Like I've said in a previous post, I'm shopping around and getting a feel for the market as far as RX-7s and just doing research on the FDs.

About 7 months ago, I was about to buy an FD but couldn't get enough cash for it but when I did test drive it, I noticed it was very hard to shift into 2nd and 3rd gear. You basically ham to give it more force than you typically would and I'm assuming because of a syncro issue.

Is this common?

 

common enough to happen to me too, with bad synchros. Nothing in the FD was designed well enough to last except the brakes.

 

VERY common, but i've never heard of 2nd and 3rd. It's usually a 5th gear synchro. There's an easy fix for it though, b/c there are replacement kits.

 

Interesting.

Do you think it's something I can get replaced/upgraded or would it be such a bad thing if (if I did get this problem) kept it how it is and kept driving with it?

 

I'd get it fixed. You DON'T want to find out what happens when it breaks completely.

Taken from another thread;
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...h+gear+synchro

 

Thanks for the link. I'll do some more searching and cross my fingers that when I do get it, I don't have this problem.

 

Most FDs don't have that problem. Most are a little balky about hitting 2nd, but that's partly because 2nd gear is bigger and heavier than the others. That's just physics.

There were some minor updates to the tranny internals, including 2nd gear and synchro. Good thing is you can get a low mileage tranny for a pretty reasonable price. It's much cheaper than paying for a rebuild.

The weak link in these trannys is 5th synchro. If you miss 3rd and hit 5th or some mistake similar to that, it's possible to break 5th synchro and then it won't synchronize well. If that alone is your problem then get it fixed since it's only about 1-2hrs of labor and $50 in parts.

Dave

 

It mainly has to do with :
(1) how well you maintaned your transmissions and which oil you used,
(2) your driving/shifting style.

Bought my R1 in June of 1992, it was a dayly driver until 2002.
That was in Houston commute traffic.
Did not have any problems with it until last year at 105,700 miles when I pulled it due to the input shaft bearing becoming noisy. All the gears and synchros were good.

The car was running over 300whp from 1994 till 1999. From 1999 till 2005, it was runnning 350whp. Since 2005 it has been runing about 390whp.

The tranny is great, drivers can be bad!

 

Chuck does bring up the most important theme: the smoothness of the tranny reflects how well it was treated.

Dave

 

I think that has alot to do with it, I mainly asked to get some type of idea of if it was a common human caused condition or mechanical.

 

Where could you find a low mileaged tranny at? Any links?