Hello all, I decided to take a break from taking the mini apart. I was getting a little lost on the how to i was following as its for the R52 and 53, some of the things are the same while others are different. So far Ive taken off the wheels, wheel shroud, front bumper, crash bar and tubes, lower control arms, axles, moved wheel housings out of the way, slave cylinder, trans linkage and brackets, ,intake box, starter, and most of the bolts if not all around the trans, just have the trans motor mount on it still and a jack keeping pressure on it. The how to i have been following says to take the throttle body off and a bracket near there. I dont see this bracket?

When I scroll ahead to see how the trans comes out they move it drive side and rotate it down and out. I dont have but maybe less than an inch before i hit the rest of the crash tube. Does this year MINI come out the same way are older years? Or would i need to remove everything in front of the car, like radiation, intercooler, or maybe the whole upper bracket that holds from one light all the way across to the other light, doing so ill have to drain the radiator, and hopefully there is enough hose for the AC lines i can turn the whole thing out of the way like a hinged door. Here is the how-to ive been following, anyone else has something for my year vehicle?

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

 

Holy crap you are headed so far in the wrong direction it's not even funny. Didn't you notice that how-to was for an R53? Did you do any searching on the forum about removing the trans from an R56? Why don't you have a Bentley if you're attempting something involved as removing the trans from the car?
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You undid a whole crap ton of things that are unnecessary. From memory the things you're still missing are...

1. Remove DME and mounting bracket thing. This will allow you to get to the trans mount.
2. Remove the subframe. This involves disconnecting the outer ball joints from the knuckle (which you already did if you disconnected the control arm), disconnecting the swaybar endlinks on both sides, unplugging the electronic power steering, undoing the bolt at the end of the steering column in the interior of the car, and disconnecting the exhaust at the downpipe and taking the catback portion of the exhaust off the car. Then it's just 6 bolts in the rear, 2 big ones in the middle, and 3 little ones at the front to remove the subframe. Place a jack in the middle of it and slowly lower it keeping watch on the steering shaft that is coming out of the firewall. I think there are also some wires clipped to the subframe in places so watch out for those. Front passenger side and drivers side have wires attached to them.

Removing the trans is really easy. There is an eyelet on the top of the trans. If you have an engine hoist this is a great time for it or a transmission jack or if none of those just a buddy with a long 2x4. Tie a loop through the eyelet on the top of the trans and around the 2x4. Then separate the trans from the engine and lower is slowly with the 2x4. It shouldn't take much force at all to separate the engine and trans. If it's not budging you are missing a bolt. Putting the trans in is just reverse of removal. The eyelet will balance the trans pretty good so have someone hoist it up into place then climb under the car with your legs out the drivers side wheel well. Grab the trans and wrestle it onto the engine. You might have to pull it off and reach in and turn the input shaft a little bit to get the splines to line up. Don't do like another member on here did and use the bolts to pull the trans onto the engine and crack your trans case. It should easily slide up flush with the engine unless your alignment pins are super rusted or something.

 

Well thank you sir, the tranny is out now. I didn't have to touch the exhaust because i was able to lower the subframe far enough to get the tranny to come to the right and then out towards me, as you know the entire front end is removed. I'm glad I don't own of one of these. I just have to wait for the parts to come in and put her back together.