I am looking to remove the cvt pan on my 05 to possibly do some electrical work. Is there a way to sneak the pan off without subframe removal? I need to be able to do this as quickly as possible.

 

I don't know about the 05 but you can definitely sneak it off on an 06...I've done it several times. You just have to put the filter in place after you put the pan back in place...on the 06 you need to remove the two bolts that hold the MFE in place so you can slide it forward about 1/2 or 1" ...I don't remember but it isn't far. Get a flex nut driver and an offset 10mm wrench if you decide to try...and make sure you torque everything back like it should be...there two nuts that will give you a bit of trouble but the flex nut and offset wrench should help you. I did a post a few years back after I did this on my 06 Mini Base with CVT.

 

Here's the link to my contribution to a thread on CVTs...where I discussed how I did the CVT pan removal/fluid change.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post3741535

 

Are the MFE bolts hard to get to? Do I have to remove a bunch of things to get to them? I haven't been able to look closely at this but I was thinking of loosening the subframe and prying down on it. The only thing I have done to a Mini is the control arms.

 

It's pretty easy to remove everything. You take the front bumper off and then you can remove the MFE bolts. I used this guide on Pelican parts to get started..I just didn't jack up the transmission...

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