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Hey all. I just bought an 2006 Red R50 that I found on Marketplace. It was 7 hours away but I think it is worth it. I paid $1800. The transmission has an extreme rattle but still moves the car and the AC is not functioning. Also, there is rust on the appropriate spots in the back. The paint is in great shape as it was garaged most of its life. Everything works and no lights on the dash. I'm kinda in this for the long haul - I have some spare time and what to learn seals, gaskets, paint restoration and body work. I have replaced a clutch and engine in another car so am hip to all that.
My goal is to make this "look like" a rally car. I know it has been done before, but I think they look pretty unique.
First off I need a new transmission. Anyone know a good source? I found one on ebay but it has recently sold. I need a GS5-52BG Getrag transmission. The ones at minimania are >3k, so obviously hoping to do better.
I am currently taking the interior out and cleaning it up. I need to do some body work on the back but will tackle that later.
Can anyone tell me what armrest this is? I haven't found one on google yet. It is in terrible shape and obstructs the use of the e-brake. I don't think I like it.
A NAM member @Jonny (I think) posted a picture of (what I believe) he referred to as "MiniFini" ? (spelling?) somewhere, last year in the "what did you do to your Mini today" discussion thread.
I cant seem to locate his particular post but it seemed to me that that armrest maybe rather rare.
Might be worth keeping and/or restoring!
First off I need a new transmission. Anyone know a good source? I found one on ebay but it has recently sold. I need a GS5-52BG Getrag transmission. The ones at minimania are >3k, so obviously hoping to do better.
There was/is a 6speed transmission with an R50 auto to manual conversion kit included in the NAM marketplace not too long ago.
It might be worth checking and see if it's still listed.
As for the gearbox, here are your options, from least expensive to most expensive:
Find a gearbox in a junkyard nearby. It should not be too hard to find as those do not fail at a high rate (contrary to the pre-facelift Midlands one). Shop around to get a cheap one that doesn't have a crazy mileage on it.
Buy a rebuilt gearbox. It's significantly more expensive.
Even more expensive is a new one. Are they actually new though? I know pre-facelift Midlands don't exist new anymore, no clue about the Getrag ones.
Convert to the 6-speed Getrag one (from a Cooper S). For the gearbox itself, see previous points, but then you need to throw a lot of other things at it. To help you, here is a definitive PDF guide for the conversion: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...eaklink-1-.pdf It is aimed at pre-facelift R50 because of their weak Midlands gearbox, but should mostly hold true for a post-facelift one.
Can anyone tell me what armrest this is? I haven't found one on google yet. It is in terrible shape and obstructs the use of the e-brake. I don't think I like it.
I have this arm rest on Red Thunder II. It does get in the way of the e-brake and for me it's mostly up until I am on the highway cruising. Then it's great- not flimsy like many other ones you see. If you decide to get rid of it let me know, I'd be interested in taking it off your hands. Here's a few pics of the resto:
I have this arm rest on Red Thunder II. It does get in the way of the e-brake and for me it's mostly up until I am on the highway cruising. Then it's great- not flimsy like many other ones you see. If you decide to get rid of it let me know, I'd be interested in taking it off your hands. Here's a few pics of the resto:
I think I may keep it for now but will let you know. I am so new to this that I don't know what I don't know. Maybe I need an armrest? I had an FRS and they don't have an armrest and I didn't mind. Maybe a Mini must have one?
As for the transmission. I have contacted the guy with the Manual conversion kit. It has sat in his garage since 2018. What are your thoughts on a transmission sitting that long?
In the picture below there are two grounding screws; one has a nut on it and the other one doesn't. The screws have different threads on them. There are two on the drivers side and one on the passengers side. Am I missing some nuts?
I have redone my headliner and it looks great. Actually, perfect. One tip if you are doing this is it turns out way better than you think it will. I kept rubbing and rubbing the material making sure it was even and stick well. It looks better than I thought it could.
i do have a question: what do you do with the back vented gizmo? It seems to have a thinner material than I used. There doesn’t seem to be any foam on the back of the material. I could clean it up or attempt to redo it. Thoughts?
i do have a question: what do you do with the back vented gizmo? It seems to have a thinner material than I used. There doesn’t seem to be any foam on the back of the material. I could clean it up or attempt to redo it. Thoughts?
