deweyy757

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys I just bought another FC and the shifter is really hard to move in this one. It goes into all the gears and drives fine with no grinds or anything like that, but like it almost takes 2 hands to move it left and right and put it into the gears. Would draining the gear oil and putting new help? I just had the engine rebuilt and I did the Clutch, Pressure plate, throwout bearing, pilot bearing, master cylinder and slave cylinder when I put the motor back in so its none of that. The shifter was hard to move even when the motor was out of the car and was before I pulled the engine so its nothing that I could have installed wrong. Any ideas? Thanks!

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Probably replacing the shift bushings/rubbers would fix it.
You need not drain the tranny (the shifter housing and trans are separate) and it can be done from inside the car in under an hour.

lduley

iTrader: (1)

I'd be taking the shifter apart and adding oil into the shifter housing and greasing the shifter ball for starters

Replacing the trans fluid would help alot too, could have the wrong fluid in it

deweyy757

iTrader: (1)

I've taken the shifter out and add oil to the shifter housing but it didn't take very much and didn't help at all. I also put a short shifter I had in it to see if that would help but is still hard. I guess I will try the shifter bushings/rubbers next and changing the gear oil. I appreciate the suggestions

R-X-R

iTrader: (9)

I have the same issue, but only happens when the engine is running.

w0ppe

+1 for the shifter bushings. I've had several problems with the bushings in the RX-7s going out rather than the fluid leaking or going bad. The housing is usually pretty well sealed and the gear oil doesn't really go bad. Bushings go bad due to people abusing them.

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

Hey guys I just bought another FC and the shifter is really hard to move in this one. It goes into all the gears and drives fine with no grinds or anything like that, but like it almost takes 2 hands to move it left and right and put it into the gears.

I had this experience with a friends TII where previous owner put in Ebay short shifter.

Put in a spare stock shifter I had and all was good.

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

Try this:loosen the bolts to the shifter.,.just a touch.
Then try shifting again.
It may be that the 3 bolted hole ring that hold the shifter on to the trans is too tight and holds the shifter in so much that it hinders shifting.
Common crap shifter problems.

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

Yes, that is how the Ebay shifter was.

As a temporary fix while that junk was still in the car I put 3 thin washers in between the shifter cover and the transmission housing.

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

I did that too.
Just to add that I also made some gaskets in the shape of the trans hole(X2).
One on the trans,then washer,then gasket,then put on the top piece.bolt down and test.
It worked pretty good.
I eventually went to C's shifters on all my cars and haven't had problems since.

clokker

iTrader: (2)

I can see how this gasket/shim/loosening bolts might alleviate the issue but may not be necessary.

When I "built" my short shifter (ebay Miata, modified), it came with factory bushings/rubber and I too had to loosen the retaining ring to get it moving.
I applied Dykem to the big shifter ball/pivot and reassembled to see where the binding might be.
Imagine my surprise to see no evidence of contact on the bottom bushing. Tightening down the upper cover was just forcing the end of the shifter down into the receiver cup.

Went to the plumbing dept. of Ace and found thin fiber gaskets the correct OD/ID of the bottom bush and shimmed the bush up until the pivot ball was finally making full contact. IIRC, it took two, maybe three washer shims but ymmv obviously.

After the shimming, I still had to loosen the bolts a tad but was able to tighten them down slowly over the next few weeks as the pivot and bushings got used to each other.

All of this was an easy Sat. morning lark and maybe worth your time.

Or just loosen the bolts.

deweyy757

iTrader: (1)

Welp, still no luck. I don't think it has anything to do with the shifter itself. It feels like an internal problem. Loosening the bolts didn't help, nor did washers or any of that. The stock shifter is just as hard as the short shifter I put in it. Also I changed the oil in the transmission and in the shifter housing and that didn't help. Probably just gonna replace the transmission, it's drivable just really annoying. I noticed its really hard to get out of the gears too. I've found some transmissions local for like $100 and less so that's easier to me than to continue fighting this thing. Thanks everyone for your input though.

TonyD89

iTrader: (10)

Dykem? Are you talking Hi-Spot Blue? I'm so sick of that stuff. I have to use it almost everyday and when get to matching it can be all day. Hand and clothe staining ick. It's like you open the tube and it's everywhere.

clokker

iTrader: (2)

I may have been using "Dykem" generically, mine was a liquid machinists dye in a brush top bottle.
You paint it on.
Because nothing really wants to stick to nylon (which is the whole point) the dye didn't much like the bushing but it worked well enough.