I have an '06 MC. Generally love the way the car drives. One sore point is that the clutch engagement point has always been very late - almost to the point that the pedal is completely out (farthest from floor). I've read several posts here that indicate that in Minis it is generally the opposite - i.e. close to the floor (where I would prefer it). Brought it up during my first service and the advisor said something to the effect that it was a hydraulic clutch with no adjustment. He test drove the car and pronounced it typical. I find this kind of hard to believe. It's gotten to the point of almost shuddering and being hard to take off smoothly in 1st geat if you have the a/c on. Only other "symptom" is that when starting the car, I frequently have to engage the clutch a second time to go into reverse. Any suggestions/info would be appreciated.

 

If I remember correctly, that sounds typical of the engagement point. The only way to get it farther down is a performance clutch/flywheel. That moved my engagement close to the floor, it's nice. I don't have the shuddering problems, or the reverse problems. And I never did with either clutch.

 

I've had 3 clutches on my 03 MCS, so I can compare them...

The first one was high (although, it was not like the way you describe it); may be it grabbed about 1/2 way through. The second one and the third are very close to the floor.

 

To provide another data point, my '06 MCS clutch takes up pretty close to the floor.

 

My 04' cooper's clutch engages pretty far from the floor.

 

On flat ground, with the engine at idle speed - mine starts to engage (starts to creep forward) roughly 1.5" from the floor ('04 MCS w/ 35k miles).

I rented an '07 MCC w/ 4,000km in Switzerland and it had just about the exact same engagement point. The only difference was the clutch pedal was slightly less stiff than my MCS.

 

My '02 with 52k miles engages close to the floor. Always has.

 

My '05 starts to engage about 1/4 of the way up from the firewall, and seems fully engaged at the halfway point.

 

2006 MC, Mine does the same thing. Engaged half-way up. Top of the petal would be okay, at the firewall well I would worry it was not fully engaging.

 

closer tot he floor than the end of travel here.

 

What causes everybody cluth points to be different. They should all be the same! It is the same car right? I have a 2003 MINI Cooper with almost 107,000 on it with three trannies, 2 flywheels and the clutches. The third clutch now is a Spec stage 1 clutch with about 20,000- 25,000 on it. Also when my car is driven for a while or when is it hot outside, the pedal gets tight with small friction points. The car has always felt like this, but it has improved with the stronger Spec clutch. Any thoughts?

 

With a hydraulic clutch, if there is any air in the system it will tend to be closer to the floor. I have a non MINI that had the clutch engagement all the way at the top... very hard to drive smoothly. After changing a worn clutch hose we had trouble bleeding the system of all the air, and the clutch was near the floor. As we got more air out, the pick up point got closer and closer towards the top. I decided to stop before it got back to where it was originally. now it picks up a little higher than in the middle. If I pump it a few times it gets pretty close to the very top again for only a moment, but I'm happy with the pick up point in the middle for normal clutch use.
Not that I'm suggesting that anyone intentionally introduce air into the system, but if there were different degrees in perfection of removing the air from the fluid originally (or at any repair point), it might explain why all cars aren't the same.

 

As the clutch wears it will grab higher & higher. Until the point where it's all the way at the top & the clutch starts slipping.

It is rather peculiar that even with 2 new identical cars, the grab points for the clutch can be different.

 

Is there any mechanical adjustment in the pedel/linkage? I think someone could change a pivot point and fabricate something, maybe a kit that will let you set the engagement point.

Too silly huh...back to studying japnese then...

 

Thats a good data point, but one point does not make a trend. I'm just saying that it was that way in your situation, but could be completely different in another, so let's make sure everyone doesn't hang there hat on one point.

 

I sweat that my engagement point and pedal feel seems to change and varies randomly.

I've never liked the feel of the MCS clutch.