I had re-done my headliner a couple of years ago -including this immobilizer cover. I attempted to clean the yellowing fabric from the cover but was unsuccessful. The material I'd chosen was a bit thicker but matched the original headliner very well. I was able to remove/detach the original fabric from this cover with MEK diluted with a little bit of water. However - my plastic grilles literally crumbled when trying to (carefully) remove them. I ended up scoring a perfect one from an '06 at a salvage yard. I was able to remove and replace the plastic grilles without damage off the salvage cover. Mine were just too old.
BTW: The only reason I opted to use the MEK solution was due to difficulty removing the fabric cleanly from the old adhesive. I chose not to use "paint thinner" due to the fact that I'd felt that any residue may interfere with the adhesion of the spray adhesive when recovering.
I would guess you may not even have to use any solvent to remove the fabric from yours.
You need "a" tool. Either you fabricate it or buy it, but unfortunately you cannot use a regular tool you're likely to already have in your toolbox because of the weird shape.
Engineers decided to make our life hard by not including a regular sized nut or hole we could use a wrench on...
^^^ Meaning will the "teeter - totter"? Rear jack stands might support but if you have ramps, perhaps slip those under rear tires with support blocks on top touching. I do that when underneath for added safety - just in case. MINI Coopers are fairly light comparatively, however I have no desire to attempt bench pressing one off of me...
So I have been using this video to strip down my Mini. Although there are several on the web, I chose this one because it is so complete.
I have completed this one. All is going well. We had to cut off the exhaust bolts so I will be taking the exhaust off this week to clean up the rusted nuts. The CVs are next and they have a lot of grease on them. Anyone ever reboot? Or is it better to just replace?
So I have been using this video to strip down my Mini. Although there are several on the web, I chose this one because it is so complete.
I have completed this one. All is going well. We had to cut off the exhaust bolts so I will be taking the exhaust off this week to clean up the rusted nuts. The CVs are next and they have a lot of grease on them. Anyone ever reboot? Or is it better to just replace?
It doesn't seem to have been mentioned here but AllMag Autoparts has essentially every part to build a MINI from the ground up. No affiliation but I did get a really hard to find part for a reasonable price there. That little plastic corner piece of trim that transmissions from the windscreen to the rain gutter.... yeah, they had that and it was less than other places at the time. I have purchased several things from ECS and referred others there for both MINI and BMW parts. https://www.allmagautoparts.com/ https://www.ecstuning.com/
If you are swapping out the transmission, you might as well do the 6speed swap as the list of parts and procedures, to my knowledge, are the same as the 5speed Getrag swap. Probably more Getrag 6's out there than the Getrag5's, so there is probably that as well.
I was tempted to do the 6speed swap in my Justa when it's Midlands/Rover transmission died but it was nearly twice the cost of a rebuild. Had I bit the bullet and did the 6speed, I'd probably still have the Justa today..... maybe. I definitely would have got more money for it when I sold it, that is certain.
It is nice to see that there are people out there taking the time, energy and money to restore the slightly less loved R50's. I occasionally see then here in Portland, but most are the mid-04+ facelifts. It is very rare that you see the 02-early 04 Justa's anymore - and there are a lot of MINI's in Portland, OR. I suspect this is due to the expense of repairing or replacing the transmissions. Even when I did my transmission, I was told that I will be spending as much on the repair as the car was worth and that was the better part of 10 years ago.
The big issue with a Midlands transmission is there is absolutely NO video online showing how to rebuild them. At least I didn't find any. Best you can find is the shop manual (which is already nice, but might not be quite enough for a DIYer), Coats and Gaiters partial disassembly of one (he didn't put it back together, so no video of that) and a few testimony on forums of people doing it.
I have my previous bad Midlands transmission sitting in my garage waiting to be opened, but I'm kinda dreading going in without video instructions. For most people, it's simply easier and more reliable long-term to go with a Getrag swap, albeit more expensive.
I also went the route of a junkyard Midlands transmission, and so far, knock on wood, it works fine.
