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Figure I'd ask here and get some second opinions, but I'm fairly certain the thing is dead.
1991 NA Vert, original tranny at 257,000 miles.
So story is, I drive it to work, and it's all fine. I hear what sounds like a rock hit the underside of my car a block from my work. I don't think anything of it. I pull into my works driveway, and pull up to the parking garage gate. I shift into neutral and let the clutch out so I can get my pass out, to open the gate. My car stalls.
Thinking it was the AC or something, I turn the AC off, and then turn the car back on. Starts up with no problems, I release the clutch while in neutral again, and it stalls again.
Now the gate is open, so I'm worried at this point, and I go to shift it into first. Can't move the shifter in that direction at all, so second is gone too. Third and forth are the same way, and the only gears I can slip it into is Reverse and 5th. But the car is completely stuck, as if it has 1st through 4th all engaged at once, with no way to get them out or move the shifter into any of them.
So, is the transmission just completely dead, and I should get looking for a new one? Or is there some way I may be able to save it?
I'm on a very limited budget, which is the only reason I'm asking.
luck might be on your side though. You are probably going to have to pull the transmission either way.
What it sounds like is that 2 of your shift forks are engaged at the same time. Not sure what would have caused that, but it can happen. I got shipped a turbo transmission that got banged around in shipping. It had the same problem. When this happens, the little tooth that helps you select gears can't get up and into the slot to slide the forks back and forth. All I had to do on mine was open the inspection holes on the transmission and shove the forks back to neutral with a drift or something. Hopefully that's all you have to do in this case.
If you had a bearing seized, it'll be a little bit more work. I've got a bearing kit for an S5 NA manual that I bought thinking it was the turbo kit. No use for it. If it'll help, its yours.
If you broke a gear, you're probably in for a new transmission.
You are probably going to have to pull the transmission either way.
No "probably" about it, there is no scenario that doesn't begin with removal.
The best case has been described by the arsonist above, a glitch in the shifter mech which can be relatively easily gotten too. You can remove the shifter/tailshaft without incurring any real expenses.
Going any further into the trans is probably beyond your budget/expertise/tooling and really not worth the effort for a NA trans. In theory, as popular as the turbo trans swap seems to be, there must be lots of orphaned NA boxes moldering away.
Don't overlook the potential added expense of the clutch and hydraulics, depending on the current condition. Certainly, replacing never gets any easier than when you already must remove the gearbox. It's like giving yourself free labor.
I too live under budget constraints and understand the calculated risk taking that entails but given my age and working conditions would much prefer a ramen diet than having to drop a trans soon after installing it.
I speak from recent experience having just gone through a similar trial. In my case first gear had shed a tooth and had to replace the box mere weeks after replacing the engine.clutch and headers.
Which reminds me...you're also going to end up dropping the exhaust to get the driveshaft out, so have fun with all that.
Put the car on jackstands.
Remove the shifter surround and unbolt the shifter itself.
Disconnect your battery and then unbolt your clutch slave cylinder.
Disconnect and remove the starter.
Drop your exhaust.
Unbolt the driveshaft.
Remove Speedo cable and disconnect the transmission wiring.
Unbolt the transmission from the underbody and support.
Unbolt the bellhousing from the back of the engine.
Carefully slide the transmission back and slowly lower it.
So, little update. Managed to find a whole 87 FC for sale for $400, with $200 towing. The thing is in rough shape on the outside, and has been parked for 8 years. I'm thinking of trying to fix this one up, since I'm not a huge fan of convertibles to begin with. I'll go ahead and see what's wrong with tranny, and probably just crack it open if I can. So until a new tranny comes along for a couple hundred, it'll be sitting in the driveway.
I'll probably bring the tranny to my aunts mechanic and have him look at it before opening up, and hopefully it'll just be 2 gears engaged with each other. Thanks for the replies everyone. Have some pics of the "new" RX.
Looking up the plate that came on the car, you two would be correct. It's a 1990 GTU/GXL. I just got my two posts mixed up and thought the other sellers info was for this one, my bad. Gotta say I'm pleasantly surprised by this, although I do wish I had the S4 OMP instead. Electrics on these cars are always a gamble with me.
I picked it up around 5 PM yesterday and got it home last night just before work. Seller said when he compression tested it years ago, it had low compression. Gunna try and fire it up later today though, see if I can get lucky. Otherwise, some MMO in the trailing plug holes and leave over night, then to try to get wrenching over the weekend!
Here's some more pics I grabbed before I left the house. None of the motor other than that one from last post.
Easily worth the $400 all by itself.
The random placement is just gravy.
In my experience, the NA engine is remarkably resilient.
I bought mine- with zero rotary knowledge aforehand- with low compression , low oil pressure and 170k miles and she ran flawlessly for six more years and 130k miles.
So, since I didn't upload a better picture of the engine yet, here is why that scoop is there apparently.
