Fully rebuilt transmission dosen't feel like it.

SON240sx Automotive
1

Hey guys I have a s13 KA24DE

So I put down some big bones on a fully rebuilt transmission so that’s all bearings for all gears first and second syncros and reverse syncros. I had a look at the transmission before the guy put it together it was spotless. no marks on any gears or syncos.

Now long story short the guy and I had an unfavorable time working with each other getting this transmission together as one of the parts needed to be custom made for my drive shaft. and the shop doing the work was 300k away close to my parents place.

My beef is this. I have been running this transmission for about 500-800k So it should be broken in by now. I have a AMS Short shifter installed with the play fixed. Other then the short shifter this transmission feels almost worse then my old one I just removed from the car. First gear feels about the same as the old transmission second gear almost always grinds when its cold and you can feel wanting to grind when its warm as well you need to ram it into second gear to stop it from grinding a smooth shift will not do it. 3rd -5 gear feel great as they were not touched in anyway other then new barrings. Reveres like my old transmission some times will not go in I may have to put it in 4th then back to reverse or move the car an inch ahead to get it to engage.

The warranty is up on the transmission as i have waited along time to install it. So my question is this, is this normal for a rebuilt KA transmission to feel this way?

If you have experience with a newish s13 transmission any info would be great to hear. SR trannys I believe are the same guts so that works as well.

2

thats why i love srs ill go pick up a new tranny with 50k on it no grinds for $200, ka trannys are the worst in the world!

3

my old one had no grids either i just wanted something that was like new.

4

How does it shift when the car is off? Still shifts harsh into each gear? Harsh shifting usually relates to clutch system, even though the clutch still looks like it has lots of meat. Reused clutch?

5

Brand new stage 2 centerfoce clutch. However you bring up an interesting point because yes it still feels harsh until in line up the gears so first time through the gears it feels harsh on all gears.
But the upper clutch cylinder was leaking and giving me problems just a little wile ago it seemed to be back to normal now but I did pick up a spare just because of that problem. I will swap it out this weekend and get back to you about this. Thanks.

6

sounds good, hope you figure out the problem.

7

I would put some better tranny fluid in. I dunno what you have in there now, but I was having issues where my tranny was grinding into fourth and popping out of fourth with no load. I changed the fluid from red-line to royal purple. The thing shifts like butter and I havent had an issue since.

8

What weight did you use?

9

if the shop uses GL5 liquid it will eat the synchros and kill it… you need specifically GL4 only fluid, redline, amsoil, royal purple etc all have it

I’d say even avoid the dual labelled 4/5 compatible ones, very few are safe

10

mines 4/5