40th8Jake

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

NotAPreppie

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.

40th8Jake

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!

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

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

40th8Jake

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.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

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.





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.


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40th8Jake

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.