vhalin

[Our Trannys!] Seriously. Out of the 4 sports cars I've owned, I love the RX-7s by far. It occasionally grinds in third gear but its not anything to lose sleep over. I've never EVER missed a gear within the 9 months I've owned my RX-7. I have 140K miles on my tranny and its still going strong after all the launches and the second motor.




OFFICIAL FD TRANSMISSION APPRECIATION THREAD!

cloud9

iTrader: (4)

agreed, I miss mine, and my car

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

I agree. The transmissions are great, and can withstand well over 400 rwhp. Coupled with a quality short shifter and clutch/light flywheel, it makes for an amazing shifting experience

Force13B

iTrader: (19)

I guess i got a lemon then.

VegasFD

This is my exact setup and it shifts perfect everytime. BTW Mazdatrix shifter and flywheel. I will be also installing my tranny and diff braces this week to stiffen up the drivetrain.

level7

iTrader: (3)

I can cheers to that! The original tranny in my FD lasted 160k + before the 5th gear synchro went out.

cbf246

this is of course the manual tranny only. the auto kinda sucks imo. mine went out at apx. 75k miles, but i also do have some mods done as well.

prescription 7

iTrader: (5)

Best tranny ever? What about all the 5th gear syncro problems?

Maybe, almost perfect?

fdeeznutz

Mine went out at 66k miles. Guess I got a lemon too.

matty

definately. there really isnt a more fun car to drive. those mods just compound the effect.

RE-Amemiya

I'd have to agree, although i must say...i've never missed a gear on my daily driver either that's manual transmission. If you know how to shift anyway, it shouldn't be a problem, and thus it's not such a big deal to me. Granted, it's very easy to shift in my car with the B&M short shifter, but still...

FLA94FD

You guys need to drive some other cars... At least with the stock shifter it has long throws is fairly unprecise.

willub and company

iTrader: (3)

mine is good for the most part but second gear always grinds and third does every now and then. it does have 130k though. but other than that and the fact that it is really noisy (age), it is very nice!

twin7r1

iTrader: (1)

mine was good for about 100k. then it took about $1k in parts to fix 1st, 2nd, 5th, some berrings, shifter spindel, and all of my shift forks. as for now I can't nock it though

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Well, you guys can't expect transmissions to last for ever. If it needs rebuilding every 100,000 miles that's a pretty long lifespan for a tranny that is seeing frequent high revs and 250-500 motor hp.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Are you comparing the FD to other cars it's age? I've driven a few of them and the FD's throws weren't all that bad in comparison. Including a 26k 94 turbo MR2 I recently drove, which was like rowing a boat compared to my OEM shifter at 75k.
I don't have a lighten FW, but agree with Goodfella, with my PETTIT SS and new fluid, a long freeway ramp puts a smile on my face every time.
And as for the rest of the transmission...not an authority, but I've always been amazed by the HP some guys are putting through them, and the relatively few issues reported.

Robbierx7

iTrader: (1)

My fd tranny has 45,000miles on it, stock engine and can be quite stiff getting it into 2 when the oil is cold and sometimes grinds when at high revs when shifting to 3rd, who reckons the syncronisers have gone???

cewrx7r1

iTrader: (2)

My March 1992 built R1 had 105,700 miles when I changed mine due to the input shaft bearing starting to get noisy. All the gears and synchros were still good and would not grind. Most of those miles were with over 300whp.

Red Line oil and proper shifting technique is the answer to longevity.

Most 5th gear problems were caused by poor 2nd to 3rd shifting where the driver actually was going into 5th or between 3rd and 5th. That is why they put a heavier spindle spring as part of the fix. My new tranny has the JDM short 5th gear with the heavier spring and it does require noticeable more force to go into 5th now.

F0RSAKEN

I think the PO of my car didnt know how to shift 'cause my tranny feels like ***, and has since I bought the car.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

thats normal with any mazda transmission, the oil is too thick when cold.

synthetic oil fixes it.

Snook

iTrader: (12)

your avatar is sick man

lets help people be successful in suicide nice

As for the FD transmission being reliable, I guess....I had problems with 2nd being hard to get into and in both of my transmissions my 5th gear synchro went out. The first one was about ~15k miles after it was fully rebuilt by mazda because of the same problem at 55k miles and then it happened again at 68 or so. That was the 93. The 94 went out at 48k miles lol.

Wouldn't say they are reliable at all with an issue like that but they do shift and feel nice when they aren't broken. Other transmissions like vipers and corvettes are rougher and less driver friendly so I'll give it that for sure. The good thing was that both were still drivable like that if you knew of the problems and I didn't use 5th much.

Improved FD

it's fair to decent for near stock power levels

one of the few non-static parts Mazda didn't totally fall on itself with

new hub and upgraded shift fork helped mine....as well as a few other tweaks