CLUTCH KIT RENEWAL

1

George at Mad4mini started the clutch renewal by removing the vehicle’s 12V battery. There are a couple of 10mm terminals to undo and release, then there should be a clamp over the top of the battery, but it was missing on our vehicle.

2

The two plugs connected to the ECU (BMW call it the digital motor electronics or DME for short) were disconnected to allow the plugs and their wiring to remain inside the engine bay, but the DME will be removed in Step 4 along with the battery box.

3

Before the battery box was taken out, the air filter housing was detached in order to create more space; this is secured by two 10mm bolts. Its induction pipework also had to be disconnected by undoing two quick-release clips.

4

The battery box is secured by three 10mm bolts. Mad4mini warned us that these can be corroded, but we were lucky on this occasion. We could now see the top of the gearbox and, in particular, the gear linkage, which needs to be disconnected.

5

There’s a small sensor on the side of the gearbox (facing the front of the engine bay when viewed from above), which is for reverse gear and activating the reversing lights. This must be detached to allow the gearbox to be dropped down.

6

There are two gear linkage cables attached to the top of the gearbox. George explained that there’s a threestage process to release them and problems can easily arise. First, he used a long pry bar to separate the balljoint end of each cable. 7

After detaching the ends of the cables, George checked whether the mechanism they are attached to on the top of the gearbox had bent, which can happen when separating the cables, resulting in gear selection problems. Using a pry bar, he bent the front attachment back to its original shape. 8

The final stage in disconnecting the gearchange cables is to extract them from the U-shaped mounting brackets on the top of the gearbox (circled). There’s a fragile-looking spring clip to release by pinching its ends together before each cable can be prised out. 9

Two of the upper 15mm bellhousing bolts were fully undone and the frontmost upper bolt was only slackened at this stage. There are plenty more bolts and mounts holding the gearbox in position for the moment, but this was a good opportunity to undo three of them. 10

At the back of the engine bay, the power steering fluid reservoir’s 10mm clamp was undone to allow the reservoir to be released and pushed down into the back of the engine bay. It will be extracted along with the steering rack and engine bed (aka the subframe). 11

Down at the offside back of the engine bay, the end of the steering column was separated from the steering rack by undoing a 13mm nut and bolt, then prising the column and rack apart. This is important as it enables the steering rack to be taken out along with the engine bed.

12

Removal of the engine bed requires the front bumper to be detached. This is secured by two Torx T30 bolts, three 10mm bolts, two 8mm bolts and some crosshead screws that secure the wheelarch trim to the bumper. Wiring for the indicators/sidelights also had to be undone.

13

Next, the front crash beam was removed. This is secured to the front chassis legs and subframe with eight nuts and two bolts, all with 13mm heads.

14

We could now see the front legs of the engine bed, where a 10mm bolt on each end secures the wheelarch liner and fog-light surround, so these were undone to separate them.

15

Before the engine bed could be removed, several suspension components were undone and detached, starting with the lower arm outer balljoints, secured by 18mm nuts. George explained that if a balljoint has been replaced, it usually has a 19mm nut.

16

After separating the lower arm outer balljoints by hitting the body of the balljoint with a hammer, we then undid the 15mm nuts for the steering track rod ends, separating them as well.

17

When we tried to undo the 16mm nuts for the anti-roll bar droplinks, their threads spun. Luckily, there are some flats on the thread, which can be gripped with a 17mm open-ended spanner.

18

There’s a lower engine mount fitted at the back of the engine, which was detached by undoing the single 16mm bolt shown here (engine side), leaving the mount attached to the engine bed.

19

The engine bed was supported on a transmission stand, then all of its mounting bolts were undone, starting with six 16mm bolts at the rear. These are usually corroded, but can be undone with a breaker bar and/or an impact driver.

20

Moving forwards along the engine bed, another 16mm bolt was undone on each side, close to the lower arm inner bush (rearmost). Finally, an extension bar was required to undo the 16mm bolt tucked up into the back of the wheelarch. George noted that the mounting bolts are different lengths.

21

After detaching two electrical plugs on top of the power steering pump, we were ready to remove the engine bed, supporting it with the transmission stand while raising the two-post ramp. The power steering fluid reservoir remained attached.

22

Before the gearbox could be removed, we drained its oil by undoing the drain plug with an 8mm Allen key. The oil seemed to be quite clean and was collected with other waste oil for recycling/collecting at a later date.

