So I noticed online when I went to search for parts for my tranny rebuild. They sell kits around 250ish range and seems to be a full kit. I messaged Ray to get a quote and see oem is much more expensive.
Bearings $336.80 (7 pcs)
Syncros $385.55 (6 pcs)
Lock nuts $44.72 (2 pcs)
Seals $33.75 (2 pcs)
Total $800.82
$22.00 ships it.

Now I'm willing to pay for quality but if the kits the same exact thing and quality I'd of course like to save that money. I didn't find much when I searched tranmission rebuild.

 

Where are you seeing a transmission rebuild kit for $250?

Also, @dgeesaman did some really good trans rebuild threads if you haven't seen them?

 

often the kits will have cheaper and or the old style bearings.
and the Mazda the dual cone syncros on 2nd and 3rd probably won't come in the kit

sometimes it is cheaper to buy the kit, and then substitute the correct parts where its needed

 

So one was on Amazon but it didn't say what year it was for.

Then I found this site but also unsure of the selection they have

https://transpartswarehouse.com/bk19...kit-87-95.html

There was also this one
https://transpartswarehouse.com/bk13...t-1989-93.html

But I will probably go with the oem.

Also another question, do they sell anything better than oem syncros? My brother saying something about carbon syncros or something. No knowledge of transmissions. And really never had any problems with mine with 590hp and around 150k oem miles on the trans. I mostly just wanted to freshen it up

 

That rebuild kit looks fairly complete. It does not include new needle bearings that go under each gear but i think those rarely wear out anyway. I would buy new locknuts since those are staked heavily and the only way I was able to remove them was to cut them.

The synchros in that kit for 1, 2, and 3 are not double-cone synchros. OEM is double-cone for all of those I believe.

I've bought a number of aftermarket transmission rebuild kits for Hondas and Nissans. As long as the bearings are all good Japanese or European brands they've been quite good. There was a period of time where I had to buy an OEM bearing because I didn't trust the Chinese made bearing in the kit.

Carbon friction surfaces are more common on newer synchros but I'm not aware of anyone going to the trouble of retrofitting carbon lined synchros to older transmission designs. It would surely be interesting.

 

Great thread as I'm likely going to be going through this very soon. Curious what you end up deciding on.

 

Well with the limited info. I'm prob going to have to go with oem to be on the safe side..

 

the first kit you linked to, is for the B2600/MPV/FC T2, Ford Aerostar/Ranger.
the bearings and most of the synchros will work with the FD, but not all of them

the second kit is for an NA, so does not apply

 

This is a good thread. Appreciate the detailed install guides from @dgeesaman . I am considering having Liberty rebuild my 68k OEM tranny. After reviewing his PDFs, the transmission looks more difficult than an motor rebuild. lol.

 

Can someone with firsthand knowledge confirm or deny that this would be considered an accurate list of the parts that should be included in an ideal FD Transmission Overhaul kit?

This seems more thorough than most of what I'm seeing elsewhere online so I'm looking to get 'fact checked' by the community.

Description ----------------------------------------------------Part Number
Oil Seal -----------------------------------------------------------HSO1-17-103
Bearing, Main Drive Gear -------------------------------------R501-17-295A
Bearing, Mainshaft (Front, Larger) -------------------------R506-17-204A
Bearing, Mainshaft (Rear, Smaller) ------------------------R502-17-204
Bearing, Countershaft (Front) ------------------------------M505-17-306A
Synchro Ring, 4th Gear --------------------------------------M502-17-265C
Synchro Ring, 1st Gear -------------------------------------R514-17-265B
Synchro Ring, Reverse Gear -----------------------------R503-17-265B
Bearing, Needle, Reverse Gear ----------------------------0884-17-274
Bearing, Needle, 3rd Gear -------------------------------0884-17-274
Bearing, Needle, 1st Gear --------------------------------0884-17-274
Bearing, Needle, 2nd Gear -------------------------------0884-17-274
Bearing, Needle, Main Drive / Main Shaft ----------------R502-17-283
Bearing, Countershaft (Rear) -----------------------------R501-17-299
Bearing, Countershaft (Mid) ------------------------------R501-17-290A
Nut, Lock, Countershaft -------------------------------------M501-17-309
Oil Seal -------------------------------------------------------R501-17-335A
Shift Fork, 1 st/2nd --------------------------------------------R522-17-402
Shift Fork, 3rd/4th ---------------------------------------------R501-17-404C
Bearing, Needle, 5th Gear ----------------------------------R501-17-612
Nut, Lock, Clutch Hub ---------------------------------------3648-17-629
Shift Fork, 5th/Rev --------------------------------------------R505-17-406
Synchro Ring, 5th Gear ------------------------------------W501-17-725B

