5 Speed MT vs S2 6 Speed
05-21-2018, 06:00 PM
#1
5 Speed MT vs S2 6 Speed
Greetings RX8 experts,
I recently bought an anniversary edition RX8 with ~23k miles on the clock, unfortunately it looks like a damaged transmission got passed the pre-purchase inspection I had done, as well as my test drives. Whatever, it's an expensive lesson and that's fine.
The transmission has the 1st to 2nd gear grind that seems to indicate a dying synchro from my research. If you try to shift into 2nd over 4-5k rpms, it is gear grind city. All the other gears work great. I tried changing the oil over to MT90 just for kicks, and it didn't really help.
The engagement point for the clutch still seems pretty high, and there aren't problems with the other gears, so I have pretty much ruled a bad clutch out in my mind. Clutch pedal bracket seems solid too.
When I brought it up to my local rotary shop, they really pushed swapping to the JDM 5 speed instead of a series-2 6 speed. I can only find a couple of threads about the 5 speed, and I was just curious if anyone had any thoughts? Common sentiment seems to be that the 5 speed is "stronger", but in my somewhat uneducated opinion it seems like the 5 speed would suffer on acceleration and top-end cruising.
I was pretty happy with the 6 speed in my 2008 NC Miata, and my understanding is that the S2 transmission is basically the same setup, so that's what I am leaning towards. I just wanted to check with the experts and make sure I'm not totally off base though.
I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, or if it has been rehashed a lot, but I really couldn't find much information regarding the 5 speed. Any opinions are appreciated!
I recently bought an anniversary edition RX8 with ~23k miles on the clock, unfortunately it looks like a damaged transmission got passed the pre-purchase inspection I had done, as well as my test drives. Whatever, it's an expensive lesson and that's fine.
The transmission has the 1st to 2nd gear grind that seems to indicate a dying synchro from my research. If you try to shift into 2nd over 4-5k rpms, it is gear grind city. All the other gears work great. I tried changing the oil over to MT90 just for kicks, and it didn't really help.
The engagement point for the clutch still seems pretty high, and there aren't problems with the other gears, so I have pretty much ruled a bad clutch out in my mind. Clutch pedal bracket seems solid too.
When I brought it up to my local rotary shop, they really pushed swapping to the JDM 5 speed instead of a series-2 6 speed. I can only find a couple of threads about the 5 speed, and I was just curious if anyone had any thoughts? Common sentiment seems to be that the 5 speed is "stronger", but in my somewhat uneducated opinion it seems like the 5 speed would suffer on acceleration and top-end cruising.
I was pretty happy with the 6 speed in my 2008 NC Miata, and my understanding is that the S2 transmission is basically the same setup, so that's what I am leaning towards. I just wanted to check with the experts and make sure I'm not totally off base though.
I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, or if it has been rehashed a lot, but I really couldn't find much information regarding the 5 speed. Any opinions are appreciated!
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