I have an 85 transmission w/ the purple speedo gear, but the end that attaches to the speedo cable is broken. I have the transmission from an 82 sitting in my garage w/ the green speedo gear in good shape...how much of a difference would the green speedo gear cause the transmission to be off? Sould I just go to the junkyard and hope that the only 1st gen left, an 85, has a good speedo gear? I checked on Mazdatrix and they dont seem to sell them...

 

The rearend ratio remained unchanged from 79 to 85 (12a). Count the number of teeth on the gears. Likely gonna be the same.

 

Perhaps he has a GSL-SE tranny in it right now?

 

I didnt think the rear changed, but I knew the trans ratios were different, so I didnt want to trust my assumption. I'll pull it down tonight and check it out. Thanks

 

purple and green both have 17 gears, so they are swapable...that's stupid that they changed colors w/o changing ratios...