Heat From Transmission
 

Hello all. I am new to the RX world. I just purchased a 1991 RX7, five speed conv. Everything is great except when I drive over about five miles, heat builds up very bad seemingly from the transmission. The center console cover gets very hot and even burns the driver right leg. Anyone have any thoughts on this, is it normal?

You have ripped shifter boots. You will need to replace them

The boots Icemark speaks of are beneath the shift cover. Remove the shift knob and lift carefully and remove the cover and tray as one piece. Underneath are two rubber boots and a felt material which deadens sound and serves as a weak heat sink. Chances are the rubber boots are melted crap and the felt likewise. Replace both. Mazda certainly has them and/or you can see if Mazdatrix.com has them. Not all that expensive.

BTW, welcome to the RX7 Club!

Should also have had you look to see if the reason the boots are softened/in pieces is leaking from the shifter. Tranny fluid sprayed over a time is one of the culprits causing the boots to disolve. If you see noticable tranny fluid out of the assembly, ony replacing the boots will not eliminate the cause. If the shifter is sloppy then the seals in the shifter may be kaput. Since you have the cover off, might as well relpace the seals. There are tons of posts on problem/replacing them in the Search function up at the top of this screen.

Good luck.

Thanks to all who responded with good information.