I guess the dude had a pod filter put on or something and that was his solution to getting cold air. Personally, I'm probably going to try to bend back my Verts old hood and put that on. Would be some weight savings, and be a bit better overall.
As well, I looked down at the plugs and noticed one was missing. With absolutely no idea how long it was off, what are the odds that it might be rusted up inside? Tried putting one of my old plugs in it, and found the spark plug wire, hooked it up, and tried to turn it over. Starter seemed perfectly fine, and it was turning the crank, but it seemed like it wasn't even trying to start up. I dunno if this was just no fuel in the system or what, but even trying for a second or two made this odd smell pop up. Almost like burning rubber or something of the sort. Any idea what it could have been?
If it helps, I'll get a video tomorrow when I'm off, and will probably be working on it all day.
Boy don't I know it. This weekend is mostly gunna be cleaning it up. Seems washing it isn't a good idea due to the hole that I assume should have a rubber stopper in it, as well as the holes from where the spoiler should be.
Plus, lack of bottom weather stripping on the door got the driver side seat pretty wet. At least, that's the only place I could think where the water could come from. I didn't see any water runs coming from anywhere else.
Also, how hard would it be to replace all the windows? They are beyond hazed, and even scrubbing for a while with the green side of a kitchen sponge didn't get it very much better.
Specifically the rear hatch window, since that seems like it would be difficult to find a new one of.
Door windows are easy.
****..I got pairs of window glass up the shinnozzle!..Dunno what I am gonna put em on..(YET!)
Hatch removal is a bit more involved as you got the electric heater grid...and I say HATCH instead of Hatch Glass as it would really cost you like double to get that replaced...Used about 100 bucks.
Alright, so most window places should be able to get all the windows replaced?
And oh boy, cleared out that spot in front of the intake to try and start it again. Turned it a few times, then there was a particularly loud pop/bang, saw a bit of white smoke, and got under the car. Was smoking from spot in vid.
someone should of told the previous owner to go easy on the gloss black rattle can lol ...
Haha, I saw what they were going for. Good idea, poor execution.
Originally Posted by professionalpyroman
Did you ever happen to figure out what happened with the transmission in the original post?
Unfortunately, my lack of tools has prevented me from dropping the exhaust and tranny at the moment. All I got is a $10 socket set from Walmart. Should be picking up a 300 piece set Kobalt set sometime within the next 2 weeks to really get started on this. However, I've been doing some minor stuff where I could, like starting to clean this gas tank up.
Attempting to clean it without dropping the tank for now, and I'll be getting some marine tank cleaner come this weekend, that I'm hoping will solve this problem. As well as replacing the rubber lines and filters. Hoping I won't need to take out the injectors and that running the cleaner through the system will do the job, but that's a question for next week I suppose.
Should be picking up a 300 piece set Kobalt set sometime within the next 2 weeks to really get started on this.
280 pieces of which you'll never touch.
With few exceptions, 10,12 and 14mm wrenches/sockets are about all you need. Add 8 and 17mm and you've covered about 90% of the entire chassis.
As a lifelong shadetree mechanic, I'd say your biggest need will be access, not tooling.
Getting the car high enough off the ground so you can gain leverage is a bigger issue than tools.
And get a lot of Deep Creep or PB Blaster...you'll need it.
btw, the engine rolling over doesn't sound right, sounds like it has a dead rotor, I'd be checking compression before going any further, you may have a rebuild in front of you
the previous owner must of been Canadian as it appears he filled the tank with maple syrup
Does that mean I'm having pancakes for the next month?
Originally Posted by clokker
280 pieces of which you'll never touch.
With few exceptions, 10,12 and 14mm wrenches/sockets are about all you need. Add 8 and 17mm and you've covered about 90% of the entire chassis.
As a lifelong shadetree mechanic, I'd say your biggest need will be access, not tooling.
Getting the car high enough off the ground so you can gain leverage is a bigger issue than tools.
And get a lot of Deep Creep or PB Blaster...you'll need it.
Really? I mean, it comes with a lot of wrenches and such, which is the main reason I was going for it. Get most of everything I'd need in one swoop.
Originally Posted by lduley
btw, the engine rolling over doesn't sound right, sounds like it has a dead rotor, I'd be checking compression before going any further, you may have a rebuild in front of you
Yep, I'll pick up a HF cheapo tester next week and give it a go. The last guy said it was running low compression when he tried. But the other thing was I was trying with that old Varnish gas, as well as probably completely screwed spark plugs. Switching them all out, and getting the tank clean, hopefully it'll be running well enough. Although, for the test, should I put a bit of oil in the spark plug holes before cranking it? I'm certain there's no oil in there ATM.
Gas has nothing to do with how the engine sounds rolling over unless its full of fuel, same with spark plugs unless they aren't tight
Once you hear a healthy rotary start for 3 years straight, you can tell theres a difference when another rolls over and it sounds like just the starter is spinning
05-24-17, 04:46 AM
