okay, so recently i've come across an issue where i needed to replace my tranny mount, driveshaft and u-joints. when i bought the car, it was my understanding that it was fully converted from n/a to t2, so i bought a t2 driveshaft with u-joints, and the mounts for the tranny. nothing sized up properly. then i realized how my entire drivetrain was n/a.

now that i already have these t2 parts, my initial reaction was that the right thing to do would be to convert the drivetrain all to t2 and finish the job that was started, but i'm worried that one thing will run into another and another. already having the driveshaft and joints, i'll need the t2 rear end, t2 transmission, probably a t2 engine too, right?

after finding out the tranny was still n/a, it's my belief that it has all the original miles that my meters say for the body: ~113,000. is that nearing the end of its life span? i think if the life of the tranny won't last much longer of course i'll replace it, but i haven't had any problems with it at all.

so if anyone has some advice or opinions on this, i'd greatly appreciate it. thanks!

 

you need a custom driveshaft to mate the na tranny to the t2 rear end. mazdatrix sells them. this has been covered a million times.

 

^^ agreed it has...

Kay well, if you're planning on doing a TII swap, you need the motor, tranny, driveshaft, and diff. Axles are good idea too if you don't want to snap those or anything.

The TII driveshaft has to mount onto a TII rear end, and a TII tranny to mount the driveshaft to that as well. Blah blah that's been covered I know.

My advice, do what was already said and get the custom driveshaft if you plan on using the TII rear end with the N/A tranny. However, I would just swap it all to TII since you're already half way there, and it would be a lot stronger.

 

get a turboii tranny and clutch asembly then throw all that in that way when you get a turbo motor your set

 

alright you dont need a tii engine for a drivetrain conversion but here is what you will need: tII flywheel (it would probably be best if you had the matching tii front counterwieght, but thats a whole nother ball of wax), tii clutch (disc, plate and throwout bearing), tii slave cylinder and hose, tii transmount (its just slightly different than the n/a, if i remember you may be able to slightly mod that n/a one to work by wobbling the mount holes but a whole new mount would be best), tii driveshaft, tii diff, tii axles. for the rear end it is probably best to find a s4 tii rear end, they have a better chance of the lsd still working. i just converted my little bros car last summer and everything bolts up if you have all proper parts.

 

Yep. That I knew already. I've been browsing through a few archives on the conversion subject for a little while now.

The overall strength factor is what I was thinking as well. I've read here how the T2 definitely holds up better than the N/A in that field. I like that idea of getting the custom driveshaft to go from the N/A tranny to the T2 rear end for now if my N/A tranny can hold up for awhile, but if it's near the end of its life span at ~113K miles then I think I should be replacing that instead of buying another driveshaft. Can anyone answer that life-span question for me?

Are you saying that a T2 tranny can operate alongside a turboed N/A motor?

Ah yes. Most of those parts I knew i needed for an official conversion but your info definitely filled in the gaps. I'm in the process of figuring out exactly what I have versus what I don't have in my car. Although everything works strong in the car, I was mis-informed when I bought it awhile ago about it being all turbo. Now that parts are needing replacements I'm slowly figuring out what's what. Speaking of which, what are the differences between the T2 and N/A flywheels and clutches?

 

Add TII starter to the list and that's pretty much everything.

S4 rear diffs are clutch type, stronger than the S5 viscous but the clutch pack WILL wear out.

 

i run a tII drivetrain in my vert and it has a n/a engine.

 

The Trans can definitely last you longer, if you dont abuse, or beat on it. My N/A trans was still good at 186k miles. I had a worn 3rd gear synchro but that never bothered me. Until my U-joint snapped. My drive shaft hit the trans and cracked the housing beyond repair. I too am in to process of doing a TII conversion. I went through the same issue...




[/QUOTE]
Speaking of which, what are the differences between the T2 and N/A flywheels and clutches?[/QUOTE]


The input shaft on the trans is a different size and the clutch diameter is also different. I dont know the difference of the input shaft size. An N/A clutch disk is 225mm in diameter and the Turbo clutch is 240mm diameter.

