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R53 clutch conversion confusion

8K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  Rusty Mini 
#1 ·
Hi all.

After five years away from Mini's, via a wallet emptying Porsche, I've come back & bought an 04 Cooper S. Amongst a heap of jobs to do, The clutch is slipping. I'm keen on changing to a single mass flywheel, have no great plans for other mods & after a bit of research, I'm settling on the idea of a Valeo kit. However, I'm struggling to find the right one for the car.

According to Valeo's catalogue, I need part number 835024 kit 4p (for piece?) but talking to various distributors, I'm being told it doesn't fit. Some are pointing me to national kits, but reviews are very poor. If I'm barking up the wrong tree, then so be it but can anyone point me in the right direction?

Car is a 2004, build date 19/08/04.

Cheers everyone.
 
#2 ·
I've recently bought the Valeo 835024 solid flywheel clutch kit, not fitted yet.
According to Amazon and eBay it should fit my facelift MCS fine.

ModMini on YouTube recommends the Valeo solid flywheel clutch kit too but gives a link to the Valeo 52151203 (again, both Amazon and eBay say this fits).
Although I think this is just the American part number?
 
#3 ·
The dual mass flywheel on my 53s is starting to rattle so I’ll be changing to single mass valeo or Luk but I read somewhere one of the kits has a plastic mount for the clutch release bearing does anyone know if it’s the Valeo or Luk that has this ?
Sorry to piggy back your thread Rusty.
 
#8 ·
It's Kurt at Mod Mini that got me onto this. The kit he uses I can only find in the US. I'm thinking 835024 is the UK equivalent. Are we reasonably happy it will fit my car? On one of the Part2clear Ebay listings, they specify a cut of date of 06/2004 & my car is 08/2004 & they told me it doesn't fit but didn't go into detail. Were there engine or box revisions around that facelift period?
 
#9 ·
The gearbox got different gear ratios pre/post facelift.
Interestingly the oem part number for the clutch plate is different pre/post facelift :confused1:
But I've checked many listings on eBay, and it's not just the Valeo kit that says '2001-2006' but many other clutch kits, LUK included.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Most of the release bearings have a plastic mount, I think Helix might be metal and ACT are metal, worth having in the long run assuming the bearing element actually lasts but really, LUK are it for aftermarket clutches really imo. All they make is clutches. Valeo are into all sorts and are a budget option, even their radiators can be shit and were responsible for hundreds of failed transmissions when they leaked internally. If you are one of the many just always buying the cheapest it's probably a good option for you. All the Valeo kit ever was, was a budget kit, never intended for performance use, it just 'gets' used that way and hasn't failed which of course is good, it doesn't ever make it a performance option, luck is not the same as quality or suitability. Each of us will assess or review things differently. We all drive differently on road or track, very differently sometimes.

Valeo deliberately made their kit to only work with their parts, that for me is out of the question when it comes to recommendation. Also they do not make this kit as a performance solution! Period. It just happens to be fractionally lighter than stock which is indeed nice to have, the lighter the better as far as I'm concerned. For a general daily it's going to be 'just a clutch' to many drivers, and it is cheaper than the other kits with DMF's, so again, people only fit this option because it is cheap. It's 'a way out'. I would never seek a cheap option for my own car with money invested in other areas then picking a budget option for the driveline, however it is popular.

ModMini has some great videos, I've watched many of them not for 'how to' but I'm interested in doing similar or was until my plans were destroyed last June, anyway, when the guy tightens ARP head studs/nuts in the same way as OEM stretch bolts, he became a risk in my mind for other important work so many owners copy from him. It's always interesting to see other peoples methods or workarounds. I do wonder how many people followed this one monumental balls up on their own cars rather than read ARP's guidelines which if lost (as he states) are on their website anyway. The other monumental balls up was what caused his dramatic engine failure if I remember correctly, you followers can try to spot it. As I already acknowledge, the videos are very good, he has one of those voices which conveys an even temperament while involved in (fucking Minis) repairs (even when observing his own oversight) which makes it an easy watch. Just not all sound work. Only by chance did he actually fit the oil pickup in the new engine too.

Fwiw in my for sale bits and pieces I have a full LUK clutch and DMF which will only be offered as a fitted option (me fitting it), as well as a GTT flywheel and Helix/LUK kit in the same way, and some other bits including a Quaife which will go the same way, now out of the car.
 
#21 ·
Most of the release bearings have a plastic mount, I think Helix might be metal and ACT are metal, worth having in the long run assuming the bearing element actually lasts but really, LUK are it for aftermarket clutches really imo. All they make is clutches. Valeo are into all sorts and are a budget option, even their radiators can be shit and were responsible for hundreds of failed transmissions when they leaked internally. If you are one of the many just always buying the cheapest it's probably a good option for you. All the Valeo kit ever was, was a budget kit, never intended for performance use, it just 'gets' used that way and hasn't failed which of course is good, it doesn't ever make it a performance option, luck is not the same as quality or suitability. Each of us will assess or review things differently. We all drive differently on road or track, very differently sometimes.

