Think about it for a moment, the more gears you have the easier it is to stay in the good torque range of the power band. The less power/torque you have the less usable torque range you have.

What would you rather do a long bicycle race with, a ten speed or a single speed?

This is a big advantage on long hilly road courses.

 

first of all the miata uses a different tranny design than the fd, so the miata internals will not swap into an fd case. they do swap into an na fc case (its the same style tranny).
second the stock miata tranny can handle 350+hp, there are stock short block miata's running 10's on the stock tranny.
third the miata bellhousing is totally different, from the rx7, and the 6 speed miata tranny does not yet have a rotary bellhousing, until the rx8 gets here.
four, the 6 speed miata tranny is 4k, so you arent saving tons of cash

mike

 

Actually the LESS Torque/HP the MORE GEARS you need - Bicycles have 10,15, up to 21 gears! 500cc F1 motorcycles had 6&7 speed gearboxes when most race cars only had 4 speeds. The real question is why does an 8 liter Viper w/500+ ft-lbs of torque need a 6 speed?

 

It sounds faster.

 

For 2 overdrives to save on gas lol

STEPHEN

 

the new miata has 180 hp actually jonski. im sure there are guys using the stock tranny with high hp numbers on a miata. looks to me like everyone is jumping on the "they suck" bandwagon. lets research this thoroughly before it is concluded. that 6 speed could be highly regarded by mazda due to its overengineering or something.

paul

 

well, j9fd3s beat me to it. hehe. im still gonna look into it though.

 

Sure there are some high power Miata still on stock tranny. But is it reliable? I doubt it. Also Rotary engine have much higher rev. Swap in a NA rotary engine is one thing. Swap in a Turbo Rotray enigne is totally different(assume the FD does take the Miata 6 speed). Also even if it takes 350+hps, you are limiting yourself at that level. Remeber FD can go up to 600hps. I doubt Mazda will overengineering a tranny that much for a small light NA car.

 

Ahhhh, what ever happened to the good ole days of the GM 2 speed, automatic powerglide trannies? lmfao! My dad used to tell stories of his 66 pontiac bonneville and his trusty powerglide, racing the car to 70mph before shifting to second and leaving corvettes in his rearview! Course,I don't see that happening with a 7.

you know, they still use those powerglides in drag racing... ~rich

 

Holy thread resurrection, Batman! This thread is almost four years old. And not that interesting to boot.

 

Ok if you want a serious transmission I would go for an Xtrac transmission. They make all kinda of racing gear boxes. I know they were looking at a street/drift application 1 year ago don't know what happened. Just google it up.

These guys make trannys for Lemans,F3000,Drag Racing and many other racing series. good luck.

 

This thread is older than most people on this forum!
6sp is pointless.. most 6th gear is overdrive gearing... to save gas. If you want to save gas, go buy a hybrid.

 

yeah! Why would anyone want their FD to get better than 25mpg hwy! You could like... drive it more often... and spend less money when you drove it.... and er... it would be quieter on the hwy due to lower rpms...

yeah! /bandwagon

 

No way. Some people just dont get it. Why did you resurrect this thread to say a worthless statement like that? Seriously. This forum seriously is going down the *******. I rarely read interesting material now days it seems.

 

My FD has never gotten 25mpg. But I would like a 6 speed....attached to an LS1.

 

Just for info sake. RX8 tranny will bolt up but it is shorter than the FD tranny. RX8 tranny with some cryo treatment will hold up to 600whp+ from a 20b. BTW don't ask what happens to second gear (on the first run) on a RX-8 with a 20B with 600 whp and cryo treatment.

 

Right.. I need the extra gearing so that I could ditch my daily acura so that I could make my FDs to be more practical. Being practical and FD's dont go hand to hand. For god sake, its turbo charged car thats near race car. Its uncomfortable in long trips and its pointless to get 6sp when stock 5th gear will max out at 200+MPH. Most people on this forum have aftermarket suspension and exhaust. If you want to save gas, buy a beater for daily or just don't boost. IF you want quiter car, keep all your stock exhaust.

 

hahaha old tread

 

Its that exact mind set I was making fun of. Congrats on reinforcing it. God forbid someone would want to have a car they could actually drive often.

I dont get why you guys make fun of people that want to do mods to their FD's to make it where they can drive them more often. Its almost like you like the idea of the FD being a garage ornament.

On a side note: I didnt resurect this thread to say that, this thread was already near the top on the first page when I said what I did.

 

i wouldnt do it.

 

yea...people usually do that.

people USUALLY stick with the stock tranny and just fix the 5th gear synchro when it goes bunk.

 

I daily drove my car for three years and take long highway trips regularly to go to track events. I don't think a 6-speed would be very helpful. Assuming the stock final rear end and stock 5-speeds, adding a 6th gear up top would put highway cruising rpm at 2k rpm or less. 5th gear is already pretty damn torqueless at that rpm, a 6th gear would be virtually useless.

You can get 20+ mpg with a properly tuned FD in pure highway driving...why go through the trouble and expense to try to achieve a few more mpg in limited usefulness?

 

depends on what the gear ratio is. i've wondered about putting an n/a top gear in an fd tranny to lower the cruising rpm's a tad. dunno if it would fit or any of that, but i *think* it's somewhere around .711 or so. that'd be nice.

 

In reference to the 6-speed, the gear ratios' in 1st, 2nd and 3rd are probably closer than the 5-speed, so you could potentially be faster at the track.

 

LOL! Obviously you know so much more than I.

True, people could do whatever they want to do with their car. But when someone comes on here and states false reason for their desire for certain mods, I will state why its useless. IN this case, putting $5-10k 6sp tranny to save few miles on the interstate is pointless reason. ON city driving, which I normal do when I take my FD to work, its ABSOLUTELY useless since i'll never get in the final gear. Also, what fun is it to just stay in same speed for hours and on? If thats the reason for having an FD, I think its the wrong reason.

I gave up on saving miles when I realized I was getting under 10miles per hour when I boosted my 1st FD w/all the bolt on mods. If you have highly modded FD, you should already know this. My FDs are so called, "pleasure" "weekend" cars. Also its my project car to tinker with. I don't make long trips with it unless I have to. Even then, I don't just stay one gear or in same speed to save gas.

And I agree with rynberg, FD's lack torque. That reason itself should be considered when thinking about 6sp.

If you want to drive your FD, come to the Deals Gap event. Your in KY, should be a reasonable drive for you.