere? Probably about to order one.
Here is one for an R53, similar idea but I didn't do any of it. They take the brace completely off but all I did was just pivot the brace down, braced it with a screwdriver and then took the stock bushing out.
There isn't anything wrong with doing it like the video shows. Its easier to get to on our cars though
I recently got a F54 Clubman S ALL4 w/manual transmission and felt this terrible 1-2 shift right away. Dump the clutch and floor it after the shift and it’s just a huge clutch slip. Definitely felt like a CDV (clutch delay valve).
Tools/Supplies needed:
- 8mm socket (for underbody tray)
- 13mm socket for clutch slave cylinder.
- DOT 4 LV fluid (Found Pentosin DOT 4 LV right on the shelf at AutoZone, surprisingly. And for a good price)
- Something to suck out brake fluid from reservoir
- Ability to bleed clutch system (I use a pressure bleeder)
- Drywall screw, or similar.
- Small pick or flathead screwdriver to remove clutch line clip.
Procedure:
• Raise car. Ramps work fine.
• Remove underbody tray with 8mm socket
• Open hood and Remove lateral cowl gasket. Remove cowl cover - no tools required.
• Clean brake reservoir cap, remove and suck out fluid until level is near clutch supply hose.
• Using a pick, slide metal locking bar off clutch slave connection. Pull away clutch pipe and allow to drip into container.
• Use 13mm socket to remove two 13mm headed bolts holding on clutch slave cylinder. Compress slave piston and remove slave cylinder.
• Gently stick drywall screw into clutch pipe opening. You are screwing into and grabbing a small rubber spacer with a hole in it. Pull out rubber spacer. Turn space upside down and tap on work surface. Black plastic CDV will fall out. Opening is SMALLER than 1.5mm (1/16”) !!
• Reinstall everything and bleed clutch. ** I pressure bled my clutch but it was still dead-limp when I was done. I fixed this by closing the bleed screw, going into the cabin and operating the clutch pedal by hand back and forth aggressively. This started building pressure. I alternated pressure bleeding and operating the clutch by-hand multiple time until it felt normal and all bubbles were gone **
Car drives MUCH better now 👍🏻 Much more direct and consistent clutch engagement. I hated the 1-2 shift because the clutch would engage so slowly and you feel that LOOONG clutch slip.
You could drill out the existing CDV, but I don’t see a need to. Leave it untouched and you can reinstall it if you want.
Last edited by AutoCoarsen; Dec 23, 2019 at 05:10 PM.
The next step towards better shifting will be filling the sloppy shift cable ends with 2-part urethane. I did it on another car and it worked wonders. I noticed the shift lever ends are “solid”, but the transmission end has one coupling that is terribly sloppy.
From my Ford Focus, below.
Last edited by AutoCoarsen; Dec 23, 2019 at 03:58 PM.
Awesome how-to @AutoCoarsen ! Never heard of this device before.
This place makes solid urethane cable ends. I put them in my '14 S, not bad. Removed a lot of slop in the shifter. I don't know that there will be much room to inject urethane in the original bushings, they're fairly filled with plastic and rubber already. But maybe, worth a try. The replacement bushings would require you to break the originals off, so you could always do that later.
My Focus has corrugated rubber filling the shift ends. I was able to drill a few small holes and cut/pick the rubber out. I’m
hoping for something similar on the MINI.
Nice work! Inside the one on my 14 S is more like a solid ring of rubber. Like a section of hose. Dunno how you would get it out without breaking the thing. There is a little bit of slop there though, so maybe you could fill the gaps with goo of some kind.
Oh, the other challenge is that the ends are fused on the shift cable. So you can't just take it over to the work bench! Again, those inserts from Bushing Fix make it pretty simple... =)
I see the Clubman has a different part number for the shifter+cable assembly vs. the Cooper. I wonder if those ends are different? One of my ends feels like fairly firm rubber. The other is VERY soft rubber. Almost feels like foam - like one of those stress ***** 😂. I bet I can move it almost 1/4” (6mm) with just a few fingers. I hope to dig into it in the next few weeks.
I just filled the shift cable ends in my 2017 Clubman S with 2-part urethane. One was nearly solid rubber, the other was big squishy corrugated rubber, exactly like my 2015 Ford Focus. See post #43. Must be the same manufacturer. I didn’t take pictures because it looked the same. I disconnected the shift cable ends on both the lever and transmission ends and did all the work in the engine compartment. The cable ends at the lever are solid.
Here’s chunks of the two different bushing materials.
Urethane is curing now so I haven’t driven it yet.
