was this during drag racing? or just on the street? I know you are pretty hard on them. I just got my s4 T2 tranny rebuilt and now I have the same turbo as you (T67) and I'm wondering how long it will hold up if I never plan to drag race it.

 

Just tell yourself the turbo 2 trans is not a turbo 2 trans and you will be go to go. Or Japan2la has some jspec trans that came outa other turbo models lol.

 

Yeah I think you are missing some teeth there sir. Either way transmissions are still black magic and sorcery to me.

 

At least we have a general idea of what kind of abuse an N/A transmission can take. 400+hp with WOT pulls and some times at the strip with hard launches seems promising. I guess if you were running a stock N/A clutch and F/W you would last less than a month on running the car that hard with the power you're putting out.


I hope you just bite the bullet and put a TII drivetrain in there. You can still put it in there, and not let anybody know about it.

 

couple quick things, the roll pins hammer out, a small phillips screw driver is actually perfect, even though you're supposed to use a drift.

also on the mazda transmission the two gears you broke, are the input shaft, and the countershaft. the input shaft basically stops after that first gear.

it does look fixable, although with all those gear teeth bouncing around in there, there may be damage to some of the other gear teeth. and like the motor, if its apart, you look at synchro's and hubs and bearings and stuff too which is where it gets expensive

the FSM has an adequate trans rebuild section, it does lack in pictures, so a couple pics while you're taking it apart are a good idea, just so everything goes back together right, as it probably wont work at all if its not right. there are a couple special tools (really deep socket, and some long bearing pullers) which are nice to have but with a little creativity you can do without em. might be easy to borrow, as every dealership has had a set (or three)

its a slightly different skillset, but if youre smart enough to build your own intake and engine, and not blow it up, the trans rebuild might be a fun challenge

 

Don't the gears need to be pressed off the shaft?

 

Transmissions are one of those things that I have refused to learn about. I just don't want to ever have to deal with rebuilding them in any way. But now that I've opened one up it doesn't look scary at all.

The NA clutch is pretty weak. I killed one in a few months with the original turbo install I did using the HT-18. Now granted, it did have over 100K on it already but I'm sure the turbo quickened its death.

I'm not big on using a TII transmission for philosophical reasons but if it comes down to it, I will. There's no harm in doing so. For the time being though I'm going to stick with the NA rear end. I have a freshly rebuilt GXL LSD waiting to go in.

I did first try to pop it out with a drift but it got stuck, so I reached for the drill.

Is that first gear then fixed solidly to the input shaft? I don't recall if it would freewheel. If it is, then I guess I need to find a new input shaft...which means the junk transmission I have is not going to be helpful.

This transmission was rebuilt a few years ago so all of that good stuff is new. I took a quick look and can't see any more damage from the teeth but that's not to say there isn't any. Since you've said the input shaft and input gear are one piece, I think it's probably out of the realm of me rebuilding it. I just figured that I could since I might have had the parts.

Maybe I'll put it aside then for later. I have people offering me NA transmissions for free since they are basically worthless so maybe I'll grab one of those and give a rebuild a try.

Some do, some don't. The ones I'm looking at appear to be held on by snap rings.

 

the bearings are pressed on, and some times also snap ringed the gears are just on there, on bearings or bushings depending on which gear it is, and what year the trans is. the shift hubs are pressed on, but again not tightly.

ive done a bunch over the years, they arent as cool as the motor, but still are kinda fun.

yeah too bad the input shaft is broken on the other one, cause then you'd probably be all set

 

Aaron heres some really good tutorials on complete disassembly and rebuild of a FD tranny they're almost identical on the inside, between this and the FSM you should be good to go

http://www.davidgeesaman.com/

you can make that long socket by cuttin a spare impact socket in half and weldin a pice of pipe between it

Did you rebuild the lsd???...if so do tell lol

 

sorry for the double post, but i was just looking at the pic, if the counter shaft on your other junk tranny is good, you could use that, remove that bearing with a puller and the gear will either be held on by snapring or maybe a nut everything is pressed on to the main shaft
the counter shaft is the only solid one
the actual gears themselves are under 100 bucks, i know with some of the mazda FWD transmissions people will use the 3rd gear from the AWD 323 turbo because they are hardened and they are around $65 for 3rd gear

 

I kind of jumped the gun on the LSD. The diff is going out to be rebuilt soon. I use "London Driveline" for stuff like this. But I hear it's a pretty simple operation to just replace the clutch packs.

