I have a 2003 R50 manual cooper which has been randomly popping out of second gear just recently, it doesnt happen all the time but my mechanic and the dealer refuse to take out the tranny and open the casing to see whats up and would rather have me buy a whole new transmission and pay the labor, I cant aford either a new or refurbished tansmission right now and I have a feeling it could just be the shifter linkage circlip or a worn guide sleeve and shift fork, can any Miami, Florida locals suggest a good shop that would be willing to do this or if anyone has any suggestions on what to do about this, I love my MINI and its all i can think about

 

dude, let me tell you from experience, your best bet is to start saving up for a new tranny. The midlands are nothing but a headache. I tried to take it apart after doing the 6 speed swap and i had no luck. the 6speed came apart no problems. the midlands is a very complicated design and is not worth the effort. If you can, start saving up and plan on running a 6 speed transmission. they run about 1500$ and parts are about 1500$ new. I hope this helps. For the mean time, i would just baby it. (Might help to check tranny fluid and maybe fill it up.)

 

I was also thinking if i absolutley HAD to get a new tranny to get the six speed, what would i need to do do to set the car up for a six speed swap?

 

http://personal.stevens.edu/~jdunn/

i used this link above. I bought all new parts, except for a used transmission. It takes about 20 hours to do and is about 3000$. It is definitely worth it.

There are also threads around if you search for the 6 speed swap for an R50.

Whatever you do, you do not want to get another midlands. At least get the Getrag 5 speed.

 

Thanks man, definitely worth looking into its just gonna take a while for me to raise those funds and find that getrag

 

If anything you can try the guys at Precision Auto Werks, I've heard good things about them, and will probably use them as my shop once I head back down to Miami.

 

In the meantime, just baby 2nd, or skip it all together. Will help milk the tranny along.