Well about a month ago my FD started making a grinding sound when I put it into fifth gear so I looked it up and found out that I had the infamous 5th gear syncro problem, being tight on money I decided not to fix the problem as it had no immediate repercussions. Flash-forward to yesterday I was driving around town just hard enough to get into boost, and then the car would not go into third when I tried to shift and it made a god awful grinding noise, so I went to my buddies house to look at a new 32' Ford Victoria he picked up, and when I got in my car to leave my car would not go into reverse or fifth, so I limped home.

Does anybody know a shop in socal that could help me out? And how much ballpark is this going to cost?

Thanks a lot guys.

 

This job is almost all labor. $75 in parts (synchro and clutch sleeve) and several hours to get to them.

It takes about 1 hour additional on top of the time it takes to drop and reinstall the transmission. Have an FD-experienced shop do it - although tranny work isn't unusual (any tranny shop can do it), an RX-7 shop will have more experience and therefore provide a more accurate estimate.

Dave

 

good advisment seriously.

projectx605, do you plan on rebuilding yours or getting a used one? when my syncros went, i was going to pay for a rebuild but then i figured out it would be more cost effective to buy a used 97+ trans, 30K with slightly better gearing. the trans was $400 and UPFD (under pressure) in westminister put it in (along with new clutch and plate) for $300.

 

Wherd you buy your used tranny from that sounds like the best plan. UPFD eh? My buddy had alot of work down there but there was a huge incident on SF about that place how did they treat you there?

 

a lot of people get used JDM trannys for about $400 from a guy in SoCal. do a search on a thread from John Magnussen (sp?).

 

i am in need of a new tranny too, level7, did they supply the clutch and plate... from the pricing, i doubt it. ive went to their shop when they had an open house about a year ago, looks like a decent place

 

nolimitniceguy: yeah i was there also, were you the one with the silver FD or did you have a MK4? i supplied the clutch and plate. UPFD is definatly a capable shop to swap a JDM trans into the FD. The owner is a good friend of mine, real nice guys who stand by thier work.

projectx605: PM sent

 

every shop has thier scary stories and thier are always two sides. some people hate the place, and some people love them. personaly i do most of all the work on my car myself except for trans and electrical stuff so they really havnt done much to my car. ive seen some of the cars they produce though and they are wicked.

 

nah, i didnt have my fd then, i just recently got it, i was with my old roomate who had a turbo ITR. but yeah lemme know where you got a JDM trans, or where i can get a decent one... thanks man

btw, i also live in south orange county, so let me know of any other shops in the area

 

Get it rebuilt odds are its more then just a 5th gear syncro. Sorry mate but as soon as they open it and see EVERYTHING thats wrong with it your in the ground for at least 1200 bucks... Syncro kit/Bearing and Seal Kit/ New main/ imput shafts it all adds up. They are the woorst trannys to work on.

 

Yea im probably going to just get a used jdm tranny insead of the rebuild.


Dyno Extreme is Stanton a really great shop, look them up.

 

I don't think it would be that bad. The 5th synchro broken pieces are probably floating around in the 5/R housing, which is what stuck the 3/4 shifter for a while.

I wouldn't expect parts and labor to exceed that of the regular 5th synchro job.

That said, it makes no sense to pay someone to rebuild with new gears when you can have a JDM tranny for the price of a couple new gears from Mazda.

Dave

 

im a noob to the fd scene, does the jdm tranny use the same pressure plate/clutch/flywheel?

 

they are all the same.