Hello all,
I have been trolling these forums for a long time educating myself and I thank you all for the wealth of knowledge that is shared. About 10 months ago I got rid of my totally reliable Toyota Camry for an 06 R53 S automatic because I was tired of being bored on the road. To make a long story short, I wanted to have some fun and learn something new. Since I'm decent at figuring things out, I decided at the age of 49 to teach myself how to rebuild my 06 MCS Auto engine. The engine went out on me at a Red light and I was unhappy with the lack of help from my mechanic etc... Since I have caught the Mini fever, I might as well learn to doing everything myself so I don't have to be ripped off and count on others. My plan is to fix this car and give it to my 2 kids to share and find myself a 6 speed manual for some extra fun. I will ask for some input on which model might suit me best when the time comes.

First, the engine is out and I have the case separated from the transmission.


I want to put the engine on a stand but I'm uncertain on how to and if I should remove the torque converter. Is there any issue with me removing it? and how do I remove it? I know on a manual I can replace the clutch etc but is there any preventative things I can do with an automatic besides changing the tranny fluid and filter?



The case is pretty clean to me but I should still replace the rear main seal while it's open? By the way, the engine has about 92k miles on it. If anything should be done as a preventative measure, please let me know. I took off the valve cover and the timing chain is off. I'm guess that my tensioner failed and the guild got shredded when the chain came off. I will deal with this but first I need to put the engine on the lift which I'm assuming needs the torque converter removed along with the fly wheel? I looked for older threads on this subject but not much is on the MCS's with Automatics. Thanks all in advance.