23

The nearside front driveshaft was extracted from the gearbox using a pry bar to help release the spring clip on the splined end. Keeping the other end attached to the hub, the assembly was then swung around to protect the driveshaft from being damaged when we removed the gearbox.

24

Before the offside front driveshaft could be detached, a centre bearing had to be undone, which is secured by three 13mm bolts. The offside driveshaft is easier to extract from the gearbox as there’s no spring clip retaining it. It was suspended out of the way.

25

A small flywheel inspection cover is secured with two 10mm bolts and has to be taken off to avoid damaging it when extracting the gearbox. It’s located below the starter motor at the back of the engine.

26

The starter motor doesn’t need to be removed, but its 15mm lower mounting bolt was undone and extracted, whereas the upper mounting bolt was undone but left in its locating dowel. This helps to keep the starter motor positioned on the engine block, making it easier to refit later.

27

The hydraulic clutch slave cylinder is secured to the gearbox with 13mm nuts. By unhooking its pipe from the top of the gearbox and suspending it around to the nearside front wheelarch, it was out of the way.

28

With the MINI raised to head height on the twopost ramp, a transmission stand was positioned underneath the engine, then George climbed up a pair of stepladders and undid the four 13mm bolts for the gearbox mount inside the engine bay.

29

Five lower bellhousing bolts remained, holding the gearbox to the engine. While Mad4mini boss Richard supported the gearbox, George undid these bolts. We were finally ready to extract the Getrag gearbox.

30

With so many components removed from the underside of the MINI, there was plenty of space to manoeuvre the gearbox off the engine and lift it away. Everyone at Mad4mini seems to be able to do this job blindfolded!

31

Six Torx E8 bolts hold the old clutch cover in position. Upon removal, we noticed the clutch had a 2008 date stamp and was ready for the bin.

32

Two of the locating dowels fell out of the flywheel when we removed the old clutch, so these were tapped back into position with a hammer. The face of the flywheel was cleaned with emery paper, then checked to ensure it was flat. There was a little unevenness, possibly caused by the clutch overheating.

33

Inside the gearbox bellhousing, we detached the nose, which is fitted onto the input shaft and is where the release bearing sits; it’s secured with two Torx E8 bolts. We cleaned it with emery paper and found it was good enough to be refitted.

34

An engine oil leak from the sump seemed to have seeped into the bellhousing and become mixed with clutch dust, so we sprayed lots of brake cleaner inside and managed to wash it all away.

35

Mad4mini have found the clutch arm can crack, especially on the diesel engine with a heavier clutch, but our petrol engine’s clutch arm was in good condition, so we refitted it. We then renewed the clutch release bearing (supplied with the Valeo clutch kit), adding a smear of grease supplied in a sachet.

36

After cleaning the new clutch face with brake cleaner to remove any anti-corrosion oil, it was fitted onto the engine along with the new friction plate, but without a clutch alignment tool. Mad4mini can align the clutch by sight using a in extension bar.

37

The Torx E8 clutch cover bolts should be tightened to 20Nm. To prevent the clutch and flywheel rotating, editor Martyn Knowles wedged a pry bar into the teeth of the flywheel, holding it against the locating dowel for the starter motor.

38

We were now ready to refit the gearbox. Ideally, this is a job for two people, to ensure that the gearbox is supported. George and Martyn took less than a minute to manoeuvre it into position and, once fitted, a couple of bellhousing bolts were wound into position, followed by the upper gearbox mount.

39

We had a new clutch slave cylinder to fit, so the hydraulic pipe to the old one was released using an 11mm open-ended spanner and swapped over to the new unit. George explained it’s important to ensure the end of the piston sits inside a round recess on the clutch arm when fitting it.

40

There are several ways to bleed the clutch. George prefers to slacken the bleed nipple and put a finger over it to effectively lock it, while someone else pumps the clutch pedal.

41

The driveshafts were refitted, taking care that the droplinks and brake flexi-hoses didn’t get rearranged, which can risk damaging the flexi-hose. The gearbox was refilled with 75W-90 gear oil.

42

The final major component to refit was the engine bed, which took a little manoeuvring while trying to fit the transmission stand underneath it. Once in position, George recommends reattaching the lower arms first, before refitting the mounting bolts.