Ok, I bought this car about 3 months ago and everything was great when I got it.. Obviously cause I was blind with love for the car and couldn't see anything wrong.. I've done some cosmetic work to it but I am now getting to the heart and I've noticed that the transmission feels like it's going out not sure if that's the case or not..It's an automatic and it feels like the rpms have to hit almost 7000 before it shifts from 1st to 2nd when I try to push it hard other than that it drives normal with the exception of feeling a little impact in between the shifting but I was thinking that it maybe had something to do with the mounts for the tranny..Anyways, It also feels like the overdrive unintentionally clicks in sometimes and it does that a lot.. It feels slow and it won't go passed 80 + miles on the highway...I don't know..Has anyone ever had this problem with this tranny ? Any ideas ? I bought the car with the intentions of doing a full turbo swap in the near future but I wasn't planning on doing it so quick.. ( financial reasons )..It also blows up a fuse when I put it on "S" and it only does that when I put it on that gear..So could it be a short in the transmission ? I had a guy look into it onetime and he said something about a module under the catalyst but that was that.. I don't know.. I'm thinking about selling it.. I'm frustrated..I'm tired of people pulling next to me showing off and nothing I can do about it...)-:

 

Wow, okay. So let me snap you back before this gets ugly.

- When your foot is to the floor, a good automatic will take it up to redline before shifting into the next gear, for the maximum power.

- A little 'impact' may be normal, depending on whether or not your description is accurate...which I'm doubting from the looks of your sentence structure.

- If it's blowing a fuse when you click the little button...don't use it. Seriously, just don't.

- Feels slow? Honey, you bought the heaviest, least powerful, slowest RX-7 they ever made! An S5 N/A Automatic Convertible. Do you not read? It's slower than a grandmother eating Sunday dinner!

- You're tired of people showing off at redlights and there's nothing you can 'do about it'. Well of course not! You shouldn't even want to participate in something so reckless and illegal as a drag race in public, on a public highway, with the public around. You ******* *****. Jesus christ, I am so sick and tired of this ricer bullshit and all the people that think the world is their race track. It's illegal you idiot! You will lose your right to operate a motor vehicle if any police officer so much as thinks you're THINKING about street racing.

Sell the car, buy a Cavalier. It's that or you shape up, grow up, and join the club the RIGHT way.

Do some searching.

I'm done.

 

Whoa. That was really hateful. Sorry.

 

Geez.. I'm new to this.. I had no clue..No need to be a dick about it tough guy..

 

Oh I was pretty nice about your questions pertaining to the condition of the gearbox and all that jazz...Nothing wrong with asking questions, but you should've searched first. That's the only response you'll get from people on this forum.

So far as your remark about people wanting to race you at lights and you wanting the ability to be able to compete with them, I don't have to be nice at all. You're an idiot for wanting anything to do with that. There are many many many legal forms of racing you can participate in. Why risk your life, your car, and other people's lives for the sake of your own insecurity on the size of your *****? Grow up.

 

Sounds like your tranny is takin a ****. When my vert was an auto it started to go bad on me. Try being fast in an NA S5 vert with a slipping auto that has no 2nd gear. Its impossible to be even remotley fast when you have to rev the **** out first gear then jam it into 3rd to keep going. I had trouble just keeping up with the SUV in the next lane when the lights change, I don't mean racing either, just driving.

Do yourself a favor, start your full turbo swap now. The Automatic transmissions for these cars are horrible. 5 speed is sooo much more fun anyway.

Keep your racing to the track, if you street race or show off on the streets\whatever, we don't want to hear about it in the tech section.

 

That's what I was trying to get to.. but this other guy took it to another level like I was trying to hurt people or something.. I have never raced anyone on a public street nor I'm planning on doing so.. Anyways, Thanks for the advise.

 

Did I not apologize for sounding hateful after my initial post?

 

There are several writeups on the auto to manual swap. When I put the manual in our vert I used this one and this one. I bought the JDM engine and tranny and swapped the tranny in first and ran it that way while rebuilding the engine.

The rotary is not known for its torque and an automatic is a TDD (torque disposal device) so it's a bad match all around. Putting the manual in wont allow you to be ricer boy at street lights , but it will suck a lot less.

 

Oh dear Lord that last part is classic, kudos to insecurity about ***** size. Sorry not hating or flaming...that's just funny anyway you slice it.

 

Question for you vrracing.. Did you use the same drive shaft from your automatic transmission or did you use the one that came with your jdm set up ? I was told that I had to use the same drive shaft from the automatic transmission and that it would work with a turbo II tranny because a turbo drive shaft would not fit with my current differential.. so I left it at that and bought the package and now I'm having trouble with the final steps of this.. it seems like it's 2 1/2 " inches too short...The yoke is barely going into the seal of the transmission ( about 1 inch, that's all which doesn't look safe at all ) so I'm thinking of having a company extend it 2 and 1/2 inches or so but I was wondering how you did yours while you were rebuilding the engine..I bascially need the drive shaft to be 34 and 1/2 inches long from tip to tip...

Thanks.

 

Just go and buy a used MT driveshaft. There are many...

Don't bother replacing the whole pedal box...just go and get a manual pedal box, remove the long bolt, nut and washer..and the manual pedal itself (Brake pedal too!). It adds onto the automatic pedal box without modification (Same unit, really) and it's SO much easier.

Also, don't bother replacing the gauge cluster unless the little lights bother you.

If you keep the 3.909 diff (automatic diff), be sure to get the speedo gear from the old auto tranny and put it into the manual tranny for your speedo to read accurately. However, when I did my conversion and did this... it seems like my speedo is still off. I would check but the motor is kinda blown.

 

Just double-checked the FAQ. S5 automatic verts had 4.1 rear ends (but the coupes had 3.9s), so if he gets a manual trans from most any model, the speedo gear should already match.

 

That's exactly what I did and yes it was a lot easier...

I have an S5 4.1 differential.. So would the MT driveshaft you are talking about work for me ? Is it about 34 and 1/2 inches long or close to it, do you know ? I'm going to take a day off from work tomorrow so I can get it out of the shop ASAP.. but I need to make sure I do the right thing this time around..

I just have to run the wires for the reverse lights and that's pretty much it..Everything else is pretty much installed and ready to roll except this stupid little problem..

Thanks!

 

You would need a drive shaft from a MT for your swap, preferably a new drive shaft as the u-joints are not serviceable and are usually worn out on older units. You have to connect pins a and b together off the inhibitor switch to get the car to start, its the safety interlock usually only engaged when the car is in the P or N ranges.