Valeo deliberately made their kit to only work with their parts, that for me is out of the question when it comes to recommendation. Also they do not make this kit as a performance solution! Period. It just happens to be fractionally lighter than stock which is indeed nice to have, the lighter the better as far as I'm concerned. For a general daily it's going to be 'just a clutch' to many drivers, and it is cheaper than the other kits with DMF's, so again, people only fit this option because it is cheap. It's 'a way out'. I would never seek a cheap option for my own car with money invested in other areas then picking a budget option for the driveline, however it is popular.
I think we all know that the Valeo kit is the budget option here. But I guess it was worth a yet another rant. :laugh:
 
#17 ·
Some decent advice here. Still not clear if the Valeo fits but I'm leaning to stock now anyway. On MM, I think he's generally pretty good but I too have spotted a few things with his methods that are questionable. One off the top of my head, draining the gear box without first cracking off the fill plug could leave you with an empty box & no way to refill it if you knackered the fill plug for instance.

Anyway, made a start until it started raining.

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Automotive exterior
 
#19 ·
that doesn't look high enough if you're planning to get the box out, box height plus you and help working around it....

I take the engines out, which avoids the above issue but significantly reduces the risk of clutch friction disc damage from poor re-engagement of box to engine, there is a high likelihood of a 'dwell' period in such an action during which the weight needs support whilst in alignment of crank/input shaft, or withdrawal and try again.

Doesn't look fun on a gravel drive.
 
#22 ·
There's no ranting going on at all. It's just information that the OP primarily, and other people reading can consider, also bearing in mind this forum isn't one that requires registration in order to read through it.
 
#23 ·
Little update for anyone who's interested. I went with stock in the end, flywheel, pressure plate & disc. Taking my own sweet time doing a bit here & a bit there, I've reached the point today where I'm ready to refill the gearbox & put the subframe back on. That's going via renewing just about everything from the crank position sensor o-ring, water pump & it's o-rings to renewing the gearbox seals & bushes, servicing the supercharger, rebuilding the front suspension & a hundred other little jobs. Probably finish up over the bank holiday weekend I should think.

Since I've done all this on fairly minimal tools & on the driveway (Oh for a ramp & a compressor) I've ended up through necessity being imaginative with some elements. I polybushed the rear control frame bushings & since I own neither a press nor a vice, figured out I could assemble the bush & carrier on a floor jack & press it in against the underside of the car - actually worked a treat. Similarly, the gearbox is a pig to refit & for that I used a ratchet strap over a steel bar mounted on either suspension turret on rubber bungs & winched it up. Again, first time & on. Nothing you'd find in the manuals but worked for me.

For a 14 year old car, it hasn't really fought me much, mostly I think as a result of most things being covered in oil. Parallels with the original Minis where every single owner eventually had to replace their rear subframes but never the front ones for the same reason.
 
#24 ·
Sounds good to me. Ive got to do the clutch on mine over the next few weeks. Im in the middle of fitting new front suspension and need to drop the subframe anyway to fit the poly lower control arm bushes. I have been reading up on it and it sounds a bit of a big job, so glad someone else found it pretty straight forward. Annoyingly I had most of the front end apart a few weeks back when I did the supercharger oil change, radiator, waterpump, dave.f airbox mod, 15% pulley & new bypass valve etc. But back then I didnt realise the clutch was on its way out as I would have done that at the same time. doh!
 
#26 ·
Two hours is faster than me ;)

If I were doing it again, I'd definitely take the engine & box out together. It's hardly any more work & would have made life much easier. But it's all a learning curve, right? Since I last posted, I've had the subframe out again as I failed to realise the inner ball joints are handed to account for the headlight levelling sensor retaining bracket & had fitted them on the wrong sides.

Rather than swap them over, I ended up drilling a hole in the nearside bracket which worked well enough. Then when I took the car for an alignment, the guy couldn't do it as the outer track rod lock nut had fused with corrosion to the inner rod thread, so had a long think about dropping the frame for a third time to replace the track rods but in the end I swapped them in situ which is easy enough until you get to reinstating the bellows clamps & with that, the car is done, MOT'd, back on the road & guzzling petrol with the best of them.

One thing making my teeth itch is the HK amp. Mine's grenaded itself as I gather they often do, so I found a long post on NAM where a clever guy reverse engineered an HK amp from a 3 series BMW & got it to work with the Mini. For forty quid & a bit of patience, I've done the same & it works but the sound is a bit...poor if I'm honest, so reluctantly, having looked at bypassing the amp altogether & written that idea off, I've concluded the best option is to take a chance on another HK amp but they're hard to find now.
 
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