OK, 6 months ago (my last drag race) I caught hell getting the car in 3rd gear. The car sat for 6 months before I started it up and ran an autox last week. I didn't have any problems driving to the event (1st-5th) or at the event (only 1st and 2nd gear). I wanted to do another drag this week so I change out my motor mounts (I thought that was the problem) a few days ago. I went to the track tonight and still couldn't find 3rd. It was like it just wasn't there under heavy loads. I drove the car home (1st-5th) and rushed off to work tonight so I haven't got to play with it yet. I know 1st is way over to the side (kind of like a reverse gear - just on the drivers vs pax side). What the hell did I do? The tranny has 220K miles on it (I think) and the car has a late model LSD on it. I'm torn between:
1) pull it out, inspect and fix the problem (no idea what I am doing <G>)
2) buying a used 5 speed
3) swapping to RX7 stuff in case I ever go up on the HP

Suggestions, ideas, comments, help??? Again, it seems to drive fine at normal speeds with the exception of 1st feeling like it is way over to the left hand side.

 

i just took a tranny from my 1995 parts car with 90k miles on it. changed the oil to syn and took it out for a spin. gears changed awsome, then i started to take it higher up in the rpms at full boost and going from 2nd to 3rd shifting at redline , it WOULD NOT go into 3rd. id have to force it like a bitch and listen to the grind or let the clutch out between the shift and then stick it in and slide it in. ******* pissed, but yea the syncronizers dont do much work while your just driving around cause they only need to change the other gear by 250-500 rpms and while your shifting at redline they will need to change the next gear 1.5-2.5k rpms.

 

I have heard other stories of people not finding 3 during a 2-3 shift under real heavy load. Seems common with people putting 250+ hp through the 5 speed. I've also heard that going to the mazda competition mounts will help get rid of the problem as it's caused by excessive flex.

Don't know what's up with the location of 1st, but at least it still works.

 

you can always try some "friction modifier" after the mounts. It will help the synchros match faster.

 

That's interesting. I often have the same issue on my 5-speed when I'm accelerating under heavy boost. Sometimes I go from 2'nd to 5'th, sometimes coming out of 2'nd it feels like I hit a brick wall.

Part of it is driver error. I've found that if I'm actually paying attention and not just pushing the shifter around that it always goes into 3'rd. But it's definitely harder than when I'm just driving casually.

 

same issue. i replaced the mounts about a year ago. not much difference. the car is fine in daily driving situations, but if i'm driving hard, like in the mountains, shifting a lot, running the car out it's range, i sometimes can't get the car into 3rd. the car isn't boosted right now.

once it cools, it's fine.

 

Your tranny is in your car, mounted to the engine. Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. I'd just buy another used miata tranny.

 

No, on mine there is just nothing there (feels like no gears) when under a load. A horrible feeling when racing!

It will be interesting to see what is inside the tranny (I have no experience with this).

 

Looks simple enough :gay:

 

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get Quaife gear sets cheap. I couldn't imagine spending that much money in trans internals with the current pricing.

 

at the current price plus setup or risk of ******* up i would get a 6 speed or if you absolutely wanna fab up stuff a RX7 5 speed but it will add wieght and i hear it is clunky wich apeals more to you for me 6 speed is the Shiznit.

 

A six speed with a taller than stock 6th gear would be awesome. I've read and been told that the 6th gear in the 6spd is actually shorter than the 5th gear in our 5spds.

 

Yeah but our 5 speeds use a 4.1 or 4.3 rear diff. 5th gear on a 5 speed is .814:1. 6th gear on a 6 speed is .843:1

A 6 speed with a 3.9 (standard w 6 speed) or 3.6 (available in some countries w 6 speed) would be pretty sick.

.814 x 4.3 = 3.50
.814 x 4.1 = 3.33
.843 x 3.9 = 3.29
.843 x 3.636 = 3.07

 

Now that is more what I would like to have.

 

friction modifier for LSDs will make the synchros worse. they need to NOT slip against each other to work properly.

 

err, lsd is in the BACK, synchros are in the TRANSMISSION.

 

umm
my suggestion pick up another tranny, if your tranny is ok you have a spare and if its bad you can swap it.

 

i had the same problem with an eclipse i used to have it turned out the bracket that the shift cables mounted to one of the bolts was loose....causing it to put more wear on the cables for forcing gears causing me to break 2 sets of shifter cables lol.....i've never actully looked at the shift linkage in my miata tho so idk if that will help

 

all the linkage is internal, no cables on a Miata.

 

Yeah, I broke the fork on a cabled tranny in my Fiat Spyder years ago. Fixed it, replaced the clutch, and left on vacation. Got about 300 miles down the road and the clutch shattered. Still not sure if it was poor installation or just a defect. I know alot of you guys are in Virginia (I'm from WV and used to go through there a quite a bit). I've lost a clutch, a tranny, an engine and got a $150 ticket for parking on the side of I-77 during a horrible rain storm in VA. So, VA can kiss my ***! (a little off topic but I had to get it off my chest <G>)