hello i own an 84 rx7 and i seem to have a lil problem with it. the transmission is completly rebult from the guy i bought it from but if u start the car up and u want to back up u have to shift it to 1st gear then put it in reverse or else the rear end will go clunk. i dont know why it does this its not really a big deal anymore becuase it is routine for me to shift it to 1st. I just wanted to see if anyone else experenced this problem. thanks
dave-

 

Both of mine did that... not sure why.

 

There are no synchros for reverse. So by putting it in 1st first, you are in essence lining up the transmission and rear end and smoothly taking up the "slack" rather than jarring it into place by immediatly putting it into reverse. You can jack up the rear end and turn the tires and hear the "slack" in the rear end.

~T.J.

 

Driveline 'slack' the 'clunk'sound comes from the rearend though. but it all plays a part.

 

Almost every manual transmission in the world will do that at least once in it's life. Nothing to be worried about.

 

When mine was still running, i had to do that every time. Never bugged me enough to take stuff apart tho. I figure, if shifting into 1st works every time, might as well do it! an easy, cheap fix.

 

Yeah, I just put it in 5th first. Less effort to go from one side of the shift pattern clear to the other. I just push it over there, pop it in 5th, then drop it in reverse. In my experiance, it also lines up all the stuff better so it drops into reverse fully more easily, rather than that half in half out crap.

~T.J.

 

Wow both mine did that, I have just been doing the 1st to reverse thing. I never gave any thought to why. Now I know.

Thanks guys

 

Actually,

Putting it in 2nd or 4th First works better.
I learned that when I first learned stick back as a young teen.

It's wierd that I would be able to drive other
people's cars better than they did.

 

Yeah, I use 4th everynow and then too. I dont like the newer cars that dont allow me to go from 5th to reverse, like my friends Moms Escort GT. I get in that thing and you cant go to reverse from 5th without letting it go to neutral first. Its annoying to me.

~T.J.

 

I find it funny though that in the year that I've been here on the forum, this is the first time someone's actually bothered to ask what I'm sure many people have been *wondering* to themselves!

It took the first post from a new forum member to bring it up. Welcome to the club Davidrex9

Jon

 

I would just say thats a 'given' driveline slack that is..
No rocket science there.

 

Definitely 4th then reverse,seems quicker too.

 

I always go 5th to reverse in all my cars, I'll have to try that 4th to reverse. How would it affect the shifting differently?

 

And you dug up a 4+ year old thread to answer his question?

 

since it got dug up

in reply to dwarf, the different gears are different sizes so they line everything up in slightly different ways. 1st is probably closest in size to reverse so its like putting it in one gear and then a similar sized one, versus a smaller gear and then having to slightly realign it for the bigger one.

hard for me to explain but im sure you get the idea