My wife will be tracking my Mini at Watkins Glen in two weeks. Her first time. I was really unhappy with the side to side pull of the car under hard acceleration and since I have a 2005 Mini with factory LSD that I'm repairing, I thought this weekend would be a good time to swap them. I ordered a Valeo SMF conversion for my car and a stock clutch/PP and TOB for the other car. My car only has 45,000 miles on it so I figured I would swap my stock flywheel into the other car as that one has 86,000 miles.

Saturday at noon I got both cars up on lifts next to one another and started ripping into them. Both cars got all new oil seals everywhere (I had a small valve cover gasket leak going onto the header that was really starting to smell bad), supercharger gasket replacements and the white car got supercharger oil replacement, new plugs, belt etc.

Surprise, the clutch was almost gone on my 45,000 mile car and the TOB was toast. I've only had the car for 7,000 miles and don't think I did that amount of damage in that time so I'm thinking the previous owner wasn't very good with a clutch. The Valeo went in very smoothly and after cleaning up the transmission, got that installed without issue. New fluids and everything else back together smoothly with the exception of forgetting to attach one radiator clamp. That will make a good mess when you hit 210 degrees.

First impression, I really like the new clutch set up. The pedal is much lighter (think Honda Civic) and I find it smoother to engage and shift. LSD is sooooo much better. Under acceleration, the car goes dead nuts straight. I didn't have a steering wheel pull either which way. I did not notice any difference in the gear ratios between the old 04 and the newer 05 transmission.

I don't have the other car back together yet. First of all, only order Mini brand crankshaft position sensor O-rings. Off brand are not the same. Fortunately I had one new OEM one for my car and need to get a one for the other. That car must have had a recent clutch job or was only driven on the highway because the clutch had plenty of meat on it, the TOB was good and the flywheel looked perfect, better than the one that came off of mine. It will still get a new clutch, PP and TOB since I have them sitting right here.

 

http://www.waymotorworks.com/quaife-...ferential.html

You can always put one in your non lsd one while it's out

Wish I had an extra $1000 when I did my clutch last year

 

Good read, I'd love to do Watkins someday, it's only a 3 hour drive for me. After reading I'm glad I'm swapping for a lsd when I replace my failed transmission within the month. I actually like the heavy clutch feel, guess I'm strange. Really surprised you didn't notice the gear difference, felt night and day for me.

 

I would have loved to add the LSD to my original transmission but there was no way I was dropping a grand on that. This was basically free so it was a no brainer. The other car will be sold and the person it is going to does not care about LSD at all. It is going to be an ice cream car for them.

I am also surprised that I didn't notice the difference between gear ratios. Maybe I got a late 04 that had the new ratios??? Anyway, I didn't mind the heavy clutch, what I hated was the dual mass flywheel. When on/off the gas hard, the car felt to me like a motorcycle with a loose chain. There was slop going on and off. That is now 90% gone with the single mass flywheel. There is a good 15 degrees of movement on the dual mass flywheel if not more that I am just not a fan of. I now have over a hundred miles on the set up and the clutch is starting to break in nicely. I had a slight studder on take off for about 50 miles and that is now gone. I hope to get another 500 miles on in the next week before the track so that it is good and broken in.

 

Yeah the valeo is very weird at first.

The pedal does firm up after a while, but I like the easier pedal more. Maybe it has something do with hating the 4 speed delivery truck I drove for years. That pedal was way too hard to push in and out 10 hours a day

 

Her first time at the Glen? And this will be with GVC, right? They are a great group and she will learn a lot with them, even if she is an advanced driver. I'm missing that event this year; a little disappointed. But, hey, looking forward to their June event.

The LSD will be most noticeable when getting on the gas in the toe; that's the uphill corkscrew turn in the boot. But even with the LSD that right front tire will still try to spin. Because the car is going uphill that tire get really light and too much power will still cook the tire pretty good. Just take care adding gas in that turn and check that tire for wear or chunking.

Hope she has fun at the event

 

This will be her first time in any track. I've driven it quite a few times. I haven't met anyone, regardless of 95hp or 900, that doesn't wish for an extra 50hp and wider rubber coming out of the toe. It is with GVA. I can say that I want to be impressed with their schools but really I just haven't. It's run very well, the cost is great but they have a bunch of instructors that are just...you get the idea. I have had a couple that were pompous asses and full of themselves and it just got annoying. I have a couple instructor friends and they have left the group because of such reasons. I'm hoping for one of the good ones this time.

Back to the car, I need front ball joints that should be in today. There was a lot of play in the drivers side, a little on the passengers so both are to be replaced. I stopped in at the Mini dealership yesterday to see about getting the new steering pump recall done before next weekend but they say that parts can be up to a week out so we scheduled that for the week after.

 

Well, I hope the event goes well. Have fun.

The car sounds like is coming along well. What you say about the dual mass is true. I had my clutch done last year when I did the LSD and was told the flywheel was out. Had to grab the quickest one to get and put in, which was another stock one. No time to consider options. Also I have seen various reports on the single mass flywheels. Some people like them, some don't. Interesting to hear the positive remarks in this thread. Maybe the next time.

 

How'd it go at WGI?

 

Well the car and my wife came home in one piece so win win. There were no mechanical issues at all and although I didn't get to drive that car on track, report from my wife and the instructor was that it was very stable and went straight under acceleration. She had a great time and thinks she will do it again.

It took me a session or two to relearn the track. It is so smooth now and no concrete so many of my visual cues are now all gone. Yesterday ended up very fast and this morning was lots of rain. The track now has tons of grip in the wet. It scared me how fast we were going in the rain. The new surface dries really fast and has great drainage so the afternoon sessions were at 95% speed of dry.

 

Glad all went well and seems that it was a good event. I had forgotten about the repaving. Interesting that the track has grip in the wet. I wonder if that will change as it gets used. Thanks for the report. I hope to be there in June.