Snoocs,
Sorry for not getting back to you! I dont think I saw the email in my inbox. Tranny rebuild shouldn't be over 1000 bucks on a mini. You can lift the trans by hand and it IS a weekend project for anyone with mechanical ability. You don't have to have a lift, you don't have to have a transmission jack, and CAN do it without specialized hand tools.
The most complicated tool required is a torque wrench for the trans cases. Seriously.
Parts list:
1. rebuild kit with differential and gears ( roughly 500 shipped from England)
2. Silicone gasket maker 8 bucks
3. Carb cleaner or other degreaser 10 bucks
4: royal purple 24 dollars
5: clutch kit from bap geon 126 bucks ( with bearing) <-- may as well do the clutch. Why not?
= 665.00 in parts

Labor? Well, my first time literally took me about six hours in my garage at my house with jack stands and hand tools.

The actual rebuilding of the tranny took me 1.5 hours the first time. It is easy. Really

All you have to do is unbolt the cases of the tranny, there are about 16-18 hardened bolts that you remove from the perimeter of the trans case, the trick is to tighten them a bit before loosening them, this breaks the galvanic corrosion between the dissimilar metals of the case and bolts.
Keep the tranny with bolt-side up, and pull the cases apart. You will see a few gears and forks and stuff.
Here's the trick to the rebuild.........














Put the new pieces in just like the old ones were in there.
It helps to clean up all the gook in the cases as well before doing this.

Put the gasket sealant on the perimeter (after cleaning off the old gook) and bolt it back together, cross torqueing as you go. If it goes together cleanly and everything bolts up, you've done it right.
My first time I did it, I just thought " how can anyone pay 4 grand to have one of these put in!?" it's a transmission that is very similar to a tractor. It is dumb-simple. Seriously. Even if you don't work on cars, I highly suggest this repair in your own damned garage if your tranny quits.

After that, run royal purple 90-120 wt oil in it. There are NO close tolerances here. Seriously

 

Snooc,
If you can pull the tranny, you can rebuild it. Keep the core, rebuild it

 

Thanks for getting back to me. Since it was my wife's daily driver and I was very busy at work at the time I ended up getting a reman'd gearbox from Mini for ~$2k and a local mechanic here replaced it and the clutch for $350. It turns out the gearbox would not have been reusable, a gear punched a hole in the gearbox case on the clutch side. I haven't disassembled it yet but still have it in the box in the garage. If it happens again (and I hope it doesn't) I'll keep the above advice in mind.

Thanks again.

 

erk187, Any problem with heliarcing a small hole, crack in the bellhousing before rebuilding the midlands 5 sp? I tried to email you, but it gets returned fwiw. Thx for the help

 

My 2006 Mini Cooper has a manual transmission. Over Christmas it started making grinding sounds. With only 56000 miles I just forked out most of my savings to replace the transmission. I have never in my life had to completely replace a manual transmission. Clutches yes but wow. The dealer wouldn't even discuss it since it was no longer under warranty. I took it to an import specialist who has never seen a problem like this at such low miles. I mainly city drive. Can anyone tell me if that could be a factor? Should I contact Mini and tell them? Do they really not csre?

 

My 2007 had 58.000 when the trans grinded into 2nd gear only, I took it to the dealer, they evaluated it and covered 70%. It still cost me $2,600!. Yours sounds like they should also cover a large portion, I would contact a regional manager to see if they'll consider it. Also mention our cars were just rated the worst cars for needing repair work and this will be your last one. My wife doesn't want to own another one! Good luck...

 

Our 2002 currently has 118k and we have had no problems with anything. it was bought mainly as a daily driver for my wife to and from work which is 80 miles per day. I know it was not pampered in its prior life. The only thing it needs right now is a drivers door seal. On very windy days she gets wind noise around the window. if it ever warms up I will replace it.

 

I have an 05 mini cooper convertible with the getrag 5 speed. Can you get, I think it is the main shaft (its the one that has the gears and synchros on it). I need that shaft and 3rd and 4th synchro inner hub and the gearbox end caps.
Thank you! dougwagner@wolfberrymfg.com

 

I have a complete transmission that had damage to the case only due to a collision. All internals are as new. This occurred at 6000 miles on my 2006. Due to time constraints I opted to install a factory rebuilt unit. I would part with this if interested. I found parts were near unobtanium when I was looking.
rem9atcornelldotedu


Russ

 

can you rebuild they other transmission
. i have a 2006 mini convertable bearing just started making noise