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PhilR

Gearbox Cruch

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They always are when cold, especially going from 3rd to 2nd. Should be better when it's warmed up though. I wouldn't worry too much unless it gets really bad which is a sign that your synchros are wearing out. Best tip, always change gear slowly. 

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I find the gearchange quite tricky on this car... if you don't get the revs matched well it will crunch a bit. Feels like it was tuned more for driving fast than slow.

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It's not that bad once gearbox is warmed up. Also not sure on best gear change being slow. Best gearswitch usually is with revmatched rpms, and if switching too slow, rpms fall off too much, so on mine i get best switch with one steady motion. Usually with such rpms fall off (with stock flywheel) just right on upshifts, and not too bad on downshifts, but for later one can always do throttle blipping, by itself or by heal & toe. After all, the less rpm difference, the less synchros need to work to synchronize lesser rpm delta before slip in gear, the better shift is/feels easier/buttery smoother. On mine one normal steady motion seems best, probably because of right rev-match if such. Not maximally quick forced shift, but not slow one either.

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A crunch is the lugs on the gears skipping out of the holes they're supposed to engage with (because they're rotating at different speeds). If you repeatedly abuse the gearbox you might wear the lugs down and it'll be more likely to skip in future (or worst case snap off I suppose), but they are slathered in oil and it probably needs a lot of blunders to have an impact. The 100k mile brigade aren't needing new gearboxes as far as I'm aware.

I wonder if our boxes are tough to shift when cold because of the oil, or because of thermal contraction of the moving parts and gear selector? On a cold morning it can take me two or even three attempts to get into 2nd gear in the first couple of minutes if I'm unlucky.

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IIRC from vendor reps/spokepersons there was some bla-bla that they designed gearbox to enhance shifting feel, making it much notchier/more precise, and hard to engage 2nd when cold is just because small tolerances for said feel/precision, but to me it sounds a bit more of excuse. AFAIK very similar Aisin AZ6 gearboxes were used also in S2000/RX8/MX5/S15/200SX/IS200 (i even sourced countershaft bearing from nissan, because toyobaru didn't offer it separately from gearbox case), and do they had similar issues? IIRC no.

Well, to generalize, it's annoyance, but minor. As twins themselves even with several known relatively minor (imho) faults/cons are still great overall package (especially for their price), it's just one of things i accept, as there are many more things to like/love, more so then i dislike cons like cold bad shifts, rattling interior, a bit lacking power and such. Still great car overall that i'm still happy to own/drive/track, without breaking bank at that.

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33 minutes ago, maurice said:

It's hard to believe the same manufacturer made the S2000 gearbox!

 

 

Honda boxes on a Monday, GT86 boxes on a Friday afternoon :lol:

 

Going from a Type R to a GT86 the quality of the shift is the one thing I miss!

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My GT86 was shocking for this and is one of the main things I do not miss. Mine would be stiff 1st to 2nd and crunch 2nd to 3rd. I could work around this so to speak, but it was a pain and not something that is really acceptable on a new car. My 1999 Honda Prelude Type S changes gear perfectly. 

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I don't have much trouble with mine except 5th to 4th which is very notchy. I have MTech springs, too.

My previous Honda CR-Z had an incredibly slick box.

Sent from my LG-Q6 using Tapatalk

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