The new to me transmission is supposed to be delivered today, I am going to check it over good and install new seals. I'll clean it up and if everything looks good then I can hopefully get it installed on Saturday. I'm excited to finally NOT have my Mini make whirling gear sounds while driving.

 

The shipping company called on Thursday and verified the address and said it would be delivered on Friday between 8 and 4. They called my wife Friday morning and told her that we were "out of the way" and we would have to wait until today to have it delivered. Isn't that some BS.

Removed the flywheel and replaced the rear main seal, it was hard plastic more than it was rubber it had been in there for so long. I cleaned everything up and installed the new clutch and pressure plate. Now just waiting on the transmission to be delivered. I hope they just don't drop it at the end of my driveway like they did the new rear axle for my Escalade.

 

I've generally had pretty good luck with freight company drivers being very helpful with getting things from the street to my garage. Schedulers/dispatchers on the other hand can be a little surly in my experience.

 

Estes doesn't do home deliveries on the weekends so I won't get it till tomorrow. I was hoping to have it done this weekend but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I can do little wrenching on it during the week and get it knocked out. I miss driving the R50. There is just something satisfying every time I get in and fire it up knowing that I saved it from going to the junk yard.

 

Great you can do the work to have saved it...

 

I called the trucking company this morning to find out when they are going to deliver my transmission, they called back and assured me it would be delivered tomorrow. I looked at the tracking info and it has been in Atlanta for the past 6 days.

 

6 days?

 

Probably went on a bender at the Clermont or something and then got lost.

 

Back in the day before computers I bought a Fiat 124 Spyder with a blown transmission. I lived in Idaho at the time. Back then doing searches for stuff like this was done by looking through the classified ads in the back of magazines like Road & Track, which I did. I found a place listed in R&T - Yale’s 3 Bad Men auto salvage - in Connecticut who said they would ship anywhere. With a name like that, I had to go with them and I have never forgotten them. I called them and paid for it over the phone (credit card, land line and long distance fees). They found a trucking company who would get it to me and a week later it was sitting on the end of my driveway. The thing couldn’t have weighed more than 50#. How much has changed since then...

Hope the guy who has yours finds his way and yours comes soon.

 

The Mini gods have smiled on me today.
The delivery driver sent me a pic and my transmission has been delivered and it is sitting right in front of my shed! When I get home, I will look it over and get it ready to be installed!

 

^^^ Hoping he didn't (literally) "drop it off"!

 

It's on a pallet and it looks good, so far as I can tell. It's covered in plastic so it's really hard to tell from the picture. I'll rip into it when I get home. If it's really dirty I will take it to work and clean it in our vat.

 

It was in the mid 90's and super high humidity yesterday, so my new rescue dog the we adopted took a little nap on the couch till it got a little cooler outside. She is awesome and took to me immediately. She is very much a snuggle bug.




After it got a little cooler outside, I unboxed the transmission. It's a little dirty but it's to be expected because it's used. I cleaned her up and checked everything over. Everything looks great, no broken or stripped bolt holes. The little bit of oil that was in it was dirty but I'll put in new oil when I get it installed and then change it after a week or so. The magnets had almost nothing on them. I polished up the slide tube, put grease on it and have the new release bearing installed. I am going to get my wife to operate the floor jack and I will get it mounted onto the engine this afternoon. If it doesn't rain.

 

How do you clean up and protect aluminum that’s rusted and spotted like that? I try to make my car engines look great, but the aluminum parts just get stained no matter what.

 

I have a small steel brush that gets most of the surface stuff off. I heard you can use a mixture of 50 percent white vinegar and water to make it really shine but I have not tried it yet. Once the stuff in the engine compartment is reinstalled you can't see very much of the transmission anyway.

 

Great on the rescue dog. She is very cute... We have one too. When we got him many years I swear he chose us. Somehow they know who would be good to them. Dogs are the best...

 

Yeah, I was thinking more like the supercharger horns and, on my BMW, the oil filter housing, which is right in front of my engine. I can clean and clean, and as soon as damp air touches them, yuckiness takes over. Obviously… not a life or death situation. ;-)

You can see the oil filter housing on my BMW, although I took this after cleaning the engine and it looks worse now.

 

Your patience was rewarded. I hope you were able to complete the installation this afternoon.

 

Umm, No
We have had bad thunderstorms in the afternoon all week, The wife and I went out to try to at least get it mounted to the engine before the storms came. My floor jack is about 6 inches too short to get it lined up and trying to balance it on a piece of wood on the jack is almost impossible. We fought with it for about an hour and then I told my wife heck with it and I was buying a transmission jack today from Harbor Freight, she said that was a great idea. She was a trooper, she got sweaty and dirty but she was out there helping me. My wife is the best.

No rain in the forecast for the next few days but highs are going to be mid to upper 90's and high humidity.

 

You probably saw the ModMini video where he uses the transmission jack along with a strap that holds the transmission to the engine brace, right? Looks like a good way to do it.

Have you used an engine brace to hold the engine?

 

I have watched the Mod Mini video.
I have a floor jack holding up the engine, but I will buy an engine mount next time I have to drop a transmission. I can reach through the engine bay and pick the transmission up by hand, I just can't angle it around with one hand enough to get it started into the clutch.

 

I finally got the transmission mounted to the engine. I have done a lot of transmissions over the years but that was a real pain. Part of the problem was one of the guides stayed in the engine and I had one in the transmission. I could only get it to go in so far and it would stop and not mount flat. I ended up dropping it back out and taking the one off the engine and then it finally went in. I am meeting a combat buddy for breakfast this morning and then I am getting hot and heavy on finishing it up.

 

Ugh. I’m glad you got it mounted. My dad and I spent the day fighting motor mounts on his sn95, so I feel your pain. I’ve done motor mounts on several cars before with no issues, but these have been awful. The studs on the new mounts were longer than stock, and when we finally got them bolted up, everything had shifted. So, the driver’s side mount refuses to line up. I guess this is what I get for using a floor jack.

 

I remember the transmission mount being a royal pain in the ***. I think eventually I gave up and unbolted the bracket that attaches to the mount and was able to make it work from there (this is off memory, so you may still not have success)

 

I got it back together and nothing, The pedal doesn't feel right and I can shift into all the gears without the clutch being pushed in but no output from the transmission at all. I guess I am going to drop it back down and see whats going on. I don't know what I could have done wrong but it was a real bummer.