1st Gen 100K+ Transmission Problems

I KNOW ITS LONG BUT I NEED HELP

driving down the road today, did a little show off rev when a friend pulled up behind me. Clutch in revved to round 5K, then a big ass clunk and the car lurched. IT felt like a weight transfer forward. wouldnt go back into gear so i pulled over. Engine is running fine without and OBD codes or anything. It will go into reverse, but even with the clutch on the floor the car will still role slightly. it wont go into any gear aside from reverse. with the car off it will go through all the gears.

My initial thought was clutch, i think i smelled it a tiny bit, but it coulda just been a placebo type deal that was in my head lol, but the fact that it was disengaged i feel like its not?

I dont know about transmissions, but could it be
*Syncros
^master and/or slave cylinders
* a shattered/ misaligned gear or shaft

Im going to check the fluid in the morning to see if theres any flakes in it

The car is at 109K, and i have the previous owners service records and it looks like this is the original clutch. The car is pushing about 230hp at the wheels and i drive it hard.

Last weekend i was at MINIs on top, ip at Mt. Washington in NH. For those of you who dont know bout the MT. Washington Auto Road, its a little 1 and a half lane twisty road with multiple 40 deg. incline sections. there was two or three times where i was stuck in a bad place and rode the clutch hard to not roll into the person behind me. then the moron parking people at the summit decided to sop me on the steepest section and make a 90 degree turn into a tiny spot and i rode the clutch so i feel like this may have contributed

Sorry for the long post im just stressed and fed up with the car right now lol.

 

the pedal not coming back is usually a sign of the slave cylinder right?

 

We'll the weird thing is it only stuck once, I can depress it and it comes back, I can't tell if it feels different then it usually does

I did the good ol' pump the clutch a couple times then try and put it in gear and it didn't work.

Fluid was at the correct level, I've never touched that resevoir but right under the cap there's some sort of clear diaphragm or something? Like I went to dip my finger in and it was solid. It's clear, what is this? Lol

I took a look at the slave cylinder and it's a bit grimy, but it just looks like road debris and gunk, no drips or anything. I pushed the pedal to the floor and help it there, the cylinder was working, as in it moved the arm that goes into the trans. It had around 2" of travel, if that is normal.

I also drained the fluid, beside little minute pieces from a few missed shifts, but it wasn't significant and didn't have huge chunks.

So where do I go from now? I'll check the master cylinder, but is the slave okay as long as it is moving?

 

How can I rule out the clutch

 

I'm doing the labor lol, I just wanna know if there's a way to check the clutch without pulling the trans out

 

There's no inspection plate or anything? I'll probably pull the starter and look at the flywheel if the cylinders don't fix it.

 

im about to drop the subframe, the only thing in my way are the outer ball joints. the pelican guide(Pelican Technical Article: MINI Cooper - Subframe Removal) show on figures 7& 8 to remove the two 13mm bolts holding it to the knuckle and pull it apart.

So i did remove them but they haven't budged. its not really clear is it means you jest undo it or if i have to use a separator. so i removed the 18mm bolt on the bottom of the ball joint and started hammering the separator in, it seemed a lil tough, ive done ball joints on other cars before, so i decided to stop and ask on here before i really start using brute force

any tips?

P.S. the only tie rod separator i have is the long rod with a tapered fork on the end that you hammer into the joint, i dont have one of the bolt style ones

 

BFH?? lol
and so im not gonna break it? just wanted some re assurance before i went swinging for the fence haha

 

it took me a minute to realize what BFH was lol, but yes that method worked, just out of curiosity whats the little electrical connection that was mounted on the drivers side inner ball joint? im guessing its a sensor for the suspension or steering,,duh... but what is its purpose

 

i removed the brake pad sensor, last time i did my brakes they were so far gone, literally no pad, and extremely messed up rotors, and the pad sensor light never came on soi wasnt gonna buy new sensors. it was mounted on the control arm i believe the abd is the smaller wire that goes to the top of the streering knuckle,so i guess its the wheel speed, i was just curious cause my guide for dropping the sub frame didnt mention it