Cool to the full tear down and build up with PAR gears, plus the ingenuity in removing some of the parts.

I had the same thing happen to me with the one diff bearing. I leveraging the upper lip of the inner race, broke it off, then commenced to cutting and eventually splitting it.

 

did you replace the seal for the shift/reverse sensor (big thin o ring)? did you also swap that small o ring for that reverse thing..(forgot name but there's a pin and a small o ring around that).

 

Yep, I bought a brand new OEM reverse switch sensor/assembly from ~V~max (which also contained the new o-ring). I also bought a new o-ring for the speedo sensor.

There are actually two pin deals with o-rings and I replaced both. Pictures of both are in front of their respective spots on the tranny. There's this one (P/N 32709-18000):





And this one (P/N 32388-03E00):

 

thanks man...i was having a hard time getting PNs for them.

 

Did you get yours finished Dan?

Saturday, I just randomly had the thought to put the transmission into each gear and spin the input shaft to make sure there's no binding etc. prior to installing it in the actual car. I had long ago made sure the tranny goes into every gear and spins in neutral but hadn't thought to spin the input shaft IN each gear.

Unfortunately it turned out that in gear, the darn thing would only spin in 2nd. Even with some vice grips on the input shaft it would NOT spin in 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or reverse. It would rotate about 1/8 turn and just "clank" like it was hitting a wall.

I shot Haysam at PAR an e-mail Saturday night about it asking if he had any ideas and he wrote me back immediately that it sounded like the 1st/2nd slide collar deal must be touching the reverse idler gear - meaning that when you select 2nd gear, the slider moves away from the idler and thus there is no contact.

So I pulled the case back off and nope definitely no interference with the reverse idler gear. Although I was actually kind of relieved because if the slide collar deal actually touched the idler gear then I would just be SOL using this gearset, and also would have been annoyed at myself for not noticing it was interfering when assembling it.

I e-mailed him back late Saturday night that there was no interference and asked if he had anything else I should look for. He again nearly immediately wrote back that he had two ideas - no end play on the gear(s) or a "jammed" 2nd gear synchro. I knew I had enough end play so the 2nd gear synchro seemed like the culprit at that point.

Sunday I pulled the mainshaft out and noticed that I couldn't get 2nd gear to spin at all. Argh. So I disassembled the mainshaft again and sure enough the stupid three piece 2nd gear synchro deal was jammed together (that silver ring was stuck inside the outside synchro ring and wouldn't spin). I actually had to use a hammer and flat head to get them back apart.

Here's a picture of the offender. The synchro setup here has three parts. The outside brass ring, the middle silver ring, and then the innermost brass piece. Those three tabs on the silver ring actually sit into holes on 2nd gear itself - so this silver ring needs to be able to rotate independently of the brass part(s). This is what was preventing 2nd gear from spinning - the silver ring was "jammed" into the brass synchro so tight that 2nd gear wouldn't spin even with vice grips!



After I got them apart, I just put it right back together with some fresh gear oil for lube and them immediately re-assembled the mainshaft and put the whole transmission back together. All is fine and dandy now and input shaft is able to rotate in every gear. Pretty amazing that a "stuck" synchro can prevent the entire transmission from rotating.

I have to really commend Haysam for repeatedly answering me back immediately this weekend. It was my Saturday night but for him in Australia it was his Sunday. Had he not been so prompt getting back to me on a Sunday (for him) I probably wouldn't have suspected that 2nd gear synchro setup on my own - especially since I know it was assembled correctly.

So definite lesson learned. Make sure all your synchro cones/gears spin freely before putting the entire transmission back together.

 

the solder came in friday but i had to paint a bumper so i got caught up with that and didn't want to mess with the gear box until the clear coat is fullt harden.

yeah i had the same issue when i assembled the gear set on the main shaft. i'm like wait how come it's not spinning at all and i had to pull it out and more or less reseat it so then the sleeve can go into that gear and won't bind up. but yeah it hit that part and it was not moving at all. i caught it when i was messing around w/ the gear set.

the shafts are back in the front side of the case now and i will cut the solder and stick them around the bearing case and do a dry fit assembly.

side note i did have shims from the main shaft.

since i just have 2 shafts to set the shims (left the diff bearings in) hopefully it'll go smoothly.

 

Ok james...need your help...how do I know for sure that I seated that 1st/2nd syncros correctly. I got the shims all set...and I'm about to put the shafts on and I'm a little paranoid. What is supposed to spin when the collar is in what position? Thanks

 

You just need to make sure all the gears are able to spin freely. So, on the mainshaft for example, slide the collar down onto 1st gear and make sure 2nd gear spins free. Then slide the collar up to 2nd gear and make sure 1st gear spins free. Obviously 3rd, 4th, and 5th are moot because they're fixed and don't spin independently of the shaft.

Do the same on the input shaft - slide the collar down onto 3rd gear and make sure 4th gear spins free. Then slide the collar up to 4th gear and make sure 3rd gear spins free. You also want to make sure 5th spins free (slide the collar up off of 5th gear and check). 1st and 2nd are fixed obviously so no need to check those.

