Does ANYBODY know how to work on these things????? WTF, over? I'm working on installing the FOURTH transmission in my '85 GSL 12A.....found a guy on eBay that overhauls Rx7 transmissions....( was recommended by a few rotary shops...). URGGH!!

I'm sick & cannot lay on my back to wrestle a transmission...SO I have to hire the job out ...

Oh, first I had a shop do a full clutch job, flywheel milled, new pressure plate & clutch disk & bearing...
But they didn't say squat about the gearbox....If they were true Professionals, they would have know SOMETHING......wasn't right..... Labour about $450

drove car about 10 miles and original tranny went BOOM!

SO, the first 'new' tranny was given to me....turns out it's from a '79 and won't line up the shift tower...
So I Move on..

Find this guy on Ebay....

Newly Rebuilt 1984 RX7 GSL-SE 5 Speed Transmission | eBay

buy one overhauled tranny..... $600....ship it to me....bring to another shop recommended to me....Install 1st new (overhauled tranny).....now that now transmission whines like there is a bad bearing somewhere.... also my car came with a 'short throw' shifter... well, the mechanic left (forgot) the aluminum bushing (from short shifter) in the old tranny that got sent back to the builder.... car won't shift into reverse and whines with the clutch OUT......$300 labour....

My tranny guy finds the bushing and sends is back to me..(from Seattle)..I take my shifter part & figure out how it all goes together.....then it shifted fine...reverse too. but the tranny still whined...

Talk to the transmission builder, he sends another 'overhauled' transmission.....Now I have found a shop that specializes in this sort of thing...Rx7's & other turbo cars.

He sends another tranny.... I go to the rotary shop, he installs new tranny and FACTORY SHIFT LEVER, to try to eliminate any problem with the short throw shifter....
Transmission is STUCK in reverse!!!! & now & won't do anything.

My car can't move, & the guy says he can not keep my car (at his shop) until the new transmission arrives.....cost me $70 more to tow it home...now I gotta pay another $70 to get it back there when the transmission arrives.

SO the mechanic & myself talk to the transmission builder..& he s putting another transmission together to send to me....this is the THIRD 'overhauled' transmission he is going to send me. SO far, I'm over $1000 layout for a clutch job and a transmission swap!!!! the tranny had to come out to put in the new clutch...THE FIRST TIME AROUND.!!!

I am so friggin' frustrated with this damn thing, I am about to set it on fire!!!!

WTF, can any of the Rx7 Guru's around here offer any advise?
because I'm stuck just paying these greasy monkeys to play around with my car, charge me a bunch of money....& I have NO CAR TO DRIVE.
Thanks.
__________________
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Sam from Florida
'85 GSL
SKYDRIFTER350 is online now Report Post

 

Don't know what part of Florida your in, but contact RotaryEvolution here on the forum. He does rotary rebuilds and maintenance. Might be others in Florida but he come to mind.

 

step one, get your money back from the ebay "rebuilder" and tell him your keeping this trans since you had to send your original to him as a core

step two, bring it to a transmission shop and have THEM remove it, rebuild it, and reinstall it, THAT WAY you have their warranty that if anything happens, they have to cover it

JUST BECAUSE ITS A ROTARY DOES NOT MEAN THE TRANSMISSION IS STRANGE, a transmission is a transmission, just the internals are different ,but the parts should be available for it

step three, enjoy the car

 

KansasCity..thx..that shop is about 300 miles from me...& their web page says they DO NOT service cars anymore....just parts, rebuild engines....but no work on cars.

Iduley. thx. I am kinda in a bad spot...I have spent almost $2000 on the clutch, transmission & labor...I don't know if I can afford to start with a transmission shop from square one. I know its just a standard tranny, pretty much. I bought the car knowing I was going to have to put some money into it.....but this is ridicules!!!! I can't even sell the hunk of **** as it sits....it won't move.....
I bet I'll take it to a local transmission shop & I won't get outta there for less than $1500 minimum.....

 

you may as well cough it up, your not going to get back what you have into it by any means unless you want to call it a total loss, being that far into it, I'd be getting it fixed

 

Yea....I kinda figured I'm past the point of no return with this hunk of junk....I have already spent some cash on this thing, with little tidbits here & there.
I know I'll never get what I have into it....but I DO WANT A RUNNING USABLE CAR......damn.

