2Lucky2tha7

iTrader: (3)

Last night, my brother's '79 widebody first gen (13B streetported, T04B, Microtech, etc.) had the strangest thing happen. He was in 2nd gear accelerating (mere 6lbs of boost) when suddenly it sounded like the tranny/ clutch assembly broke loose, and now whenever (while it's running) I release the clutch (even in neutral), it sounds like a continuous (LOUD) banging in the tranny. Are these trannies really that weak???
So, naturally, I asked him how it happened and my brother told me that anytime he tried to release the clutch while in gear, the car really did NOT wanna move, he said it feels like it's "stuck", ----like trying to move your car forward with blocks of wood in front of wheels!!! He said that when it happened it made the same noise no matter what gear he was in, and while it was coasting with the clutch pushed in, the noise went away. He's using a centerforce clutch and pressure plate, a fairly new throwout bearing, and "apparently" the transmission was rebuilt with Turbo II gears. The tranny "case" looks like a "pre-'83" one------might even be an old RX-3/RX-4 tranny case. I could tell for myself that it was rebuilt by the silicone that was squeezed out from the trans case when it was assembled years ago. The gearing is also very different from all my previous first gens that I have owned. The fifth gear is ESPECIALLY wide!!! (When fourth gear is tached out to almost 7500 rpms, and when it's shifted to fifth, the rpms are at 3800 and the speedometer is reading close to 125MPH!!! ----(Great cruising gear I guess). Anyway, the guy he bought it from almost 5 years ago said that he destroyed 3(?) differentials and 3(?) transmissions before he finally found the right setup that could withstand the power. I could be off on those numbers because I can't quite remember back 5 years. Since that day 5 years ago, the car has had maybe 9,000 miles put on it at most!!
I really don’t think that it’s the clutch because it was hardly abused.
I really want to install a series 5 Turbo II tranny, but that means that he needs to buy another lightweight flywheel, a new clutch setup because of the input shaft on the Turbo II tranny, a new starter to compensate for the different tranny and flywheel, and I'm not sure if his existing driveshaft will slide right into the Turbo II tranny, as well as if the new tranny will be any longer than his current one!! Then again, I have heard that I can use the existing “tail shaft(?)” from the current tranny and swap it onto a Turbo II tranny so that I can still use the existing driveshaft. Speaking of which, how strong is the stock driveshaft???

side note: my friend crashed his 3rd gen a couple weeks ago, another friend is having a s#*%load of problems with his 91 Turbo II, I'm currently rebuilding the engine for my '91 N/A because the engine completely blew it's apex seals (I got it that way), and my brother just had this happen to him last night. (All of our cars are nowhere near stock BTW, except for mine---just ported, header, etc.).

My girlfriend's comment last night was:"Ya know, I'm REALLY starting to lose faith in you're RX7's!!!"

2Lucky2tha7

iTrader: (3)

damn, not even a COMMENT???

2Lucky2tha7

iTrader: (3)

Might as well follow up:
2 gears inside the tranny were missing teeth and all chipped/ gouged up!!! The one gear had most of it's teeth sheared off!!!