1st Gen R53 Cooper S Clutch question..single mass or dual mass?

II replaced my clutch last summer. For all intents and purposes, that should have been it. But right after, I noticed a lot of noise when my foot was not on the clutch pedal. It turns out, the dual mass flywheel was the culprit. But was told if I don't replace it, it should still work fine as long as I could put up with the helicopter noise.

A new MINI flywheel costs more than the entire clutch job for the part alone. In Canada, that's $1700 just for the flywheel. There is an OEM flywheel by Valeo that costs half that, but that means spending a lot on labor costs to redo the clutch job.

I am at the point where strange noises are coming out of the drive train and when the car is moving, changing gears is a problem. With the clutch pedal firmly to the floor, pulling the shifter out of gear is like not having a clutch there at all. Going back into the next gear is fine. When stopped or going really slow, going in and out of gear is fine also.

Does that mean my transmission is screwed or is this symptom caused by a deteriorating dual mass flywheel?

Second question, who here has gone to a single mass flywheel ? I don't need a stage 3 racing flywheel. One of the mechanics at the dealership has a single mass flywheel and a stage 3 clutch and complains it's almost undriveable in the city.

Another MINI owner posted a good deal on a single mass flywheel and clutch conversion kit. It is a simpler design than the dual mass set up, but are they a reasonable replacement?

Thanks for any good advice on where I go from here.

 

Thanks. I will check out the Valeo single mass flywheel conversion.
Oh...I have about 120,000 miles on the car. The original clutch lasted about 110,000.

 

I tried something different this morning. I noted while stuck in traffic that when I put foot down on the clutch pedal. THe clutch does not disengage. The car stays in gear. I blip the throttle and it disengages. To me, that means something is stuck.

Since the clutch is relatively new (4 months old), I'm going to bring it back. If I need a new flywheel, I'm doing a conversion to the Valeo single mass kit.

 

Ah....here it is.

A follow-up. My first impressions of converting to a Valeo Single Mass flywheel clutch it.

Some of you know, I had a new clutch put in last year. It was full stock replacement. However, I did not change out the dual mass flywheel. Well, 3 weeks ago, I heard a loud bang while shifting into 3rd on my commute home and I had no gears at all. Seems the clutch broke, and the dealer covered the cost of the labor to do another clutch. Based on the suggestions of all the good MINI folk here, I decided to not get another MINI clutch and had MINI Yaletown bring in a Valeo single-Mass flywheel conversion kit. With the customary discount they give me, the entire kit cost less than a replacement dual mass flywheel part cost alone. This being the first time doing a conversion like this, they asked if they could take their time to make sure they get it right. It took almost 3 weeks.

Finally got my car back. I haven't looked under the bonnet yet but supposedly, besides the clutch a whole bunch of gaskets have been replaced....$900 worth of gaskets and o-rings.

My first impressions:
Extremely quiet. No more helicopter noises, and besides the supercharger whine, I can even hear the belt and a lot more of the mechanical things happening in the engine bay area now, including suspension movement. Much easier to diagnose problems. Plus the shifts are smooth and no more sticking.

Very light pedal. Hardly any force to push the clutch pedal down at all. It might get stiffer as the clutch wears in, but for now, it feels too easy to push down and maybe a bit more difficult to modulate. The friction point is slightly higher and the pedal movement between friction point and full clutch engagement is wider. This clutch feels very much like the F56 Cooper's clutch I test drove a couple of weeks ago.

I can feel the engine vibration/shakes more. Perhaps the dual mass flywheel from the factory was absorbing more of the vibrations coming from the engine. This is not a bad thing. It will be easier to detect a misfire and I will have physical evidence that something is wrong when I get a check engine light for no apparent reason.

I'm glad I got the conversion. The conversion, including labor, costs less than the cost of a replacement dual mass flywheel part cost alone. With this being a simpler set-up, I anticipate fewer problems in the future. The trade-off is the clutch does not grab quite as hard as the stock set-up. But I don't anticipate driving my car hard enough for that to be an issue.

 

No. My MINI is not totally stock. Just mildly modified.