Its me again. So i took somebodys advice. I took my car into a transmission shop and go them to tear it down. They told me that it was like a freak accident, the tooth of the synchros was all messed up or he said somethin like that. So im payin $1,200 for a new trans. with like 80k on it and using my clutch and flywheel. Does anybody think i got screwed on this deal? Anyway, what should i do next to ensure that this dosnt happen again? Any suggestions on what i should be looking out for. I just need some help bad guys. I want to keep my car alive, its my life. I dont have all the time in the world to work on it until summer rolls around. Going to get one from the junk yard and just start tearing into it to see all the parts and put it back together again so i know in the future. So if anybody has some suggestions on what i should do next (like new clutch flywheel etc..) let me know please. Thanks

 

Well seeing as how the car is worth about 2K you probably paid a little too much. Not unlike our rotory engines the 'other' black magic piece is Transmissions and tranny experts know that most people know nothing about the things and they rape them everytime the walk in the door.
People are selling good trannys' all the time on this board for about $200 bux. That $1000 less than what you paying today.

 

Most full tranny rebuilds are about $1K and up.

 

Well, barring what you paid, get your money's worth by babying it. Learn how to double clutch effectively to keep most of the load of your sycros and be nice to your clutch. Alot can probably be avoided for a while if your just drive with some care.

 

could some one define "Double Clutching" when I am just cruising I nomaly shift with out the clutch, to save my syncros, I do it with out grinding gears so I figure it doesnt hurt any thing

 

Who the hell drives a sports car like an old lady?

 

You can get a used tranny off the forum or ebay for ~$250. Even if it only lasts you two years, you can still buy 5 used trannys for the price of the rebuild. Its always a risk buying used parts, but people seem to have good luck with them. I'm considering picking up a low mileage used tranny myself soon.

 

but think about the troubles you will be facing when tranny is down? get towing, find the good tranny, pay shipping, and then pay labor to drop it in if not DIY, you may need to find a rental car or borrow a car from your friends when the car is out. all these will add up.

do you want to repeat that 5 times with used trannies, or just get it straight all at one shot, and you never have to worry about it for the next 10 years?

if you have the money, go get a rebuild, unless you find a really low mileage or rebuilt tranny.

 

i dont know if this helps but ive got a tranny out of a turbo s5 that i wuold sell, u could email me at clydejarvis@adelphia.net , i really wasnt looking into selling it, but if u need it i would, plus i hate tranny shops cause they rape people...

 

I guess it depends on your plans for the car. Personally, I could not justify spending $1200 on a $2000 car, but maybe thats just me. A good, low mileage used trans should last a long time...probably longer than the engine will. If you have the money and plan on keeping your car for another 10 years, of course a rebuilt tranny will be better. But many FC owners are broke and don't want to spend $1000+ on a car that isn't worth much more than that.

 

OR you could have paid $650 for a TII engine+tranny, but then you need to install the tranny/engine and trany. Oh, and most of the engines are guaranteed under 35000 miles. Check it out. www.osakajdmmotors.com

Oh yeah, and shipping to texas might hurt too.

 

Texas is a long ways from southern California, but out here, Anaheim Gear rebuilds FC transmissions for $450. That includes synchros, bearings, seals, and gaskets. It's a two day turnaround (one if you let them know you're coming). You must carry in the transmission.

As for your synchro problem, a rebuild includes synchros. That being the case, it doesn't matter what the condition of the old synchros are. The FC trans uses what Mazda calls a hub assembly (this looks like an engagement collar to me). The synchros are on the hub. Did he say you busted the teeth on the hub? That can happen if you speed shift (slam it into gear) before the shaft speeds are equalized.

It's water under the bridge, but $1200 for a 15 year old used transmission is a bit much. IF they got a used transmission, and then rebuilt that, it sounds better.

 

a used tranny also means its a 15 year old used transmission.....450 for a rebuild isnt bad at all..considering the rebuild kit itself is almost 350 dollars

 

thanks for the reply guys...ill take all your answers in consideration

 

viper1_20012004
I posted this in a thread awhile ago about double clutching:

"When shifting with bad synchros, the most important part is to DOUBLE-CLUTCH! Revmatching is worthless unless you release the clutch pedal while in neutral. What happens is, say for example, when you are cruising in town in 4th gear, doin 30 mph. You want to go into 2nd really quick, you need to push clutch pedal, take gear out of 4th and into N. Here you NEED to release the clutch pedal, the clutch(engaged) will grab onto your input shaft, now you have control over how fast your input shaft is spinning. By reving to 3500 rpm while in neutral you are spinning your input shaft to match the countershaft speed that is driven by your coasting wheels. Once you match your RMPs to your Wheel Speed,(conversion formula below) push your clutch pedal in and take from N to 2nd. If you did it right, you will feel like there was absolutely no resistance at all. Once in 2nd and you release the clutch pedal there will be no jerking because everything is spinning as it should be, and you can accelerate smoothly.

--Basically you are doing the synchro's job for him, because he's been beaten to death by people abusing him, and he quit, now it's your job wether you like it or not.

After practicing you should just feel or hear where your engine needs to be at. When i first started I drove in 2nd (my problem synchro), starting at 2000rpm and drove up to 5-6000rpm noting how fast the engine was at each of the important speeds i wanted, 30mph, 45mph, 55mph.

In 2nd Gear- ('86 N/A)
30mph ~ 3500 rpm
35mph ~ 4000 rpm
40mph ~ 4500 rpm
45mph ~ 5000 rpm
50mph ~ 5500 rpm
55mph ~ 6000 rpm
60mph ~ 6500 rpm

Generally 30mph-45mph are right on, the more extreme the less precise my numbers are, but this way is a good way to remember them. Just add 5k to how fast you are going."