 

So, um, it happened again.

Yesterday I was out for a drive with some friends. 10 minutes out of the city we had a clear road ahead but were stuck behind a truck pulling a trailer at half the speed limit. The car ahead of me pulled out and passed, I followed by dropping it to 3rd and putting the fun pedal down. Literally exactly as the first post in this thread describes, the transmission tore itself apart as the engine just crossed 5,000 RPM at 14 PSI. I was treated so the same shattering-crunching-grinding-breaking noise as before, and had no gears but forth.

I was able to limp home in 4th, which was a lot of fun as I happened to hit every freaking red light as I drove through the city from the highway to my house.

I think it's safe to say I have found and confirmed the power handling limit of the NA transmission. Above 450 RWHP, they can be broken at will by a little throttle in 3rd.

With winter fast approaching (though ironically, the weather is above 15 degrees C and no rain for the rest of the week, compared to the last two weeks which were down near zero with rain every day) I'm just going to park the car for the remainder and get to work on the stuff I planned for the winter. At this moment, the transmission shop should be just putting the finishing touches on a TII transmission I am having them build. I spoke of using a T5 earlier, but I got the TII transmission for no money locally and it was in really great shape. I'm just having it rebuilt with new bearings, syncros and seals. During the winter I'll make the swap and then never have to worry about transmission failure again.

 

^ I had my T2 tranny rebuilt. They sandblasted it too so it looked nice and clean. I'm glad you upgraded, sometimes you just don't want to deal with the BS of worrying about some time bomb part on your car.

 

Famous last words... jk. If my tranny has lasted as long as it has with my ape driving im sure your new one will last quite a while.

 

Welcome to the world of TII transmissions (bout time). Besides the go-fast modifications, ditching the NA transmission is probably the best thing I've ever done to my car.

 

Keep in mind I never really drove around worrying about the NA transmission before. I had the car at the 1/4 mile probably 15 times, and beat on it almost daily for two years before I started breaking things. With boost around 13 PSI at the low side of 400 RWHP, I didn't have much of a problem. With boost at a solid 14 PSI (HKS EVC) now at the higher side of 400 RWHP, they seem to break easily.

This one was hurt when I was tuning 16 PSI a few months ago. It only took about 3 runs at 16 PSI before it had acquired a whine in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. 500 RWHP? I think so!

 

Leave it to Aaron to make this wonderfull discovery

 

How much is it costing you to rebuild the T2 tranny Aaron?

 

Glad to see you bit the bullet and went with a t2 tranny. I think you definitely found the "line in sand" for the n/a trannies in general. What was your philosophical objection in the first place? I couldn't understand why you were willing to go to a t5 over the tried and true t2.

Off topic, do you have the link to the info on your porting? Id like to mimic it for my upcoming build. I can't remember how you went about it but I do remember your porting being more well thought out than most people's. I've been meaning to pm you about it.

 

When I read the title I was like

Then on page 3 I find out why...

Hehehe Nice Aaron...

 

I was quoted $1050 for the rebuild including bearings, seals, syncros and misc. It would be considerably cheaper (by about $300) if syncros weren't being replaced but I thought it was silly to have the whole thing apart and not do the syncros.

I have always wanted my car to be a true "turbo NA", which means not just tossing TII parts onto it. Such a thing (modifying what is there, fabricating required parts, etc.) is more in line with traditional hotrodding and the way I think, as opposed to just buying a TII drivetrain and bolting it on. Going with a T5 has many advantages such as ubiquity of parts, many gear selections, large aftermarket support, and low cost. But faced with how cheaply I picked up the TII transmission and running the effort vs. the cost of rebuilding the TII unit and just bolting it on, I decided to go the TII route. It's also nice my shifter will end up in the stock location, as opposed to having to fabricate linkages and such for the T5.

I don't suggest you mimic my porting. What I suggest will depend on your power goals and use of the car.

 

I would say that transmission lasted, taking into account your power level and actually using the car.

 

Yeah the NA transmission definitely showed it can take quite a bit of abuse.

 

i rebuilt the trans for my P port car (bearings/hubs/synchros/forks) and it shifts so nice, its way way way better shifting than the 74k trans in the FC

 

Got the call this morning that my TII transmission is done. Total cost is $1178.53 and I'm hoping to pick it up this afternoon.