Hey guys,
Tonight while driving my 74 RX-4 it got stuck in 3rd gear,and will not come out. About two months ago another transmission(79 RX-7 5-speed swapped in by PO) got stuck in 4th gear. I pulled that other transmission out because it was noisy even before it got stuck in gear,and replaced it with a spare 79 RX-7 transmission I had around from a parts car. The transmission in it now was in unknown condition,but so far it had been working just fine. I replaced the clutch slave a few weeks ago,and the clutch master today before taking it to the local cruise night,and then to play hockey when it failed. When I pull on the shifter it has a really strange pulsating feel to it,and will not budge. The clutch system is working,and I limped it home in third gear which is no small feat considering the lack of torque from the spinning triangles. I was driving like an old lady when it happened both times,and not winding it up real high,or shifting fast.Any ideas why the transmissions keep getting stuck on me?
Chris
A 'pulsating' feel in the shifter tells me something in the tranny is misaligned, probably the 'slider'. That's probably due to just plain old wear. The early (79-80) RX7 trannies also had a shift mechanism different from the 81- up and that could have something to do with it as well.
If you can't find another early 7 box, the later type shifter can easily be moved forward ~4" so the shifter will come out of the RX4 floor pan opening. I've done three different ones so far. This page has instructions on how to do it: http://the-mite.com/mite18.htm This is done on a Miata transmission but the RX7 works the same way. By the way, I removed the tailshaft housing from the first one I did, but that's not necessary. It can all be done with the tailshaft housing still on the box, you just have to be careful not to get any drill/grinder 'fuzz' in the hole where the shift rod comes out.
I might have a box from a 12a but might have tossed it last year when scrap was up.. I'll take a look monday.
If it there you have to come pick it up in winchendon ma
It will need to be a 79-80 trans Dwarf as the later 81-85's have the shifter in a different location. Also it could be a pre-RX-7 trans as well,but those are tough to find. I have one,but no bell housing so it is sort of useless.
Chris
Until I learned to have someone knowledgeable ie ISC to rebuild my trans for the RX3, we broke a trans every 2-3 races. The early trans were not up to the stress of racing or other hard uses. I can remember buying complete cars just to get to another trans. Once I started having the trans rebuilt, I never had the issue again. And yes, the shift forks over-rotate.
The thing that kills me is that I wasn't beating on the car either time this happened. I could understand it if I were beating on it,and ham-fisting the shifter,but I wasn't. Can I break the tranny apart,and fix this issue cheap enough,and put it back in,or am I better off just getting another used transmission?
I am tiring with this car. Thing is I bet I can't sell it even with a good transmission.
