jaehyun127

Hey guys, on hard shifting, i guess i let go of the clutch a little too soon - before the 3rd gear engaged. I was always curious --

How bad is grinding and what exactly happens when you grind?
I grinded pretty hard... GrRRrRkkekERrRr... yea, something like that...
Also, what gets damaged during grinding?? Someone said something about syncros and gear heads...??

Enlighten me please - and tell me how badly i mistreated my 8. Thanks.

james.

Sigma

Synchros get damaged when you let out the clutch too soon. Doing it once generally doesn't do anything noticeable, you just probably decreased the life of the 3rd gear synchro by a few thousand miles. Just don't make a habit of it.

jaehyun127

grinding once decreases the life by a few thousand miles??? :O
damn. My friend has been teaching me a few tips on hard driving, and i've occasionally grinded my 3rd and 4th gear practicing slip shifting, etc.

Also, what is a synchro?? and how much would it cost to repair when it decides to give up? And what needs to be replaced and how will you know you have to replace it??

thanks for the help.

Sigma

Best place to learn about Synchros:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/transmission6.htm

I'd suggest you start at the beginning here though:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/transmission.htm

Really it's just a guess. It depends how bad you grinded, how long, a lot of things. And synchros last a long time, so even if it was a couple thousand miles less life you probably wouldn't notice it. You'll likely get rid of the car before that happens.

Slip-Shifting is pretty much going to screw up the synchros no matter what. You'll definitely significantly decrease your transmission life by doing it. Particularly if you're power-shifting like I imagine that you are. The MTX in the RX-8 isn't particularly strong. Once you get it down leave the slip-shifting to the drag-strip and minimize its' use then too.

jaehyun127

thanks sigma!!