So, unfortunately I do think I have a bum 6 speed. Unless anyone has any ideas.

I've:

Confirmed it's got the right shifter (came with the trans, but I did lookup the various shifters and confirmed it's definitely for the nb1 6 speed).

Rebuild the shifter, meaning new bushings and whatnot in it. All tight there.

Messed with it for a quite a while. 5th and reverse no workie, I did manage to get it into 5th by coaxing it into there, then it basically was stuck in 5th.


Seller is from this forum, and does appear to be working with me to make it right. What's a trans worth in this kinda shape? I'm thinking $100 or something to have as a potentially rebuildable spare. Though I called around and couldn't find anyone in the state to rebuild it.

This issue seems like the most common one for 6 speeds. I have another buddy whose developed the same issue here locally, and it seems like between the bolt on the case that drops the 5th/reverse mechanism and various other failures this is common.

I definitely expect the trans to be able to find all gears just sitting there like that, at least my 10ae has never felt locked out of any gear, ever.

I did eventually coax it into 5th, not forcefully per say, just kinda wiggled and pushed it into there. Then it got stuck in 5th:


I was able to eventually get it back out but really doesn't feel right. If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears, otherwise I think something is buggered here and I needa get a refund.

 

Brodeo, check your PMs

 

Bummer, sorry to see it man.

Call Walter Motorsports and see what he'd give you for a core. That would be the value I'd use.

 

did you message on a FB page about this?

I'm in Utah, and have rebuilt these before. If it's just the retention and the rest is good.... easy. (but might as well do synchros when you're in there)

 

So the seller is giving me $250 back, I paid $500 for it, so I guess I got a $250 6 speed core to play with. I'm not thrilled but these are used parts and **** happens, I don't think the seller was being malicious about it, and he told me straight up he had never tested it and that it came out of a wrecked car that he parted out and kept the trans from.. 8 years ago or something and it sat in his garage since.

At this time I'm not trying to dive into a DIY trans rebuild, just too many irons in the fire to take on a time intensive project like that when I have other higher priority stuff to work on. So I'll be looking for another drop in and keeping this one as a rebuildable/core. Though maybe I could look into the retention fix, if you have any info or suggestions about that Iron, I'm all ears. I did not message you on FB about this, but I did see this appears to be a pretty common issue - another local buddies trans has the same affliction. I did watch a few videos on rebuilding these things and it definitely looked doable, but incredibly tedious and time consuming.

leboeuf, I'll get back to you, definitely interested.

 

You might hear from me about this. Mine is pretty crunchy going into 2nd and 3rd.

 

Damn dude, sorry to hear about the debacle with the new trans. Hopefully Iron’s got a solution for you with that retention adjustment.

I’ll second your sentiment about the rebuild. I pulled my grenaded 6 speed about halfway apart and went: “Yeah, there’s a lot of things I want to do more than this” lol.

Interested to see what comes of this. Again, I hope the solution keeps it from becoming a paperweight! The more of these aging components that stay alive, the better!

 

That sucks, sorry to hear it. At least the seller is standing up for you. I'm keeping my eye out for an NB 5 speed... and fearing the same result.

 

6th and reverse are pretty easy to dismantle and inspect, but with 5th involved, the rest has to come apart, requiring some more specialized pressing tools. It's definitely worth fixing to someone, last I checked parts are readily available from Mazda's parts store.

 

Damn sry to hear man. Ya in terms of a tranny rebuild, definitely not an easy google it and replace it kinda thing. I replaced an input shaft bearing that went bad on my integra "back in the day" but that was fairly straightforward (not having to disassemble the main or counter shaft) and installed a quaife, but these miata trannies look more complicated and dificult to work on from pictures I've seen. I know some people don't love them (and rightly so), but my 6 speed from a certain "prestigious" seller has been good so far. They didn't package it great either shipping it across the pond, but it didn't get damaged..

 

Thanks for the comments guys. Assuming I get the $250 refund, I'm happy to keep this trans and eventually have it rebuilt or pass it to someone for parts. So not a huge loss. I messed with it a bit more and there's no hope of finding 5th or R, even when spinning the input shaft by hand, and the rest of the gears are there and easy to find. I had a thought that maybe its tight from sitting and running it with some oil might help, but id rather not swap it in and have to do the work twice when it sucks. @redursidae said he has a MSM 6 speed with a broken case that I could have, so if I find a rebuilder that could be an option to make 1 out of the 2 and have the supposedly stronger shot peened gears. If anyone knows of a rebuilder in the NM/CO area let me know. @Ironhydroxide said he has done it, is that an offer that you might be willing to do it for others? I could definitely make a trip to UT for some mountain biking...

I considered prestige but a few good members on here have been burned by them. I'd rather not take another chance on a gearbox and potentially lose more money.

That all said it looks like my old buddy @leboeuf has the solution for me and if things go as planned I'll have some updates this weekend!

 

Yep, depending on timeline/schedule of course. I only do this kind of thing on the side, so it's more a "help people out" thing than a "make rent" kind of thing.

 

Cool. Honestly this is the kinda thing where I'd get it to you, and tell you to take your time. I would ideally like to get it going as a backup trans and have not had any luck finding a shop that will touch it locally yet. I'll be holding onto it for now!

