Well, shortly after lowering my car, my first and second gears stopped working. I pulled up to a stoplight with the car driving normally, and when I tried to put it in 1st to drive away, it would only go into 3rd, 4th, 5th or reverse. I drove back to the shop I lowered it at in 3rd gear, and the car is still sitting there. I knew I needed a clucth, bearings and synchros, but not gears and ****. So since I have 85K on the tranny, the general conculsion was to just buy a used tranny and replace the clutch. I would like to buy one with less than 50K on it. LSD is preferable since my car has it already, but that probably wont happen. If anybody knows a good junkyard, or other place to get a tranny in the DC area, please let me know ASAP.

Heres the story on pricing: The shop is gonna look for a used tranny, and the owner thinks he can find one for around $600-800. To put that tranny in, he thinks it will cost about $600, and to buy the clutch will be another $175. The brand is "Dyna Pak". Has anybody heard of that brand? He says it comes with a lifetime warranty, and since I've decided against the ACT clutch, it seems like a good deal to me. What are the other brands that make GOOD OEM clutches?

While he's down in there, I want him to install my STS and new reverse indiglo gauges, which come to a total of $80. So to buy a used tranny, install it with new clutch, install STS and gauges will come to around $1600. How does that sound? Oh yea, I just dropped $440 on an alternator, and I also need a new axle ($200). The total bill for the I30 for this month: $2200!!!!! That plus some legal fees makes me a very unhappy camper....especially since I only got to drive the lowered car for about 2 minutes before I lost my gears. I'm sorry guys, I had to vent, I'm sorta

So how do these prices sound? BTW, the shop is called Flex Speed Motorsports around Baltimore. Has anybody heard of them?

 

doesnt sound too bad to me actually

 

please elaborate on how it could be much worse.....please.....

 

alright, i talked to another mechanic and he said i couldnt bolt up a regular 5 speed since i have LSD. i told him he was wrong, since i thought i could just switch the differentials. which is true? if i find one w/o LSD, would it be a better idea to put in an aftermarket differential (like Quaife), since ive heard some are better than the stock piece?

btw, are these prices reasonable?

 

i just gotta 5 speed swap so i have some quotes for prices on trannys and stuff. finding a 5 speed tranny in Ny is harddd nowadays since everyoens getting it done. junkyards will sell you a tranny for a price around $700-900...anything more than that is too much. you can get all the parts for a 5 speed swap for around 1500. definately get the STS installed and try the exedy clutch. its really nice. you have a pretty good quote for installation..my sts and clutch install was all included in the $1000 labor fee to take out my auto tranny and install allll the parts for the 5 speed swap including the clutch, short throw shifter, linkages, etc..

it would normally be $900 for the install but i have tcs which sucks for the mechanic i guess..so it was 100 more..
hope this helps

 

dont worry bout all the money ur spending on it..
i have the same problem this month of june
im basically working like 6 days a week so i can keep payin all this crap off..
got my 5 speed swap, kyb agx on, greddy catback, exedy clutch installed, B&M short throw, momo shifter, misc lil things, rsb, and i gotta go hitup the lawyer tomorrow for some huge fees
this sucksss
i dont even know how much money i spent this month
so much for saving dough
at least the max handles a lot better now rite? lol

 

The last time I blew my tranny I broke 5th gear and my shifter was stuck. A piece of the gear was jammed. My car was just in "N" and I couldn't even budge it to another gear. Had to get the car towed to the shop.

 

I am pretty sure you can swap a LSD tranny for a non LSD, but you have to change out the axles as well. As far as pricing it seems pretty reasonable to me especially for a shop doing that much work.
-hype

 

alright, thanks for the tips everybody. i was considering exedy instead of the ACT, but since nobody has had it for very long its tough to judge its reliability. also, since i heard it has more grabbing power than stock, i dont wanna have to worry about blowing out 3rd and stuff like that. the clutch i might put in has a lifetime warranty, so it sounds pretty good to me.

what are the good brands for OEM replacement clutches? not Keyvalue, right?

 

any more ideas?

 

Donate car to charity/drive off cliff

 

 

strip the car, sell the parts, buy yourself another 4th gen