BTW - This has been added to common topics, just in case anyone ever needs pictures to refer to when talking about transmissions and how they work. This is a GSR tranny, and it's no different than an LS or ITR tranny, other than the gear ratios and the differential. But the way they all work and are built is identical.

EDIT - Believe it or not, when I cracked open the case of the tranny, nothing flew out of it. It was assembled exactly as you see it. There are very few loose parts on it almost every single part is large. It's surprisingly simple. The two shafts are solidly put together and there's nothing really loose or rattling around in there. The moving parts are actually fewer than I expected. It's very conveniently packaged.

 

neo u rock, very good pictures shows everything nice and clear.

 

Thank you EXTREMELY MUCH! I will be studying these pics so eventually I can explain exactly how my transmission works...

...and one day rebuild mine too...

neouser is

!

if we were all integras, he'd be a

!

 

anyone have a shot of a type-r case cracked open? Never seen a type r LSD up close and personal.

 

Very nice Neo. That's my first look at the inside of the tranny as well. You explain almost everything you talk about very very well and extremely understandable.

 

A transmission is easier to work on if you know what your looking at. I wouldn't tackle it with out a lil bit of knowledge beforehand. Although I've worked on machinery at work. Changed out gears on printing presses where I used to work. I couldn't do it before I was helped. Or knew a lil more about them. your post helps alot Neo. It seems now I'm that much closer to tackling the job alone if the opportunity should show itself.

 

Concerning short shifters: a short shifter moves the synchro faster and can cause it to grind because it does not have as much time to synchronize the speeds of the gears before it fully engages. It is what is grinding. It feels like this is the case mainly on upshift to second gear with my short shifter. I am very careful with this shift. I am not sure, it could just be that I can feel everything better. Anyway, the theory is valid.

 

Nice post neo. Now lets see pictures of how much fun it is to pull out the shafts, take out the diff, shim in the LSD, and then perform the part that is most fun. Putting the two shafts back in as one assembly together ;-p. Memories...

 

ohh, ohh, I just noticed, finally a picture of the tranny magnet. Now I can prove it!

Edit:

Dont put bother with magnetic plugs for the tranny:

 

Since the short shifter is actually grinding the synchros it's still bad right? I really don't have a great understanding of a transmission and thought it was just the clutch. It's still really bad right? You could end up replacing a clutch rather quickly if u grind the sh*t out of your synchros right? Or do u just replace synchros? lol im confused. Great post though and awesome pics. I smell the makings of one kick ass transmission article

 

Neo is the man! Always intelligent stuff coming from that man's mouth.

Great work!

 

neo, i still can't get the gear housing off!!! was it difficult to pull the bell housing off the gear housing?

 

How about an Auto transmission? hehe... i guess it nothing like it right?

 

Nice post neo. Now lets see pictures of how much fun it is to pull out the shafts, take out the diff, shim in the LSD, and then perform the part that is most fun. Putting the two shafts back in as one assembly together ;-p. Memories...

According to the Helms manual, you need a bearing puller, a gear puller and a press to get all the gears off and on the shaft. I don't forsee problems. Honestly, this is not that hard or scary if you have a Helms. It's just a matter of really taking the time to read it and paying attention to all the details. Anyone that takes their time and does things step by step should not run into any problems with this. In fact, the Helms gives you specs that you measure with a caliper and feeler gauges. If something is off tolerance, there's no machining involved. You replace it, period. I'm eventually going to scan in my entire Helms manual, so I will be able to post pages that relate to what I'm talking about.

Oh yeah, and Br1t, you're absolutely correct. There is a magnet in there, you did find it and circle it properly, and I did scoop a nice little pile of gunk and filings off of it. The only reason why I would even bother with a bagnetic drain plug is so that it could get a little bit of that gunk and I could clean out every so often. But do you really need a magnetic drain plug? Nope.

 

neo, i still can't get the gear housing off!!! was it difficult to pull the bell housing off the gear housing?

