sorry to hear its not working. interested to see how the clutch kits compare. going through this myself currently

 

Thanks. Tomorrow evening I have a couple of hours, if all goes well I might get the gearbox out.

Curious to know what caused your issue once you figured it out.

 

yes sir, you know i will update with details. i'm currently in a holding pattern. waiting on parts. many, many parts

 

So I took the gearbox out. I was hoping to find something silly like putting the clutch in backwards. But unfortunately everything looked fine... Compared the clutch bearing/disc/housing and didn't find anything really. The design is definitely different compared to the LUK one but then again, a Valeo is also different compared to that.

So I made the not so fun decision to put the old clutch kit in, just to see if that resolved the issue. If not then I know the new clutch is fine and I need to look elsewhere. This does however mean I will have to pull the gearbox again...

Question: as I am looking to do as little work as possible, can I start the car and shift gears without putting the subframe and front end back on?

I think I can when putting the axels, gearlinkage and all electrics back in but then again, you never know if I overlooked something.


Nothing wrong here

Clutch disc was not put in backwards

Bearings look very similar

Clutch housings do have a different design

This was the only question mark I had. The discs differ quite a lot in thickness. Not so much in clutch material but the new one is definitely sitting higher.

 

I think that last pic is telltale. Some diligent measuring is in order. Your symptoms sound like the clutch disk is not being released. Maybe even bolt the trans back up and use a borescope to watch pressure plate operation? That clutch disk difference looks very suspicious. I would prob call valeo tech supp first.
You cant change the position of the flywheel face, so I suspect that clutch disc is always contacting the flywheel.

 

Cool bike btw… what is that?

 

+1
Nope, not liking the friction plate differences.

 

the plot thickens

do you still have the old flywheel or did you not replace that? If you still have it use it to take some measurements;

-measure from the back of the flywheel to the top of the tines on the pressure plate
-measure from face of the splines on the clutch disk to the top of the tines
-compare the measurements to stock

your new pressure plate looks like it is not self-adjusting, that means the tines will go closer to the flywheel as you tighten it down on the flywheel

someone can correct me if I'm wrong, the throw out bearing will be pushed up against the tines of the pressure plate when the trans is installed. If it's further back you may not get enough push from the slave to disengage the clutch disk.

about the clutch disk, if the face does not make contact with the pressure plate or the glide tube on the trans side, and does not make contact with the flywheel it should be good. Sounds like you are ok there. If not, you would hear it and see damage

*tines is a new word to me and im not sure I spelled it right

 

You guys are right. After measuring the new clutch plate + cover and comparing it to the old the there is a +5mm difference. @ssoliman is on the money. If the look at the picture below you can see the gap at the clutch cover spring/flex part is larger. This would mean the travel distance is larger which the slave cylinder just can't cover. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the reason which my old slave cylinder failed; over stretching the rubber seal.


Left the old LUK, right the new MecArm (Italian clutch brand)

 

Actually, you don't want constant contactthrowout bearing to pressure plate fingers, you want a slight clearance so the bearing isn't always spinning and causing premature wear. There is actually a spec for that clearance but idk what it is on a mini.

 

thats what i've always heard also slofut.

there's a spring in the slave so that it extends out. it will hold the bearing against the pressure plate. i think the allowance / dimensions work out so the bearing is tight / touching the tines

here is what it looks like on bmw's

 

Its our kid transportation bike
Cool features are 2 kiddy seats, windscreen, extended steering arm, steering lock and a heavy duty stand:

​​​​​​​
In other news:
So I just bolted up the bare minimum to start it up with the old clutch in it and sure enough it shifts smoothly through all the gears. So it's not a badly bleed slave cylinder, it's not something I did wrong when rebuilding the gearbox with all new bearings.

It's the cheap ($70) MecArm clutch. For those in Europe NEVER BUY THE MecArm MK10190 even though TechDoc states it's the right one for your Mini R50 and the OE numbers match!

The question now is, do I buy a new LUK or Valeo one? I have the Valeo smf kit in my R53 but the LUK is the factory standard one.

 

that's good news! I bought the Valeo kit but that was based on price. its going in my son's r50. college car.

this is my first experience with installing a new clutch into the mini so I cant recommend one or the other

 

Ssoliman, I didn't know that about the bmw transmissions, that's interesting, I'll have to look into that. My 635 is older and I'm pretty sure the bearing doesn't ride on the tines when relaxed, but that goes back some years, things have changed since then, although I set up my t56 in my 71 corvette with clearance too so I'll be paying attention as I have a few more projects to complete before I'm done wrenching. Also have to do the clutch in my mini, and the head gasket...

 

Went ahead and ordered a new LUK clutch kit. Although I slightly fancy the Valeo set I didn't want to take any risk so replacing a LUK with a LUK which is the OEM anyway.

 

I think that was a good choice.

 

Since I'm waiting on parts, again I decided to tackle some lipstick jobs; respraying the wiper arms and making the headlights look a bit better.

For the headlights I used to do the 800/1200/1500/2000 wetsand + polish trick but that does only last one year. So this time I wanted to use clear coat instead of polish. And boy that worked like a treat! One down another one to go.

Btw doing this job is so much easier when it is up on jack stands, saves you a lot of back ache


Before, faded by the sun

After

Before

Stage 1

Stage 3

Stage 4

Yellow milky stuff (plastic)

Packed up

Sprayed

Before and after in one shot

 

That lens looks like crystal 🤩

 

Short but sweet update: fitted the new LUK clutch and tested it with a (bare minimum) running engine and it works perfectly. One thing I noticed was hoe much lighter the clutch pedal is compared to that faulty MecArm clutch kit (and we all know how heavy the LUK is!)

 

cheers!

 

This has been a great thread. Thank you! Hope you’ll update.