I noticed the my car isn't shifting as smooth as it should and I'm new to these cars so I was curious what I should do first: new shifter bushings or change the tranny fluid to Redline? It's a stick btw.

 

Need to be more specific. "Isn't shifting as smoth as it should" could mean sloppy shifter feel (bushings), or difficulty/grinding when going into gears, especially 2nd gear (synchros, etc.) Changing to synth gear oil seems to make the 2nd gear grind better, as well as making cold weather gear chnages easier/smoother.

 

Its not sloppy, just a little rough going into gear when its cold, espically 2nd so I guess I'll buy some Redline. Thanks.

 

think it could be your driving?

 

mine is a little rough going into second but only in the morning when it's cold. I'm using regular valvoline fluid. i tried using Mobil 1 gear fluid, big mistake. It took two tranny rebuilds to figure out what it was.

 

2nd is always a problem, the synchros in 2nd weren't built all that great, from what I hear.

 

the synchros in 2nd are built pretty much like any other transmission. The problem is these cars are almost always driven hard and the biggest difference in gearing is from 1st to 2nd, so when you slam through that gear a thousand times it wears it down faster than any of the others. Most cars have the 2nd gear synchro wear out first.

Redline will probably fix it.

 

yea my car has realy good synchros but when my car is cold its hard to get it into 2nd, its like it wants to pop out

 

Guys, just remember that the fluid I assume you are all using is 75w-90, so when it's cold out, the fluid is more viscous, therefor having more resistance to being moved through, therefor the shifts will require more force until the fluid is warmed up and thinned out.

Oh, and I promise not to use the word therefor for the rest of today.

 

same with my shifter, it feels kind of sloppy..i think it is the bushings how hard are these to change out?

 

the lower ones are easy, but to change the upper ones, you have to remove the boot/plate piece. most of the time, the rubber part rips when you try and take it off. so , if you can get one at a reasonable price, go ahead and order one of those along with the upper and lower bushing kits

 

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