 

I now have a 6 speed and it shifts into all gears, but having a bad experience with the engine it was attached to (and seeing the clutch wear..) had me nervous. Your recent experience doesn't make me feel better! At the end of the day, 20+ year old used parts are a gamble. I used to think all these low mileage partouts overseas could be real, but after looking through a few of the engines that claimed to have that many miles, I'm not sure that's a truthful claim for a lot of them.

Have you given any thought to the Mazda Motorsports 5 speed gear set? Supposedly people are putting down 350+ horsepower with that. It's a pretty penny at $2,200 along with any other rebuild parts you'll need, but if it gives you the gearing and shift quality you want along with the torque capacity you need, it may be worth the price over swap options. Like we've seen, any used parts are a gamble, and there just aren't that many creampuff grandpa 60k mile parts donors out there any more.

 

I saw that gearset, and drooled over it for a bit, before coming to the realization that I don't have a trusted shop that could put that together for me and I'm back in the same position. I also thought about Walther, but I've seen so many of those fail, including 2 in a row from someone on this forum, I couldn't see spending the money on something that might just fail anyways. Plus the ethos for this car has always been to keep it within the limits of the 6 speed drivetrain. If I start eating those like consumables I'll go back to the drawing board. Though to be honest that drawing board would probably be less power, not more drivetrain. Seeing as I got a solid 5 years outta this 5 speed, I'm hoping the 6 speed future proofs things. I honestly don't need to run allofit on track, I should stick with the 265whp tune and keep it there for track duty and only flip the magic switch for playing around on the street. The more I've gotten into track driving the more I realize I need less power, not more, because I'm not fully utilizing it anyways.

I do think I have a solution worked out though, and maybe I'll have the car back up before the end of next month yet! I'd like to have it ready for fall track season, it's been pretty hot and I'm not trying to track the car right now anyways. To be continued...

 

Ok, weekly update. Things are happening.

First, on the bunk 6 speed. I was able to work out with the seller @calteg and came to an agreeable solution. He refunded me $250, so basically I got the core for $250. I'll either pass that onto someone else or get it rebuilt down the line (looking at you @Ironhydroxide). I did try slapping a Miata Roadster shifter on it to see if it would shift any better and it absolutely will no go into 5/R, so no progress there. Maybe it got sticky or seized from sitting? IDK, but it definitely doesn't feel good enough to put in the car as-is, I won't chance the labor in hopes it magically starts shifting once it's spinning and oil is flung around.

Enter @leboeuf , the MVP. I've known Tom for some years thru this forum, and although we've only met in person once I definitely consider him a friend. Good dude delivered this peach of a rat infested 00SE to me for.. basically what the going rate of a 6 speed is delivered to your door. So again, THANKS to Tom for that. I was able to get it running the next day, basically just needed fuel drained and new plugs/wires. I also took it for a drive and the 6 speed has all the gears, feels good to go, and the rear end didn't make any strange noises.

The plan is the 6 speed + 3.9 from this car (dubbed franchesca) into my NA. Then I'll be shuffling a 5 speed and spare diff into it to get it running for a co-worker, who is gonna help with the labor and buy the car off me. In the end this results in near-free drivetrain for me and a friend with their first miata, so the car will be saved. The wrenching marathon to swap drivelines starts next week.





In preparation I went ahead and dropped the drivetrain. Trans and diff are out of SuperSmurf at this time.




This damn ACT XT 1.6 clutch will not die. Crazy. It's been probably 30k+ turbo miles across 3 different motors since I bought it circa 2008. And it's in good enough shape that it's gonna live on in my seat time NB (haven't really announced that here, but yeah, I have another basically-free different basket case NB that's gonna become a seat time track rat - it will deserve its own thread at some point).




Anyways the pressure plate and flywheel are hotspotted to **** but still smooth engagement. I'll send it in the rat for sure.





Furthermore, to pull the trans I had to remove the downpipe. And also I have an oil drain line that's leaking on the turbo, which means the turbo is basically off right? Enter the next impulse buy, Pulsar GTX2860 Gen2. I got it in the .64 exhaust size. Hopes are better spool, most importantly better transient response (I.E. re-spool after shift), and 40-50whp more headroom over my OG gt2860rs disco potato. We'll see how that works out in reality, but I've been looking at all the data and I think my expectations are reasonable. People reported this thing as spooling as fast as a 2560 with 50+whp headroom over the 2860rs. The funding of this was encouraged by a local friend who wants my 2860, has cash, and will cover the brunt of the cost of the GTX upgrade.

And of course the FM2 clutch is OTW and poly bushings for my 3.9 torsen that's going in. And the cherry on top is a miata roadster tall angled shifter for the new 6 speed.

Yeah, this rabbit holed. Also fixing a rear main seal leak, re-sealing my coolant re-route, going seq fuel, wiring in a knock sensor at the same time. Should be some fun updates over the next month or so!

 

lol

need a transmission? Why not just buy a whole car instead?

 

I was trying to figure out if that's what was going on. Honestly if you part out the rest of the car you'll probably end up with a free transmission

 

Damn, big updates! Stoked all seems to have worked out for the best. There's nothing better than having things line up like that to "subsidize" new upgrades.

Can't wait to see what you do with the new NB and hopefully your coworker enjoys the hell out of his new car!

 

Yay for cheap basket case NBs that can be revived into decent drivers (while stealing parts for the race car)!