My car has about 80K on it right now. I had a Pettit short shifter put in the car some time back because I was having problems with my 3rd gear engagement.

It seems to smooth out the shifting somewhat. And if I drive my car like a Buick it shifts wonderful. Unfortunatly when I really get on it, the damn thing grinds in 2nd, 3rd and now 4th gear too. WTF!! My manual trans fluid is up to level, it is Redline synthetic. Its not very old either, maybe a year. Is there something wrong with the car or am I just not shifting right. I was punching it yesterday getting on the highway (shifting at about 6500 RPM and each time I would shift into a forward gear it would grind mercilessly. Yet no grinding when I was casualy driving around....

Any solutions? I already tossed my stock shifter into the trash. I hope the Pettit shifter was worth it.

Opinions welcome

 

Sounds like you need a new transmission or at least a rebuild. Probably bad synchro rings.

 

What kind of redline fluid is in it? I am running some super light-weight shockproof in my tranny with 100K on it and no grinding, before I switched to redline the shift effort was much higher and the thing hated going into 2nd and 3rd before the fluid was warm. At least give that a shot before you tear it apart and replace the synchros, at least it may buy you a little more time before the inevitable.

Matt

 

IMO you need a TORQUE BRACE..

I have a similar problem.. But not so much
the grinding, but missing the 2-3 shift.

I got a Mazdaspeed short shift kit. It made the
throws shorter and feels good. BUT only minimal
help in the 2-3 shift..

Under WOT or heavy load. Our Motors Torque " twist "
in which slightly mis align our transmission. Causing
our cars to misshift and grind.

A Torque brace is my next mod, and currently in the works. I am hoping this works. But everyone that
has say it makes all the difference in the world.
New from store about $150.. DIY under 50. I would
think...

Good luck

 

I don't think the torque brace will fix the grinding problem. I had the same problem with and without a torque brace. My car was and is still under warranty( I had it built by an RX7 specialist) and he had to swap out the tranny. I believe you will find it's the synchos as mentioned earlier in this thread.

But hey, IMO we all need a torque brace.

Sean, you have that brace soon enough. I had to order the shock tower bar from the parts store. They didn't have any in stock.

 

Don't forget to push in the clutch. It helps with the grinding.

If you can't find it, grind it.
It'll fit, push harder.

 

i dont think this is a tranny problem. i think you either need to practice shifting or adobt a diffrent technique. our transmissions are very sensitive on how u shift. if u installed a short shifter then that will change the length of travel and you shiftign at still the same speed will make the car shift faster. and teh rpms dont have enouf time to go down and match your car speed. so gettigna short shifter should only be done with a new flywheel. or u must learn to shift that much slower. you will be puttign strain on your syncors if u do not do one of these. and eventually they will become worse everytime u shift. so either take the short shofter out or try to shift where it wont grind.

 

It's definately your transmission. Your synchro rings are toast since that is what matches input and output rpm while the clutch is in. You should have taken Kahren's advise earlier, but from here on out, it's just a matter of time until you can't get the damn thing into gear or it completely locks up. Sorry to have such bad news, but you need a new tranny, or a rebuild (too much $$!)