 

The Trans can definitely last you longer, if you dont abuse, or beat on it. My N/A trans was still good at 186k miles. I had a worn 3rd gear synchro but that never bothered me. Until my U-joint snapped. My drive shaft hit the trans and cracked the housing beyond repair. I too am in to process of doing a TII conversion. I went through the same issue...




The input shaft on the trans is a different size and the clutch diameter is also different. I dont know the difference of the input shaft size. An N/A clutch disk is 225mm in diameter and the Turbo clutch is 240mm diameter.

 

That's good to know about the transmission. I don't run the car every day, and especially not now since it's the winter season in upstate NY. I do treat it well. With that in mind and thinking about my current finances I'll probably go the way of a custom driveshaft and bolt in the turbo rear end. That way if the transmission blows on me sometime down the road I'll just be in the hole with a custom driveshaft and already well on the way to complete the full conversion. Thanks for the info.

 

you could just just change out the front spindle on the TII differential and swap it with an n/a one, then you wont need a custom driveshaft you could still use the n/a driveshaft and tII rear end.

 

sorry about neglecting the starter, ive been fortunate (or unfortunate enough) to have extra one lying about due to the number of rx's ive played with.

i dont know if switching the front spindle on the diff is a great decision. unbolting the pinion nut can have some dire consequences if it happens to be overtorqued during and incorrect backlash on the diff bearings. also the n/a driveshaft sure doesnt seem up to a beating to me but i have only worked on a few n/a's never driven one.

if you need to get back up and running i may have an extra n/a driveshaft but i would definitely get a new trans mount. let me check my stockpile this weekend.

if you decide to go tII drivetrain i am sure you can find all the parts needed on the forum here for pretty reasonably and living in new york state you most likely can find someone near you or at least relatively close parting one out and save on shipping. either way let me know.

 

my car is jdm tII motor and tranny, with NA rear diff.. dunno how it was done. but its possible.

 

Currently, because my tranny mount rotted out, there's been damage to my u-joints and driveshaft, so I need to buy new ones anyway, which leaves me to up-convert and move more towards completing the T2 change-over. I've located a good T2 rear end that's close by me and at a decent price (a rarity in the realm of upstate NY). I think I'm going to go ahead and purchase that along with the custom Mazdatrix driveshaft, keeping my n/a tranny until it goes and completing a portion of the T2 conversion while I'm at it. Thanks for all the tips and insight so far.

Now after getting the T2 differential and half shafts, does anyone have some insight on the subject of converting the n/a axles to t2? I'm wondering about pros, cons, and if it's worth the change even though I know my n/a axles are currently alright.

Rx7Ridah - If you have a mount that will fit for an n/a trans, I am interested. I'm looking for the rubber piece that is circular.

 

Axles and Half shafts are the same thing, different name. Your N/A axles will not work with the TII differential. The TII differential is wider than the N/A differential, so the TII and N/A axles are of different lengths. The bolt pattern on the end of the axles are also different because the TII axles are of a bigger diameter at the ends. The part of the axle that connects to the hub is the same size and will match up with your hubs without a problem.

I also suggest, before you start changing the differential, Loosen the axle bolts first. I think they are 32mm big.The bolts are very difficult to remove when the car is in the air unless you apply the hand brake. and will also be hard to remove without an impact gun to help you...

 

You know, after making that post I found a different thread saying how axles and half shafts were different terms for the same thing but I was too lazy to come back here and say otherwise. Your advice has been very helpful though. And I've been beginning to notice those differences between the T2 and the N/A a lot more now, with how the T2 parts all seem to be slightly bigger and sturdier (which makes me look forward to this conversion to really notice the difference when I get the car up and running). Once I get the parts in and start the drivetrain conversion I think it will be a lot easier after reading this thread.

 

like al0389 said you should loosen the bolt on the halfsaft while the diff is still in, but its goign to be a PITA to take it out with out the differential dropped. also when you remove the halfshaft its PITA. i suggest going to auto zone and renting one of their fwd axle pullers, its easier than hammering the bitch out and all the other stuff people recomment. and also if it breaks just blame it on the person who had it b4 you. thats what i did.ha

 

Here you go, end of thread.

http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n...in_differ.html