I was driving my '87 SE back from visiting my homegirl in SF and at 11:00pm with around 300 miles left to go...the car started shaking quite a bit...thought it was a flat...once I let off the gas *clunk* *screech* *rpms just rev and rev*

I was cruising going maybe ~90mph in 5th at the time

****.

Tried putting it in 5th a couple times but it would only grab at maybe 1500 rpm...any higher would result in a horrendous sound. At first I thought I was completely screwed (work at 9:00am in Los Angeles) but luckily I still had 4th gear. Thank God for 4th gear. I was able to creep back to Los Angeles in 4th without incident (got home at 5:00am)

I lost all of 1st, 3rd, 5th, and reverse. I can use 2nd up to maybe 2k rpm, and 4th is the only gear that feels good. Goodbye tranny. Suffice to say, I rolled through quite a few stop signs on my mission to get home.

Background on the car: bought it a few weeks ago for 700 bucks, had 110k on it but with some clutch/tranny problems. I thought it was a simple clutch bearing which was causing a whine/whirr and occasional squeek ...guessed wrong.

OK, now the questions:

I have a good condition S5 TII tranny that I can buy for $125. I understand there will be some fabrication involved in making this work- quick overview? (costs/labor)

Alternately, how much do standard NA S4 (will S5 NA tranny work?) good condition tranny's go for? Ive heard of a few people's S4 tranny's dying out on them. I can pick one up from the junkyard but i think it will still be ~$80 and no guarantee on the condition.

My budget is pretty limited, so im trying to debate which is the best value for reliability/cost.

 

With only 4th working, the failure has to do with the countershaft (probably the input gear.)
Best value - a used NA trans with some kind of warranty.
The TII trans will need a custom drive shaft.

 

from what i understand, an automatic transmission driveshaft from either an S4 or S5 will work-- everything will line up correctly? No additional clutch work necessary?

i have a feeling the previous owner tried to do some work on the car without really knowing what he was doing...ahh well.

 

does anyone else have any additional input on this?

Thanks for your time

 

The auto drive shaft will "work". Although it is shorter than a regular shaft should be, it still is long enough to "work". word is that you will be leaking tranny fluid though. I wouldn't do it myself, but if your looking to be a pioneer on the subject, let us know how well it turns out.

 

Hey, exact same thing happened to me man. I smoked the clutch bad (damn stop lights) I reccommend puttin in the same series tranny. (alot less work) If you didn't smoke your clutch you might not need to replace it. But remember to put in a new pilot bearing (7$) throwout bearing. If the clutch needs to be replaced take off the Flywheel and get it resurfaced. You should probably be able to find a tranny for damn cheap i got mine for 300$ (canadian) and it works like a charm i filled it up with Relin Mt-90 oil and it worked like awesome. Most likey you did not have any oil in it and your tranny is totally melted together.

I replaced my tranny in my drive way (i'm 18) it took me about a month and with my snap-on set of tools. But I had school and not much time to work on it. It could be a weekend project. Please let me know if there is anything else you need to do while swapping the trannies. Its still fresh in my mind!

Evan

 

Putting in a tranny can definately be a weekend project. Me and my father have replaced my clutch 3 times now and it usually took us about 10-12 hours. Be sure to drain the tranny fluid first before you unhook the driveshaft or you had better get out the paper towels!

 

ihad a T2 tranny in my car using the auto shaft so i can keep my diff.. and it worked fine no probs.. no fluild leak either.. adn then the tranny went.. so put the N/A trans back in when i sold it.. if you want i got a auto shaft i will sell you for $75 shipped..
Dave