1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Today's Job

Well I'll be. I thought when you pushed on the clutch pedal you were feeling the clutch.

The R53 has a coiled spring instead. Confirmed by looking under the dash and RealOEM.

 

You can a bit. There will be feedback from the hydraulic line. I felt that in mine when I had the dusty grime on my TO bearing.

However, most of the resistance and pedal feel you have is driven by the spring.

 

It's still a PITA to bleed the clutch. Pedal stays on the floor the first couple times - that spring doesn't do much.

 

Yep......SVT Focus lsd. And for about half the cost of a Quaife.

I wasn't aware that it was a fit for the R56 tho.....

 

Yeah, I had no idea the Torsen fit the r56. Good to know! Has me thinking about the rest of the gears and internals.

 

I was one of the other R56 Clutch & Flywheel replacements k-huevo did at around 30K miles. It was discovered when installing an OS Giken LSD. We replaced it with OEM to stay in STX class for autox. The previous bad behavior of the clutch is gone and the new one works great.

 

Excellent, I am sure the owner is pleased with the renewed street manners.

 

Keith, when putting my mini back together (yes it currently looks like a real car and not a bunch of parts), I discovered that this oil line leaks very badly. When I re-installed it the front of the car was off and I would like to avoid tearing it down that far. Can you sneak the line in if you remove the downpipe, head shields and turbo bracket? It seems as if the lower banjo is behind the downpipe heat shield on the engine block side, so I guess that would have to be removed as well.

The good news, is the car seemed to run fine for the 2 minutes it was running before I discovered the leak. I guess that is par for the course in a tear down this large...

 

Thanks.

 

Keith, I'm considering replacing my front hub/bearing assemblies on my R56. How difficult is this to do in a driveway without air tools? Any advice for the process to keep me from screwing something up?

 

I know i am not "THE Keith" (not even A Keith), but ill throw out my opinion.

You dont NEED air tools, but an impact wrench for the axle nut would be useful. Otherwise youll have to pull your center caps out, and with the car on the ground loosen the axle nut.

-Get a swivel 13mm socket, youll need it for the backside of the hubs.
-Get new axle nuts.

 

Just pulled the axles on my R53. 134 ft-lbs is the torque spec on the axle nut. Get a 1/2" drive breaker bar and slip the handle of your jack over it. Find a friend to stand on the brakes (hard) and throw your weight into it. When each nut loosened, it sounded like the wrench broke. Don't use a ratchet, either, you'll destroy it. You can do it with the car on or off the ground, with or without a wheel, but leave everything else attached.

 

Aside from a bar to get the castle nut off the axle, universal joints or wobble sockets might prove to be a big plus. I have only done an R53, but really most FWD cars are similar.

Don't cheap out on the bearing, you can get a good brand for not much more than the cheapest out there..

 

Sounds like I can do this. I have a 1/2 dr breaker bar. Arguably one of the most useful tools I've ever purchased. :lol: I also have flex and wobble extensions.

I'm liking the idea of leaving the wheel on while I get it loose then pulling the wheel off to do the remainder of the work. I'm thinking I'll break the lug bolts loose before this as well to save me the headache of kicking them off after I've loosened the axle nut.

Okay. Well the Hub & Bearing are a once piece assembly everywhere I have looked. Cheapest assembly I found was $135 a piece for Timken. And I've found SKF (best quality with a 3-year 36k warranty) for between $187 to $220 a piece.

Okay so the torque spec on the main axle nut is 134 ft-lbs for an R56? I appreciate the R53 input but I know there are some noticeable differences in things like torque specs b etween the R56 and R53. Anyone know what the spec is on the 4 hub-bolts?

Thank You to EVERYONE for the quick responses.

 

SWEET! Thanks. :cornut:

 

Flange nut is the only one you really have to replace with new.