Not at all. First, take out the reverse gear sensor. Then you've gotta remove the screw that holds the reverse idler gear out, after which you have to remove the two screws with springs that hold the ball bearings that hold the forks in place. Remove both the plugs at the end of the tranny, bend the oil plate tab straight, unclip the snap ring, and take out all the screws from the bell housing. Tap around the edges with a flathead screwdriver and that thing pops right off...

 

I'm wondering if you will need a bearing heater also. sh*t that looks like a sweet weekend project now. After you buy everything you need though.

 

Since the short shifter is actually grinding the synchros it's still bad right? I really don't have a great understanding of a transmission and thought it was just the clutch. It's still really bad right? You could end up replacing a clutch rather quickly if u grind the sh*t out of your synchros right? Or do u just replace synchros? lol im confused.

You just replace the synchros. Grinding has nothing to do with the clutch.

As for the short shifter, I guess that's still debateable. I'll admit that I've thrown it fast enough to get a grind once or twice before, but not during any kind of driving other than drag racing. In just about every other kind of driving, be it daily driving, autocrossing, or putting myself through a set of high speed twisties, I've never made bad shifts.

Kelly's probably right about not giving the synchros enough time to line up. I've played with the tranny a few times now, moving the shifter assembly back and forth and engaging the gears. You really do need to line them up to get them to engage.

The most terrifying part opening my tranny is that, on the surface, nothing appears to be wrong. It can get a little tough to put the forks into position with the shifting assembly, but it works well outside of that. The fact that it won't work when it's on my car, but it looks just fine when I open the casing, indicates a deeper problem to me. I think that the inside of my 1st gear ring, where it has splines that line up with the main or counter shaft, may have been stripped. That means a new shaft and a new gear. The part that sucks is that 1st gear is at the very bottom of the shaft, necesitating the need to remove ALL THE GEARS to access it. In fact, I'm almost 100% certain that is the problem. Right now, if I turn the input shaft, everything turns, including the differential. That means that everything is connected. The only reason why I would think that 1st gear and reverse don't work when it's on my car is that the splines are stripped and, although all the shafts and gears are rotating, 1st gear itself is spinning freely on the shaft, unable to hold a load. That means a lot of work and a lot of money. The shafts average over $200 each, and the gear itself is at least $20-$50. I don't remember the price of the parts offhand. I'm considering a custom Kaaz gearset instead with an LSD, but that's going to cost quite a bit.

Anyways, just a bit more insight.

 

Quote: br1t1shguy on Jun/07/03Nice post neo. Now lets see pictures of how much fun it is to pull out the shafts, take out the diff, shim in the LSD, and then perform the part that is most fun. Putting the two shafts back in as one assembly together ;-p. Memories... According to the Helms manual, you need a bearing puller, a gear puller and a press to get all the gears off and on the shaft. I don't forsee problems. Honestly, this is not that hard or scary if you have a Helms. It's just a matter of really taking the time to read it and paying attention to all the details. Anyone that takes their time and does things step by step should not run into any problems with this. In fact, the Helms gives you specs that you measure with a caliper and feeler gauges. If something is off tolerance, there's no machining involved. You replace it, period. I'm eventually going to scan in my entire Helms manual, so I will be able to post pages that relate to what I'm talking about.
Oh yeah, and Br1t, you're absolutely correct. There is a magnet in there, you did find it and circle it properly, and I did scoop a nice little pile of gunk and filings off of it. The only reason why I would even bother with a bagnetic drain plug is so that it could get a little bit of that gunk and I could clean out every so often. But do you really need a magnetic drain plug? Nope.

Actually, I was saying that becasue thats what I did a month or so before my turbo went in. A day with the car on the lift and it was done. Although you're right, it's really not that hard as long as you have the right tools, some parts will have you cussing out you're buddies.

 

Just out of curiosity what went out on your tranny?

 

I'm wondering if you will need a bearing heater also. sh*t that looks like a sweet weekend project now. After you buy everything you need though.