 

Got it.. had the same problem. It's still kinda sticky but it's moving now. I had to take a pick and push hard to get that silver ring off. Damn.

 

Good deal

I'm swapping my transmission in this weekend. I put new (rebuilt lifetime warranty) Autozone axles on it earlier this summer and something is up with the passenger side one. It pops and grinds - the noise/sensation is distinctly different from typical "bad CV joint noise", but something is definitely wrong with it so I'm going to warranty it out. I really try to avoid Autozone stuff at all costs but I figure their lifetime warranty axles would be a good bet for this car on the very slight chance I break some axles on boost.

Anyway, what sucks is that I bet there are none in stock for warranty exchange and it'll mess up my hopes to have this back on the road by the end of the weekend.

 

Finally had the chance to bolt everything together. I did a few shifts and spun the input shaft.. no bind and it spins pretty smoothly.

Just need to get a new striker rod boot...then I can work on the hubs/bearing install to match the VE.

As always thanks for your help james.

 

Glad you got it back together Dan!

I finally picked up my replacement axle from Autozone today on my lunch hour. Barring some unforeseen goofy situation I think I'll finally be put back together and doing my test drive this weekend.

 

Hey Dan, I just noticed something in the FSM. This "oil gutter" here:



Did your transmission have that? Do you have a picture of it or know offhand where it goes?

Neither of my transmissions I used to combine to build this current one had a plastic gutter that looked like the part above. I did have (and installed of course) all the others but not the one pictured and I just now noticed it in the FSM

 

yup i have it on mine. it's wedged into the vent hole part and the leg that sticks out sits on the longer gutter.

there's a little bit of rubber material/gasket around the part that actually goes into the vent hole which i assume is to seal it out.

 

Ahh, so it goes here?



Definitely never had that part. Must have gotten lost on the prior "professional" rebuild 10+ years ago. Kind of sucks, but I guess nothing I can do about it at this point. Hopefully it's only negligibly important.

 

yup...right there.

i almost think it's to keep water from getting in or even keep the oil inside. i wouldn't worry too much. just keep that breather hose on it and you're good.

 

All done!

 

LOL your clutch pedal squeaks too enh?

 

Yep it's so annoying. It's actually an entirely new OEM pedal assembly. All new OEM bushings everywhere in the assembly. Still creaks and squeaks. If I spray it all down with some white lithium lube it's good for a few days then comes right back again with a vengeance.

 

Same here...yup I spray it down..and squeak is back a few days later. Brand new oem pedal too.

 

Awesome job. Are you satisfied with the sound?

 

Thanks! I don't know if I'm "satisfied" with it (as I wasn't doing this FOR the sound like some ricers evidently do), but I am pleasantly surprised that it's not as loud as I expected. Not only is it not as loud as I was expecting, but the tone of the whine is different than I expected as well. I pretty much thought it would sound like reverse in every gear - that real deep whine sound. Instead it's almost a high pitch whine and actually rather than "gear whine" sounds almost like an electric motor, or even like a mini super charger or something. It's definitely grown on me and sounds kind of cool driving around combined with my intake whistle

I'm most satisfied that I should be pretty much bulletproof now and can push 400+ hp all day long and even beat on it at the track if I want to. And the icing on the cake is saving the $1k+ a shop would have charged me to install the gearset

 

We have so gotta get you a GoPro. Lol

 

had 3 mt 4th gens, all of their clutches squeaked.

the gearseat actually is not that loud. i thought it would be worse than that. But that is manageable.

 

Just wanted to update this to show off what I was finally able to get my hands on. It comes a month or so too late for this project but I'm pretty darn content to have it for any future projects

 

ahhhhhh there it is...

 

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand just for good measure also managed to score the differential shim measuring tool

 

Nice.

 

nice midrise lift buddy

 

I can't quiiiiite walk underneath it totally upright. It'll lift up to where the side skirts are about eye level with me (I'm 5' 11").

The best though is being able to sit up straight on a rolling stool underneath it and work on it

I really wish I'd bought one 10 years ago. Even exhaust work is awesome on it. I thought the middle/exhaust area would be more obstructed than it is but you've really got pretty good access to all the exhaust stuff you need. Worst case, you've just got to rotate the car to face the opposite direction.

 

there's nothing like a little comfort working on your ride. makes things 100000 times easier.

 

great looking trans

 

Thanks man, really appreciate all your help/tips/advice through the build

 

Love this thread!

I wonder what OP used to seal the case to the bell housing. I'm getting ready to do bearing refresh on my 00 5 Speed Tranny RS5F50A and couldn't find the the specified Loctite 51813 sealant the FSM stated.

Thanks

 

Bad *** thread....

 

It's sometimes hard to explain to people why I want to keep my 25+ year old car, but reading posts like ^this^ kills any doubt.

 

Did you measure the crushed solder as well?

 

Daaaang! Whats going on everybody. Man I haven’t been in here in forever. I’m surprised who’s still around. Heck I haven’t been a car forum in over 2 years so... 😄

 

I am resurrecting this thread. Huge shout out to James. You have been instrumental in this journey thus far. I've got 2 big builds going on . .