Originally Posted by dgeesaman

Efinizero, it would seem your synchro is shot but maybe a piece is rattling around in the 5/r housing against the 5th/rev clutch hub assy. You'll end up grinding the synchro pieces and probably not damage the other gears, but personally I suggest getting it checked out asap. You probably also damaged your 5th clutch sleeve, but fortunately that's only a $40 part in addition to the $20 synchro.

For folks who's 5th shift grinds but the other gears are fine, use double-clutching to get into 5th - normally this is a safe workaround when 5th synchro is damaged. Efinizero - it's worth a try to see if it avoids a grind in 5th. The good news is that any tranny shop is equally qualified to work on the FD transmission, although rotary shops are much more likely to have experience with this particular gearbox. Doing 5th synchro is only an hour of work once the tranny is lowered, so for some people it makes sense to double-clutch 5th until they're ready to get a new clutch installed and 5th synchro fixed at the same time.

I fully rebuilt my tranny, and it was a lot of work. If that's your direction, it seems now these low-mileage JDM trannys are a simpler option, where you can rebuild your original later if you wish. The JDM tranny also gets you newer internals (different 5th ratio, updated 2nd synchros, updated select spindle). Any shop or decent DIY person can perform the tranny swap, and the car is on the road almost immediately, but the condition of these JDMs unknown until it's installed.

In case you're interested in rebuilding your manual tranny, I did a writeup on it and the tools I made/bought for the task: www.davidgeesaman.com

Dave

Originally Posted by quicksilver_rx7

Double-clutching?

Haven't I seen you in another thread!

Originally Posted by dgeesaman

Efinizero, it would seem your synchro is shot but maybe a piece is rattling around in the 5/r housing against the 5th/rev clutch hub assy. You'll end up grinding the synchro pieces and probably not damage the other gears, but personally I suggest getting it checked out asap. You probably also damaged your 5th clutch sleeve, but fortunately that's only a $40 part in addition to the $20 synchro.

For folks who's 5th shift grinds but the other gears are fine, use double-clutching to get into 5th - normally this is a safe workaround when 5th synchro is damaged. Efinizero - it's worth a try to see if it avoids a grind in 5th. The good news is that any tranny shop is equally qualified to work on the FD transmission, although rotary shops are much more likely to have experience with this particular gearbox. Doing 5th synchro is only an hour of work once the tranny is lowered, so for some people it makes sense to double-clutch 5th until they're ready to get a new clutch installed and 5th synchro fixed at the same time.

I fully rebuilt my tranny, and it was a lot of work. If that's your direction, it seems now these low-mileage JDM trannys are a simpler option, where you can rebuild your original later if you wish. The JDM tranny also gets you newer internals (different 5th ratio, updated 2nd synchros, updated select spindle). Any shop or decent DIY person can perform the tranny swap, and the car is on the road almost immediately, but the condition of these JDMs unknown until it's installed.

In case you're interested in rebuilding your manual tranny, I did a writeup on it and the tools I made/bought for the task: www.davidgeesaman.com

Dave

Originally Posted by dgeesaman

Hehe, weren't we talking about how to shift and not damage synchros? (but IIRC we weren't arguing against each other)

Dave

Originally Posted by efinizero

Thanks for the nice writeup. Unfortunately, the rattling noise (like a rock in a coke can) is enough for me not to drive around unless real, real emergency calls for it. This weekend, especialy Monday, I will have it looked at with local shop that has FD experience (surprisingly, just found out today there is a 10+ year veteran rotary mechanic...we'll see how it goes with inspection). Thanks again.

Tim

Originally Posted by efinizero

Sounds like everyone is having sync problems all in May. Hahaha.

Originally Posted by travisorus rex

Most FDs have this problem and the ones that don't, will eventually. The sound is obviously bothering you but do keep in mind that these transmissions are very strong. Fix the problem and then continue to beat the **** out of it.