No bearing heater needed, according to the Helms. However, an old mechanic like you could probably tell me that it would definitely help. (And I would be extremely inclined to believe you.) I've found that certain things make your life easier, and certain things make it harder. I guess it's a combination of the Helms manual, the Haynes manual, and a little bit of experience, all working in my favor. The Haynes doesn't give as good of details as the Helms (I mean, come on, the Haynes tells you to bring the tranny to a professional if it's not working right. The Helms tells you how to rebuild it to spec.) but the Helms requires a lot of special tools that you don't really need. (For instance, instead of the very expensive wrench that the Helms recommends to get off the crank pulley bolt, a chain wrench works just as well, and only costs about $30.) Add in a little bit of Ghetto Fabrication Performance experience (TM Neouser) and you've got a lot of good ideas rolling around in there.

So tell me more about this bearing heater...

 

Just out of curiosity what went out on your tranny?

Quote: Neouser most terrifying part opening my tranny is that, on the surface, nothing appears to be wrong. It can get a little tough to put the forks into position with the shifting assembly, but it works well outside of that. The fact that it won't work when it's on my car, but it looks just fine when I open the casing, indicates a deeper problem to me. I think that the inside of my 1st gear ring, where it has splines that line up with the main or counter shaft, may have been stripped. That means a new shaft and a new gear. The part that sucks is that 1st gear is at the very bottom of the shaft, necesitating the need to remove ALL THE GEARS to access it. In fact, I'm almost 100% certain that is the problem. Right now, if I turn the input shaft, everything turns, including the differential. That means that everything is connected. The only reason why I would think that 1st gear and reverse don't work when it's on my car is that the splines are stripped and, although all the shafts and gears are rotating, 1st gear itself is spinning freely on the shaft, unable to hold a load. That means a lot of work and a lot of money. The shafts average over $200 each, and the gear itself is at least $20-$50. I don't remember the price of the parts offhand. I'm considering a custom Kaaz gearset instead with an LSD, but that's going to cost quite a bit.

 

about the bearing heater.
Where I used to work. In order to get certain bearings onto shafts. We had to heat up the bearing for it to slide on. on a conical heater. A bunsen(sp?) burner will have the same effect. But we only used it on certain projects. It is not necessary on all bearings as you already know. Most bearings just slide onto the shafts semi-easily. If the manuals don't even bring it up. You probably will not even need one. I onkly mentioned it because of the timken style bearing I saw in one of the pics you posted.

 

about the bearing heater.
Where I used to work. In order to get certain bearings onto shafts. We had to heat up the bearing for it to slide on. on a conical heater. A bunsen(sp?) burner will have the same effect. But we only used it on certain projects. It is not necessary on all bearings as you already know. Most bearings just slide onto the shafts semi-easily. If the manuals don't even bring it up. You probably will not even need one. I onkly mentioned it because of the timken style bearing I saw in one of the pics you posted.

Actually, the way the Helms describes, you need a press to get those gears back onto the shaft. That bearing heater would probably help quite a bit. It's kinda like my aluminum flywheel. To make sure that the starter ring is snug on there, they heat it up to expand it. Then they slip it on the flywheel. They bolt it down, and by the time it cools off it constricts itself around the flywheel and is on there really tight. I'm thinking that your idea could actually help get the gears on/off with less of a mechanical struggle. I'm not sure how it's going to affect the metallurgy though. I'm sure that making things a bit more brittle in the tranny is not an ideal situation.

 

How about an Auto transmission? hehe... i guess it nothing like it right?

I actually looked in the Helms at the way the automatic tranny works earlier. DO NOT f**k WITH AN AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIoN AT HOME! The relationship of the parts in an automatic transmission is a nightmare. That thing has more internal clutch plates than I ever want to mess with. I'm sure there's somebody here that will say that it's an easy job, but it's just not something I would tackle. There's a lot more that goes into an automatic transmission than a manual. Manual transmissions are really simple by comparison...

 

you know exactly what I'm talking about then. You wont be heating them up to extreme temps though. SK bearing sells a firme(cool) one but its like a few hundred bucks.