changing gear box / flywheel

[haggle]

as the title suggests how hard is it (bmw mini cooper) i dont have much mechanical knowlage but i tend to be fearless when armed with a spanner as i plan to fit a the better version of the box when my cluch gives out and fit an LSD and lighter fly wheel too it cant be that hard if i get the right tools and take my time can it ?

[Mr2Mike]

Not especialy difficult, but you certainly will need the right tools, such as an engine hoist and lifting straps etc. I'm not familliar with the MINI, but you will probably need a ball joint splitter to remove the bottom arms from the front uprights, so they can be swung out enough to remove the driveshafts from the gearbox. You will need a torque wrench to ensure the flywheel and clutch bolts are torqued correctly, these are very important fasteners!

[haggle]

i dont think my mini is going to be difficult as it only has a 4 pot and it dosent have any engine covers etc and only 2 main mounts for the engine and 1 of the gear box which are easier to unbolt form the chassis buy the looks of it and the manifold is easy to disconect as well buy the look of it and form a quick peak there dosent seem to be a great deal of wires or pipes either

if you see a topic call errr i mess up my car help youll know i went wrong somewhere but i figured that you gotta learn sometime as im sick of hanidng money to the dealers when i could do it

the only realy difficulty i think for me is trying to fot the lsd i might just get the box out and take it to someome who knows how

Edited by haggle on Wednesday 18th July 16:18

[Snake the Sniper]

Getting it all out is the easy bit. Splitting the box and doing the flywheel should be fairly easy, but make sure you use new flywheel bolts. They may also require some thread locker. The LSD i wouldn't touch. Take the bits to a gearbox place and let them do it, as you may have to pull the crown wheel and pinion out. Putting them back right can be fiddly, especially if you haven't done it before, as the end float will require some very thin shims.

[Mr2Mike]

I missed the mention of the LSD. Properly installing a diff is a far more skilled job then a clutch/flywheel replacement which is essentialy "bolt on". It's very important that diffs be set up with correct bearing preloads.

[neiljohnson]

They are easy to do clutch on but require the subframe taking out so i wouldnt fancy doing it on my back. As for the lsd get the diff and have it fitted by a specialist a quaife atb would probably be better than a plate lsd for road use though.