Well, i've broken around 6-8 transmitions over the years. My first was a transmition, that would go into 3rd, but not want to come out very easily. This was in my 76 cosmo. Then 3rd gear came apart on me in my repu when it had the engine it came with in it. Then lost the bearings on the dyno in my repu (14 back to back runs will get the oil pretty hot, I found out later.) Lost the other ones for various reasons, wich can be related to drag racing, and alot of wheel hop.

But this was a first tonight for me.

My wife and I are coming south out of Canby on 99E, in my 90. We're costing to a stop while I'm getting ready to take a left onto Barlow Rd. Come to a stop..light turns green. I go to let the clutch out, and the car dies. Acts like its in 5th gear. Stuff it in the general direction of 1st gear, and it won't even move. Kinda like the parking break is stuck on. I'm like all whats going on? I let the clutch out in netruel, and the car goes in reverse! The only gears if will go into is 1st and 2nd, no 3rd, 4th, 5th or reverse. Not good...not good at all. About this time my memory starts working, and it all clicks. Probably more like grinding is what you could call my thought process. But anyways, somehow the reverse gear was engaged...then when you put it in a forward gear, it puts itself in a bind, causing the car not to move. (This is how you lock a transmition in place when rebuilding it.) So, it appears, I'll be spending the day or so, ripping apart my 90. Maybe now is a good time to call up Rob, have him go through the box, and put the close ratio 3rd gear in it for me?

Not a good night. CJ

 

ist going to cost more to rebuild then get a used jap one. Sounds like a high mileage trans.

 

on mine it broke all the teeth on the bottom saft and top saft the one that comes from the engine so only 4th worked because it is direct i was racing at the track that day and made it home too but tryed to keep it in 4th

 

dam man sorry to hear that. my piece is bummed also

 

I know someone that will hook me up for next to nothing. I'm gonna find out how much the close ratio 3rd gear will set me back, and go from there. Also thinking about putting a lightweight flywheel to it while i'm in there. Just depends on how much money my wife says i've got to play with.

The tranny only has 141k on it, and i've been pretty easy on it for the most part. Oh-well, I needed to replace the rear seal on the tranny anyways. Later, CJ

 

Get ROB to build you a MIATA box! I can't wait to ROMP on mine!

 

You know, everyone always says this, and my response is "No ****". Sure it'll cost more, but you will have a much higher quality transmission instead of basically an unknown "j-spec" tranny.

Oh, and I should mention that all j-spec trannies are TII units, so if the car is NA installing it will create a whole new set of hassles.

 

oh ****! The exact same thing happened to my T2 a few months ago. I found out the hard way that it was in reverse when the car went backward in the driveway with the door open and crunched it into the house. I ended up getting a used j-spec from T&R but it's kinda crappy. If shifts ok but it's pretty noisy in some of the gears, 3rd and 4th specifically. (but only when you're on the gas, when you let off you can hear a kind of "spinning down" noise and it gets quiet as you decelerate or even maintain speed.) Also first gear sounds like it's straight cut for some reason.

 

Sounds like bearings to me. Yeah, I dont want to go with a turbo box. It just would'nt suit my needs at the moment. I've found a used one localy for $100, I'll probably use while my transmition is being rebuilt. Later, CJ

 

AAAHHH, it is 'transmission', not transmition. sorry, it was just painful reading it so many times that I just had to say something.