My 4th-5th gear synchro is off! Help!
 

I have a base model VR FD and I know that gear synchros are a problem for some. Before I got my FD, the original owner said he had the dealer fix the 4th to 5th synchro so it didn't grind (this was about 25000 miles ago) and now it's grinding again.

My question-

How common are these problems?

Are those a pain in the ass to fix by myself (amateur mechanic)?

If I have the dealer fix it, would it be expensive? How much does it cost? I can also have Ivan (sunnyvale) fix it but don't know if it's going to cost my arm off.

Thx for the replys. em

Its tricky and would need some special tools.

It's very, very common. I think every FD has encountered this at one time or another.

As far as pricing, KDRotary (www.kdrotary.com) will do it for $450. Using my past experience with Mazda as a guide, I can estimate that they will charge you $13,438.25 for labor, $625 for parts, and $2.50 for hazardous waste disposal, giving you a grand total of $14055.75 plus all applicable taxes.

Here's a write-up on the process:

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=197451

I was doing my clutch and had this problem so decided to do it while I had the transmission pulled. Wasnt to bad - the hardest part was making the tool (since I couldnt find one to borrow/rent). I will rent you the tool for $5 plus shipping (a couple bucks via USPS). The tool is made out of a $20 bearing puller and about $5 of metal and an hour of labor so if you are just doing this job once it is not worth it to make your own. I also took a bunch of pics while I did it that I may post one day- there was one part where you had to remove a large nut and it required stopping the transmission from spinning and I had to come up with my own trick to get it done.

Shawn