So in your opinion (because i’ve done all the work on my car myself, even if i had never done it before i took the time to look under the hood, study it, find the tools and do it… i also did a valve adjustment (fully) on my new 2005 ninja 250R and had never touched a motorcycle before and now it’s in perfect spec) is it EASY to do this if you have mechanical experience even if you aren’t a rocket scientist? Because I’d eventually like to overhaul the entire car, engine and tranny. The car kind of just feels weak, clutch feels weak and reverse gives me all kinds of crap and sometimes grinds going in. It all started happening about 2k AFTER I got the car. Felt weaker and weaker. It’s apparent to me the girl who owned it before me wasn’t the best at driving a manual but I had no idea till I’d already put miles on the car.
So how much total does it cost to rebuild a full tranny? Tools? ETC. I’ve seen trannies for like $1500 and that’s INSANE, is it a couple hundred dollars or so? Because I’m fairly confident I can do the clutch with me and my dad and I can get an OEM clutch with discount for about $150 or a centerforce for $180.
I dunno, how mechanically inclined are you? I was taught how to do it and have seen it done many times before i did it myself. I guess it’s just having a photographic memory too. You gotta either make a diagram of where everything goes or just remember it. As for reverse, it grinds on every ZX2.
As for cost, i don’t know. It depends on what’s wrong. For instance, if your syncros are shot to shit, you need a press to replace them. I don’t know how much pressure you gotta put on those gears to get them on and off so you’re lookin at a standard manual press that has at least 2’ of travel or if it requires extreme pressure, a 20 ton hydraulic. Ford charges too much to take it to them. My suggestion is, if your syncros are bad, buy another tranny and hope the syncros are good and swap the gear posts out. If it’s a shift fork, easy. There’s pins that hold all those on the posts so all you gotta do is pound those out and slide it off, slide new one on and put pin back in. Spider gears, same thing. Theres a pin that holds the shaft in that they rotate on. Pound it out, replace spiders, reverse process. Detent plate, unbolt old, then bolt new one on. Any way you look at it though (taking it to a shop vs. ford vs. personal rebuild) the personal rebuild will cost you less. Just take your time and before you do it, talk to alot of people and get your facts straight. Have an extra set of hands there and a digital camara just in case you need to take pics and post them up here. Think everything out before you do it and there shouldn’t be any problems w/ figuring this stuff out. Good luck and if you have questions you can contact me on AIM @ powder0wnzj00
What I’ll probably do is find a tranny that has low miles or a lot of miles to rebuild because the only other thing I can use to commute is my Ninja, the mustang is driven by my fiance and my dad is borrowing my truck and my enduro isn’t really a commuter options haha. So it would be something i’d be doign on the weekends on a table or something. I’ll IM you if i see you online, but I haven’t seen you online (was going to ask you earlier).
The tranny isn’t bad I don’t think, it feels like something with the clutch, it just feels weak, the car doesn’t have the “Punch” it used to. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t, it almost feels like an issue with engagement, possibly the throwout bearing. If it’s cold it’s weak, soon as it warms up a bit it’s great, then after it’s really warm it’s really weak. I’m to the point where I want to replace the clutch, throwout bearing and the flywheel just to eliminate the possibility. The clutch doesn’t slip or anything and has no problem downshifting into 1st except ONCE in a great while (maybe 1 out of 40 shifts into 1st) it will skip like there was no clutch, so if it were the clutch itself it would do it often. Which if it skips like that and does it inconsistently as an engagement issue I’d think throwout bearing. Not to mention it is making a bit of noise. My dad said if it was bad it would have a month to go, so it can’t be all bad because it’d been 6 months since he said that, still making noise.
False. The things that go out are the brass syncro's (brass is inherently weak but good for a helper gear cuz it saves the real gears), spider and drive gears (bad differential design, Phantom Grip will make it better), shift forks (made of aluminum so of course they'll break if you slam it into gear) and detent plate (never seen one break, but i've heard of it happening).
All of the above are easy to change except the syncros. Those need to be pressed on and off. Yes, it is more expensive to get it rebuilt than to buy another one. That’s why you do the work yourself and save alot of money.
??? I said mostlikely due to the fact if one thing breaks you wont just replace that, you'll replace otherthings that are worn or old. And thats if you do it, 90% of ZX2 owners aren't going to spend the time to take one apart and put it togethor again. Sorry I didn't detail it out but nothing is false about that.
I wasn’t trying to piss you off. I was just stating that there are other alternatives to “getting it rebuilt” and anyone who takes it to Ford to do that should expect a hefty some of money to be charged for it. You said “mostlike a whole new tranny usually”. This just simply isn’t the case, not even most of the time. Sorry, i’m not trying to start a fight, just stating facts. In a very rare case (vitviper) you have to replace more things than the tranny is worth. But i’ve only seen/heard of it happening once. Most people need one of the 4 things i named up there w/ many overlooking the syncros.
I’m not pissed at all. Just don’t think poeple themselves that rebuild there tranny or have a mechanic do it, take it apart, say its a bad diff. And then see they’re synchro’s are a bit worn and a shift fork is the same. You’d just replace the diff and thats it? Cause for me I’d replace any parts that are damaged or worn. Considering you don’t take the tranny apart a few times a year. I just don’t think in most cased people have one bad part in the tranny and everything else is in near perfect condition.
There’s a difference between wear and abuse though, agree? I think you’d be surprised at how many people actually drive their cars sanely. Or maybe you wouldn’t.
After my tranny went out at NEM 04, I got a sweet deal on an install at a Ford dealer just outta town, but the tranny I got was a FOCUS tranny…so I took it back and they found a new one, but there was a crack in the housing and it was so freakin’ fine that it wasn’t noticable until filled and they went to back outta the bay and locked up again…except instead of 4th it was R. So they got me a brand new tranny…$3k…
