I recently bought an FC. I got 2 transmissions with it, both with some problems. one is an 88 SE, the other is off a 91 coupe.

Which tranny woudl I be better off rebuilding? any advantage from one to the other?

 

Both NA? then NO

 

What problems?

 

If you want a stronger tranny, your only real options is to buy a TII tranny and rebuild that. All other second gen N/A manual trannys are the same. But you'll have to get the TII drive shaft as well

 

problems being bushings (shift **** flails all over) and bad synchros on 3rd 4th and 5th on the 91.

the 88 is same with bad output shaft bearing and bad 4th gear synchro.

I'm not planning on turboing the engine, but it has decent power and feels fairly fast. I was actually surprised by the cars straightline performance after reading many say that NAs are all slow. but even with a strong NA engine, I won't need the stronger transmission fo the TII would I?

 

is the GTUs tranny any different. if so, can someone prove this to me. I hear of harder gears and internals and I know that 5th gear is different (buzziier on highway(.

 

Before you take it apart, put some shift lever bushings (cheap & easy) in the 91 & fill it with synthetic gear oil.

It may not be as bad as you think.

 

I actually have 2 quarts of redlien MTF. Do you have a part number for the shift lever bushings by chance> I'll go through mazda, they give a me a 20-50% discounton parts at the nearby MazdA.

Great parts department, shitty service.

 

I took a look at the bushings not really knowign what should be in there.

well, all the rubber boots are toasted, there was one bluish bushing with a washer ontop of it on the shift lever ball. shouldn't there be 2 on it? one below the pin thingy that sticks out that mates to the shift lever ball and one below?

Also, it was filled with fluid in there, really dark dirty fluid. I can't see thourugh it. a little spring sticks up kinda that seems to hold the shift lever ball in place when in the socket.

Just seems there should be 2 buhsings in there. the collar with three bolts that holds the stuff in had it's rubber boot/seel thing rotted too.

I think I will just call Mazda and order some parts then do flush and fill with some valvoline gear oil I've got, then flush it again and fill it with the red-line.

 

The big ball on he shift lever should have 2 bushings, one above & one below it.
The small ball on the end goes into a bushing lined pocket in the selector rod.

My server is still not able to respond on port 80, so I'll try this picture on 82.
Hope this works.


If that picture works, try the link to the factory manuals in my sig below.
Look in the tranny section.

 

ok, I'm clearly missing some bushings then. that pic really helps. I ordered th eparts from Mazda and I'll have them tommorrow. thanks!

 

If your gonna do all that work i'd go ahead and try to find a turbo II driveline if you can, my na is fairly quick and hard driving takes it's toll on the NA tranny

 

any idea how to replace that bottom one which can cause the floppy shifter-ness?

 

that one is only on the s5's it looks pressed into the thingamabob thats pinned on the shift rod. i bet you need to get the thingamabob and pull the tail shaft housing to change, which means trans has to come out. dont know for sure though

 

Is this true? excuse the dumb question but I thought you could use either drive shaft?

 

you need the TII tranny, starter, driveshaft, lsd and axles. or a custom driveshaft to mate the TII tranny and NA lsd.

 

also, a custom clutch to match up to the NA flywheel or an aftermarket lightweight flywheel.

 

who the hell is coastie. damn forum.

 

I have the all of the engine stuff and the tranny stuff as well. I was planning on getting the driveshaft later and the rear diff w/ halfshafts.. so I can't use the n/a drive shaft temp.?

 

sorry enthu I'm not trying to take over your thread or anything

 

heh, Well I went to mazda and you do need to buy the whole thingamob attatched the shift rod to get it. in fact, mazda only had half the bushings show for the tranny as well, just an upper bushing.

Does anyone know if I can drain just the fluid from the lever area, or does this shift lever extension part share a resivior with the rest of the tranny?

 

Okay, I put the 2 bushings in. Shifter feels MUCH tighter. However, it still has a ton of slop, albeit tight slop. I have a 91 GXL tranny. There was not the 3rd lowest, often overlooked bushing in place at all. not even a worn one.

I can see by the size of the shift lever ball and the shift rod control thingy that there need s to be a bushing or massive slop occurs.

Does anyone know where to get a new one? or by any chance have an extra one around they'd sell?
NO luck in getting one for a reasonable price from mazda.

It was about $15.00 for the other bushings and extremely easy to replace. Somehting everyone with a loose shifter should do. I'm sure alot of other FC owners suffer from this wobble/slop though caused by the bushing! Mayeb some one can make some...

anyways I need one.