Hey, thinking about putting a 5 speed 82 FB transmission in my SA, which has a 4speed. How hard is it to do? Much modding to do? and mainly is it worth it?

 

Probably not hard but also not much gain for street use, your car was designed to comfortably do 60/70 mph in top, are you going to race it, do much highway driving?

 

well was thinking more like a togue racer setup, the whole Stock engine and power but handles well, Somthing that easy to control.(means i gota get rid of wonder steer) Figured the ratios would better suit the application. Are the gears the same?

one of the other reasons wanted to swap is that that shifter in it now feels like a large heavy stick. I want to get somthing shorter and mounted closer to me. more like an fb. A friend told me to get it like in an fb, had to use fb tranny. is this true? would rather stick with stock 4 speed but would it suit me in the drift/touge racing area?

 

Putting a FB tranny in your SA will require a bit of sheetmetal removal for shifter clearance. You'll also have to modify your shifter bezel since the shifter is further back.

4 and 5 speed are basically the same ratios except the 5 speed has an overdrive.

 

I belive the gears are about the same 4 th on both are 1.00 ratio , but the 4 speed is 40 to 50 lbs lighter if I remember corectly.

 

ahh, well i can live with out 5th and the shifter position(though I still might do it)
Is there anything I can do about making my shifter shorter? or atleast make it feel less like a big stick?

 

You can use a golf ball by drilling out a hole in it and screwing it on, It will be a good bit lower than a normal shift ****. or you can cut and weld, if you search I think there are a couple of threads on it.

 

after a certain build date (wheres peejay?) you can put the 80 tailshaft housing onto the fb trans and it will go right back in the car like stock

 

http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/interc...html#TBPATTERN

Doesn't say what build #s differentiate. It seems like I've seen that information before, though.

-dave

 

http://www.geocities.com/izzmus/trans/trans.html

 

i say keep the 4 speed or trade me your 4 speed and ill give you a 5 speed .........or why dont you get a short shifter for it? thats what i have on my 4speed its got a gr8 feel shifting very very close and its alot shorter than the stock shifter i would say half as tall

 

Good link, j9fd3s.

"Only SA's with VINs later than SA22C-606775 will have come with a rollpin-type transmission from the factory."

-dave

 

I swapped a gsl-se tranny in my SA.. had to cut a little metal around the shifter.. pretty easy job..

 

Get a TII tranny with driveshaft. Then if you decide to go turbo, it won't be much of a pain, cause you can just swap a 13B in later. (and if you decide to turbo it you might as well swap the drivetrain)My 2 cents

 

It would be easier to get a '79 5-speed. Or you just have to cut the shifter hole back a little, and make some sort of cover for the hole. Thats pretty much it.

 

sup maguire? wheres erich popp?