I should just bought a new Camaro SS, or WRX or something....at least I'd have a machine that act least one somebody in my whole friggin state knows how to work on.....lol...

I took the Rx7 to the Mazda dealer bout 3 miles away from home,, just to have one of their mechanics go over it & give me a breakdown of what it needs , (where my family has bought at least 4 cars from), after I first got it...& they laughed me out of the parking lot....

sick of loser wrench monkeys calling themselves mechanics.....I have been a motorcycle mechanic for over 30 years & hold an Airframe & Powerplant license from the FAA....(we fix ****!) all these guys can do is remove & replace stuff, they ARE NOT mechanics... I was a pilot, till I got sick.....now all I want is to have a little sports car to play with (before I die..) instead of having to drive my Chevy 3500 around this town. (it's just too big) needs to be in the country...LOL...

 

The eBay guy is building another tranny....& I'm kinda stuck on what to do? he will ship it (on his dime) this coming Wednesday, as well as pay for all the other shipping..(I paid to ship the core back to him, as per the original deal).. He is being quite cool for an eBay deal....standing behind his product...but the labour is just killing me.

The latest mech. says he feels bad for me & will R&R the new tranny for free or close to free, because he knows what i have been through. so, thats at least one good thing happening. IDK, I feel the path of least resistance is to get the new tranny, let the current mech install it & see where I am after that. HOPEFULLY, it will be a done deal at that point... to just take it away & go to a tranny shop seems just a little hasty. Perhaps that is my best next move after letting the current guy install the replacement tranny.. cause at this point it will only coast me a tow...or perhaps a tow back home...geesh!!! this is just such a pain in my head!!! I have been screwing with this part of the car for 3 months now....another week is not going to kill me... or maybe it will, LOL....

any other input is appreciated. However, I feel the next move is to give the latest mechanic another shot & take it from there. hopefully b a done deal...or find a local tranny shop & give it to them...(however, I have heard horror stories from local tranny shops).....
Man, just feeling crappy about the whole thing...money isn't really my problem, but I just can't be pissing it away on failed repair attempts.

Thanks Everybody.

 

As you have learned with a RX-7, or any old car for that mater, being able to work on it yourself is required if you want to keep cost down. Even when doing the work yourself, you will find you never get what you spend on it back out. Driving it is the payment back.

 

Thanks KansasCity.....problem is I have bone cancer now....& wrestling a transmission while on my back on my garage floor is not something I am capable of anymore....I used to do EVERY bit of mechanical work on my vehicles. but not any more. I just can't. So, I am kinda stuck dealing with outside mechanics. I bought new parts & went to (what I thought) was a decent a reputable repair shops....& this is what I got.

 

If I where closer I'd come by and install it for you. Maybe someone else closer can help.

 

Thats nice of You to offer! I wish You were closer too! Thank You so much. It's going to roll some day....just wonder how much its gonna set me back.

 

i make exceptions, due to the age of the cars i get a bit tired of the issues each car presents and then customers trying to haggle about the cost of fixing other necessary things in the process. at the moment i can't exactly be picky about the jobs i accept though.

a lot of the things you are complaining about, i complain about under my breath away from the customers.

i'm not sure what direction you should go with the car, unfortunately i no longer can listen to the stories and give people breaks, it's how i got into the position i'm in.

as others have said, if you got a bad transmission from a rebuilder, file a chargeback with your credit company if the seller will not assist you.

 

Take it to Cam at Petit Racing RX-7 & RX-8 Performance. He's done a number of folks cars that I know
personally and does a great job. He's there in Florida, not sure how close to you though.

Very highly recommended.

 

totally, should go to one of the most expensive shops in florida after hes been ranting all day about costs.


that was sarcasm by the way.


your cheapest bet would be to grab a used tranny, have the input shaft bearing swapped out and hope it is a good transmission. you'd have several chances doing that before catching up to the cost of a reman transmission. a rebuilt transmission won't be like a brand new one, unless you dump a couple thousand into it, and i doubt you want to do that.

as you apparently have found out, sidestepping the clutch can shatter an n/a transmission whether it is new or 35 years old. a turbo transmission can be made to fit but will cost a chunk more, and you'd be able to throw whatever abuse you want at it and it won't break.

 

Didn't say it would be cheap, but from what I've seen, it will get fixed correctly.

 

it might

i've seen people's reviews after taking a bone stock RX8 to them for diagnosis, to which they failed.