For you folks that dont realize, some SA22's came with a 4 speed manual trans instead of a 5 speed...

My 1980 just happened to be one of those with a 4 speed. I bought a 5 speed out of a 1979 RX-7 earlier this year off of craigslist for $40.

Yesterday I did the swap.... I had no idea if this transmission worked right or not. It took about 3 hours to do the swap and the 5 speed works perfect!!!

Having a 5 speed is great and you folks that have always had one prolly never realized what it would be like without one!!!

Before with the 4 speed, 4000 RPM was 70 MPH.....now 4000 is 85 MPH!!!!

This will help me so much with those "roadtrips" with the various RX-7 clubs.... No more putt putting because I was "taching" too much....

 

I can't imagine having a 4 speed, even having the 5 speed pisses me off, I really wish 4th and 5th weren't so close together and 5th was taller.

 

you can put taller 5th's in....

 

i've never had the 79-80 S model 4 speed and i'm glad. i can't imagine tooling around at 4K at 70mph.

 

Yeah it is really nice!!! It has not taken me no time to get used to having a 5 speed... I thought I might be driving around and go "oohh duh... I need to shift to 5th"

Funny thing is...I paid $40 for the transmission and it cost me $38.99 for two bottles of Royal Purple 70W-90!!

Looking back, I prolly should have changed the front and rear seals, throwout bearing and possibly the clutch....

I had no idea if the transmission would work properly, so I did the swap as cheaply as possible... Oh well...throwout bearing works fine.....clutch still holding good and it does not leak!!

 

Old School:
Welcome to the late 1970s!!!!

Yeah, you missed a great opportunity to do the seals and clutch my man, but now you know how to do it...

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

true true...gotta watch those pennies now-a-days....

 

Now you've actually got to watch your top speed.

 

I know....85 mph is nothing now!!!

 

True that, if left to its own devices my foot always wants to do 70ish everywhere. That could get very expensive.

 

It's really bad for me now...I am used to the "feel" about 4000 RPM...that used to be 70 MPH....now it's 85!!!

 

I thought the 4-Speed was pretty neat. You don't see alot of them anymore. I dunno if it's just me or possibly speedo's reading innacurately, but my 4-Speed would top 3rd gear out at about 85mph while my 5-Speed in the 83 tops out about 70-75mph. Freeway cruising did seem kinda rough at 4k but it was too sweet to just plant your foot and be in the powerband instantly

 

1st thru 4th gear ratios are the same between a 4 speed and a 5 speed....just with a 5 speed you get overdrive...

I have my "old school" 4 speed for sale if anyone wants one!!!

 

Yeah that's what I read an everything was identical driving around town, so that's why I usually chalked it up to an inaccurate SA speedo

 

Going from the top of fourth shifting to fifth, it feels like you dropped about 500RPMs.

Feels like a F1 car. You could even shift that fast! Sort of.

 

Yeah it is not a massive overdrive, but enough.... like I said before cruising at 70 MPH was 4000 RPM...now 4000 gives you 85MPH!!!