 

you also need a tube of sealant, Mazda has 0000-77-1217-ES, and its like $10
you need to add the 2rd and 3rd gear syncros

for the forks and hubs, you can measure the clearance and replace as needed, so you might just wait until the thing is apart
you might want a couple of the snap rings too, they are &*%^*, although again maybe you pull it apart and see

the Mazda puller set to pull the trans apart is pretty normal, except the legs have extensions so that you can pull stuff from one end of the shaft to the other

oh and the socket for the two nuts is really deep, probably close to 18" . so you need some solution for that, a chisel works. you can cut a socket and weld in a bar, etc

you also NEED some way to lay out all of the parts (there are a lot) in order, so you can put the thing back together correctly

 

FWIW…I had mine rebuilt by a local shop several years ago when an input shaft bearing got noisey. It was about $1200 with me R & R’ing it from the car. Using the guide of parts being roughly equal to labor and adjusted for inflation of those OEM parts, that sounds reasonable.

 

Do you need all the bearings listed here? It seems the rebuild kits only come with 7 bearings. There are 12 bearings listed here.
Also is there no bearing , needle, 4th gear?

 

generally the needle bearings get reused, but its a judgement thing
4th is straight through, so it doesn't need one

 

Okay, I see. So needle bearings are typically still in good condition most of the time, but its up to discretion.

These bearings probably are the ones that come in the kit then (non needle), but would be the 7th?

Bearing, Main Drive Gear -------------------------------------R501-17-295A
Bearing, Mainshaft (Front, Larger) -------------------------R506-17-204A
Bearing, Mainshaft (Rear, Smaller) ------------------------R502-17-204
Bearing, Countershaft (Front) ------------------------------M505-17-306A
Bearing, Countershaft (Rear) -----------------------------R501-17-299
Bearing, Countershaft (Mid) ------------------------------R501-17-290A

 

there is a bearing between the input shaft and the main shaft R502-17-283

 

I inquired with Ray Crowe on a transmission rebuild kit last year. He suggested to re-use the needle bearings and snap rings.
Also the Dgeesaman write-up is incredibly helpful. However I do wish I'd had a shop do the rebuild, very time consuming and quite the learning curve.

This is what he had included in his OEM kit:

R502-17-204 Mainshaft rear bearing
R501-17-299 Countershaft rear bearing
R501-17-295A Main drive bearing
M505-17-306A Front countershaft bearing
R506-17-204A Mainshaft front bearing
R501-17-290A Countershaft center bearing

R502-17-283 Main drive needle bearing

R514-17-265B 1st Synchro
R505-17-26Y 2nd Synchro
R504-17-26Y 3rd Synchro
M502-17-265C 4th Synchro
W501-17-725C 5th synchro
R503-17-265B Reverse synchro

M501-17-309 Countershaft lock nut
3648-17-629 Clutch hub lock nut
H501-17-103 Oil seal
H501-17-335A Oil seal

R503-17-550 Shift select spindle (suggested replacement, not required)

 

Maybe I already mentioned it in this thread, but looking at the long parts list, Im going to mention it again.

Brand new transmission is under $2,000 now from Mazda.

Last I looked it was $1,800

 

Can you share that part number, please?

 

I got this kit and ordered a Liberty chromoly main shaft, the OE synchros and the 0.806 5th gears separately. Still have to drop the transmission to get it rebuilt.

BK199 OVERHAUL KIT

 

USDM FD 5 speed (tall 5th)
R564-03-000

Currently listed $2,500 from Mazda Dealers.

I bought from Mazda Motorsports $2,300 in august 2018 and saw it was down to $1,800 March 2024 when I updated shopping cart and checked availability.

Currently not listed on site.

But I had to call Mazda Motorsports to get it listed on site back in 2018 when I bought it.

 

The RX-8 5speed has become a popular swap or the S2 09-12 6speed too


RX-8 5 SPEED new from Amayama used to be much higher

 

Is there anything custom required to bolt this up? Mounting points/brackets the same?

Called Mazda Motorsports today after seeing this. Spoke with their employee who said they've been discontinued since 2013 and he checked inventory for me with this part number. He said none available.

So whats going on? Cause you got one in 2018. I'd love to have a brand new tranny.

 

I will call Mazda Motorsports and have them pull up that 2018 order and see if they can work out if they can get it again.

It took some work from the service rep helping me to get the part # and order in back in 2018 from Mazda. It was many months before it came over from Japan, so I had already started racing on a good used unit I found. Still have it in plastic.

 

there are some threads here but the short answer for the 5-speed is this:
The RX8 5-speed transmission has a different bellhousing that uses a push type clutch assembly and the tail shaft housing is a different length.
You'll need to use the FD bell and tail housings with the new RX8 gearbox center section and it'll work like stock.
Another option is to keep the RX8 bellhousing and center section with the FD tail housing and you could use an FC or RX8 push-type clutch.

For the 6-speed the one you can use is the S2 2009-2012 but the bellhousing can't be swapped so it requires a push-type clutch. I haven't seen this swap a lot but supposedly it's a stronger transmission.