4th Synchro Starting to go..
 

Well my transmission has seen better days, and now even double clutching doesn’t help 4th gear shifts over 5k rpm.
( I will place blame on the previous owner, but I have driven it hard. I heel toe and always rev match but, excuses.)

So I have come to accept that I need one of three things to happen and I want to solicit help from the community on making the best choice moving forward with this.

Option A: Rebuild the current transmission which costs can range at the low from $1300-2000. Thats if I drop it and put it back in myself.

Option B: Buy a salvage Series 2 transmission off of e-bay (or get lucky and find one in a lkq yard around me) and gamble with that one. I’ve seen them for around $900. Albeit I won’t know the condition. I understand they are fairly more sturdy than the Series 1 transmissions. With very light modification I can put that in and pray.

Option C: Last option because it’s cheap but will probably yield the worst results is buy a salvage series 1 transmission and gamble with that. They’re dirt cheap on e-bay but probably for a reason. They are more common since more series 1’s were produced but who knows how those synchros are going to be and how they were treated.

I know option A makes the most sense, in knowing it’s rebuilt and that I will have at least a year warranty. But maybe some of you had good experiences with just swapping in a junker and have been happy ever since.

Feel free to enlighten me and the community with your experiences. I’m sure there is a thread or two people will refer me to on this very issue (there always is) but a lot of them are almost 10 years old etc.

Thanks in advance and happy rotating.

-Regards, Jake

I got lucky with a local JDM importer. They had a 6-port/6MT combo come over and sold the motor to somebody. I got the transmission for $400.
The current owner of my car is still using it.

Thanks NAP. I appreciate it. I’ll give that a shot. I’m about to have my engine rebuilt by a good shop and I’m going to do the trans and clutch as well. I’ll be calling around local importers and see what I can get.

Thanks!

I have an S2 trans, but shipping is a pitb and has become more expensive.

Hmmm, yeah I can imagine shipping being difficult on this. If it made sense fiscally I will take it off your hands. But I understand if it’s too much to deal with.

Im really leaning towards an s2 transmission at this point. I’ve had bad luck with rebuilt transmissions in the past.

well you’d either have to ship me back the “cooler” shipping box or buy me a new one. It cost about $85 or something from Academy. I could try to find a small pallet and strap it down instead, but it’s not really my preferred method.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...e8c61d64b.jpeg


I thought the “general” trans shop that rebuilt some for me did a good job, but then had someone else that specializes in these open one up several years later and it was pretty fubar inside. You can’t trust just anyone, for sure.


.

Been in the process of moving the last few days. Sorry I didn’t get back sooner.

I could definitely ship it back for you. I’m not too experienced with freight shipping but I have to start somewhere if I’m going to be my own mechanic. I would try to rebuild my own engine this go also, but I’ll wait till after this one is done and buy a $1000 Rx8.

i will send you pm’s and we can start to figure this out. Thank you Team.