Welp, I'm back after about 3 years away, and the MINI sitting in the garage for that time... I'm ready to start getting her road ready.

First off, I know I need to fix the issue of the broken mount on the gearbox that holds the slave cylinder in place. I found THIS from Oranjj(sp?) BUT they are located across the pond in the UK, so shipping and currency exchange rates aren't the most cost-effective.

Just wondering if anyone has fixed this themselves or better yet know of a US supplier?

Thanks guys, and glad to be back!

 

Looks like a flat piece of metal that is cut, with some large spacers.

For 90quid (aka. $125) you could:
- buy an angle grinder (a REALLY nice one too).
- buy a 12" x 12" 1/8 sheet of metal
- buy a 12" aluminum tube

and build it yourself -- and now you have an angle grinder too. Would take you maybe 3 hours if you've never build anything ever before.

You could also make a paper template and speed the entire process up very quickly.

 

If you have the part that broke off, have a good aluminum welder TIG it back on. We had it break on our first R53 and a local shop was able to weld it back without any difficulty.

 

Ditto...
If you don't have the ear that broke off, or can't find a welder, make something similar instead of buying (and waiting) for that linked part.

If you have the broken ear, have it welded if you can, (I've had mine done also, ends up being a pretty solid repair, if done correctly, even with it being cast)
But if you can't have it welded, use some JB Weld and sandwich everything with a bracket of the above configuration, should be stronger than the bracket only. (I would not only JB Weld the ear to the transmission, I would a also JB Weld the bracket to everything as well, instead of using "just" the bolts. (But that's just me)

 

Thanks all for suggestions, I really wish I had the piece that'd broken off so I could have it welded back on, but the car has been sitting for so long I'm sure it got trashed.

As for the angle grinder solution and fabricating it myself - I'd thought of that and had a friend willing to do it, but I'm in the slow process of getting the car road ready again. So I thought best just to buy it and save a few hours of frustration, seeing as to how much work I've got ahead of me and little patience to go with it. (I've set a side about $2,500 for parts I'm going to need to replace/rebuild starting with the suspension and using Powerflex bushings all around, replace the slave and master cylinders, new shocks, new manifold + exhaust, brake lines, and probably new injectors and fuel filter [plus whatever else I see as broken or degraded] ). This will be quite the process as I want it done right - without cutting corners like I used to... but that is for another thread.

Sorry for getting into all of that, but I've found the part on the market place here from a seller in NY. Bought it for quite a bit cheaper than shipping it from over the pond.

Again, I'm glad to be back gents! I've spent many late nights reading up on this forum over the years and I can't let my MINI sit in the garage anymore.

It's time for me to get to work!

Putting it into service mode and getting ready to drop the subframe is my first task! Wish me luck, I'm going to need it, along with a gallon of Rust Penetrator.