R53 Most liked posts in thread: R53 new clutch opinions & other work to do at the same time

Have an OSG LSD and love it. It’s a clutch driven and some people will not like it when the plates in it move when turning at low speed. If you have had a OEM LSD the OSG is much different. The traction and grip is so much better than the OEM LSD. You can feel it pulling hard when you point hot the go peddle. It also helps slowing down and going into a turn as the diff does not open like the OEM one. It stays engaged so both front wheels are griping when slowing down and turning in.

Last year was my first year at the Dragon with the OSG diff and it was awesome. Not much under steering and the point and go out of the corners is amazing. The last eight times at the Dragon were much different as the would push “under steer” a lot even when I was not pushing it that hard. My car and my driving skills have improved over the years but the OSG LSD finally tied everything together.

As for clutch I stayed OEM because the last one took a heal of a beating for 100,000 miles and I did not want to have and on/off race style clutch. Money was not an issue but I wanted a normal feeling clutch and the OEM one works fine.

When I did my clutch with the OSG lsd I also replaced all the seals, including the main seal, axle seals, both drive shafts. For axles I used RMW ones because they are better built than the OEM ones and cost less then OEM. Also they are much better then “the Driveshaft shop” axles which lasted less than 2 years.

RMW 500WHP AXLES $750.00
Factory replacement axles that handle more power than the stock. Great for your track day Mini or daily driver.
http://store.revolutionmini.com/

 

My bad rear main seal toasted the OSG clutch after having it for 5 yrs, ~33000 miles, so I replaced it and the rear seal with the Valeo flywheel/clutch combo last summer. The only time I disliked the OSG was in stop and go traffic like the Chicago "freeway". It's definitely not for everyone. However, it is nice to have a regular clutch back in the car. While the transmission was out, I also put in an OSG LSD and replaced the input shaft seal and the output seals. I also recommend replacing the clutch fork bolt, I touched mine with a socket and the head fell off, and also put in new clutch fork bushings.

Looking forward to the dragon with the new LSD.

 

I am thinking of throwing a Valeo single mass kit into the car that needs the next clutch. Not concerned about holding power and all that stuff - that's just asking for hard to drive car with on/off clutch feel.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0049PMBCM

Choice of LSD will depend on the car in my case. For the more sporty fun car, it would be the OSG, but for the daily driver I'd be happy to just find a used Mini OEM LSD. However, those are very hard to locate. All I can find is complete transmissions and those cost close to a new OSG diff, so I'd rather throw that into the car than to swap out a used unknown transmission with usually the same or higher miles than my own known to be good transmission.

Axles can be swapped at any time without worrying about the transmission coming out. Seal engine to transmission definitely should be replaced when it's out and open.I'd also look into replacing the entire shift linkage mechanism, or at least rebuild all that stuff with new bushings. I want to get all that slop out of my shift lever.