Here is the quick and dirty or my situation:
1989 gxl s5
Engine: street ported 13b na with about 45k on build and 156k on the clock
Drivetrain: All stock accept for exedy organic clutch done at rebuild and a new corksport short shifter.

Problems:
-Been noticing for a while that my clutch is getting weaker(needs to slip a little to take off from standstill, but not slipping after that)
-Whole tranny has been making a lot of noise and whining, kind of like a child in dollar tree.
-Its been getting a little hard shifting into 2nd and 3rd, only slight grinding more in 2nd
-I got a weird tranny fluid squirt out my shifter seal that I have yet to figure out.(it was there before and after my short shifter was installed)

Car is still driveable just funky sometimes.

Been doing a little research and I think my options are rebuild the original unit, replace it with another na unit, or do a tII tranny swap and eventually a LSD rearend swap. May not make any difference but down the road I do plan on possibly doing some engine mods to add some modest power.

I am in school right now, so it will be on somewhat of a budget. That being said I would not have a problem spending good money now and not have to do it again down the road.

Anyway, what should I be looking at price wise for a rebuild or swap? Also any opinions one way or another?
And no I will not sell my car and buy a TII.

Here is what I've been reading
Drivetrain differences.
http://*************.com/rotary_foru...ead.php?t=4323

 

i think you have a few options, i liked the turbo swap. i did it with my 87 and that trans made the car drive better. also you cant hurt it as easily as the weak na one. im rebuilding the trans in my vert but using miata gears to help wake up the rotory. easiest thing to do would be get another na trans and swap it in. hardest would be installing the t2 trans, i will dont know about the miata set up but ill know soon enough!

 

sounds like multiple issues, like a hydraulic and mechanical both. the clutch and shifting issues are probably due to air in the system or a leak.

the whining issue is likely the bearings in the transmission, usually the input bearing.

 

When was the last time you changed the fluid?

 

Next time I'm under the hood, I'll go ahead and bleed the master cylinder if that's the case. Probably will help a bit.

I don't think the tranny fluid has been changed since the motor work was done (possibly before that, previous owner built the motor). And Like I mentioned in the first post, I have a weird leak out of my shifter boot out of the transmission (squirts a tiny drip when its warm and I shift into 3rd or 4th). So it is possible that I am low on fluid. Is changing the tranny fluid something I would be able to do myself, or should I send it in to get the fluid changed? (I have access to a lift if that matters). Can't imagine it would be very hard.

Also any ideas on the shifter boot leak?

 

Answer to your questions are no RX7 specific. Pretty much the same for any car, so this is basic maintenance 101.

You can change the fluid yourself. Not much different than changing engine oil except you need a pump to get the fluid back into the tranny. Drain plug on the bottom, fill plug on the side.

As to the shifter boot leak, sounds like the PO overfilled the shifter chamber. You rubber insulators are probably like soft gum now if it's been very long like that.

Pull the shifter and remove what you can. It doesn't really need that much.

I've seen noise like you described go away with a change to a good fluid. A friend of mine made the noise go away when he replaced the fluid with a Red Line synthetic.

 

Just don't forget the first two steps of changing trans fluid.

Step 1: Remove the fill plug first!
Step 2: Did you do step one?!

 

Haha! I remember not being able to crack a fill bolt loose because I could not get enough leverage.

 

change the fluid made my tranny noise go right away also check the fluid in your clutch master. dont forget that brake/hydralic fluid breaks down too would hurt to change it as well.

 

Ok so here is the new chapter to this story, I drained the fluid out of the transmission and fount a 1/4" spacer that had been chunked into three parts (I only recovered 2 of the three.) I'm assuming that was the source of my problem. Now I have to find a new tranny.......

 

I forgot to mention, i have a s4 na tranny just lying around that someone gave to me for nothing, would I be able to hook it up for just temporary?

 

You could hook it up permanently if you want. You just need an S4 N/A tranny mount. Per Mazdatrix web site, if the S4 Tranny came out of an 87 or 88, the ratio's are exactly the same. If out of an 86, 5th gear would be slightly less overdrive.

 

Ya I got the tranny mount and everything. I guess that's what I'm going to do at least it will last me longer than my current setup until I can do the turbo tranny swap.