I had the same 1st to 2nd grind. Mitsu told me all evo's will do it if you try to shift too quickly without the clutch pedal depressed completely to the floor. I've found this to be true and have adjusted my driving style and I hardly ever grind anymore. It's still easy to shift faster than I press the pedal down making me miss shift and at this point it will not go into 2nd until the rpms drop.

 

I am a very conservative driver. 98% of the time i shift at 3k. I dont use engine braking very much at all, only when i am pushing the car, which is the only time i shift near redline. I also heel-toe as well when driving hard.

anyways, lat night i took my buddy out in the evo to show him what i was talking about and no matter how hard i shifted i could not recreate my problem.. not sure what it is but all seems to be well.

 

DSM's have had similar issues and the BG syncroshift does wonders for this, the other thing that made a huge difference and I don't know if it applies to the EVO, is the shifter plate that holds the shift linkage.

On a DSM it has rubber mounts that give while your trying to shift, if you remove the rubber mounts and replace them with steel washers it should help, there are companies who make the eliminator kits for these rubber mounts.

Not having an EVO yet, I can't tell you if this is the same issue, but it's something to look at.

 

Take it to the dealer, because I have 3600 miles on my Evo and have no problems at all going through all the gears. In fact I think the stock clutch is amazing. This Evo is my 5th manual transmission vehicle.

 

I spoke to another dealership this week about the 3k decel noise. They said the noise was normal because of the straight cut gears. I did get a chance to chat with tech that works on the Evos. He said that tranny is very beefy, but the clutches are junk. He has worked on Evo7s and he indicated he was disappointed they did not bring over the clutch from the 7s. He and his manager indicated until about 1000-1500 miles the car would be real tight and after things would loosen up the car would perform much better and FASTER. I have not experienced any grinds, but I have not redlined it. In fact I find the power band begins to drop after about early 6k range. Keep in mind, unless you want to speedshift and try to bark the tires in qrtr mile drag, you want a smooth and consistent shifts when racing. I have been to several driving schools (Bondurant, BMWCCA, Private SCCA classes) and they always indicate SMOOTH quick shifts. Worst thing you can do is YANK that stick, especially since the steering is so sensitive. Just my .02cents. Be well and Be fast!

 

It's apparently a common problem. One that I have as well. I get grinding, not allowing me to engage the gear, on the 1-2 and 3-4 shifts when shifting at redline. BUT, like Capt Crunch said if you do it SMOOTHLY and not a slamm (like I'm used to) it'll engage much better. I just have to get used to that and break the old habit of gear slammin.

 

Ground the 1-2 myself a few times. Pull slightly to the left on the 1-2 shift. Since I started doing that, no problem. I prefer to think of it as a nuance.

 

I personally think car companies are boosting the HP levels without enough testing. They are just worried about havng the fastest car and sometimes overlook small problems so they can get it into production. Such as the blown motors on the e46 m3's and the tranny probs. on the Z06. They come out with the car and fix the problems as the arise instead of testing them properly

 

According to owner's video.. Z06s gets a lot of testing on the
track.... Actually.. I really dont hear about Z06's tranny much...
definitely not as much as M3's motor...

 

The 1-2 shifts are definitely balky or tricky. Same for the 2-3 shifts. I think the EVO's tranny is just not up to par in this respect. I've driven lots of cars w/straight shift and some are much better and a few are worse. I agree that a high performance car should have a very smooth gear changing system. I don't buy this "don't shift hard, don't shift near redline" stuff, if I wanted to drive like that all the time, I'd be driving a Cavalier with A/T...
I know nobody takes their EVO to the drgastrip or anything like that , but if they did, they'd need to shift pretty quickly if they don't want to look like they drive a turd.....
EVOs shifting is not a superior point. OTOH, my WRX was not much better and some other cars that are supposed to be "sports cars" din't do so well either...Oh well....

 

The average car has less power and 1 synchro per gear.
The Evo is not average and has triple synchros for 1&2. More synchros does not mean smoother but heavier duty.
As it has been said many times, it really is not designed for speed shifting and can be shifted at redline if you give it a lttile time and not try to force it.

 

I have to agree. BTW- I actually got rid of my stage 3 WRX because of the grinding tranny issues which required double clutching on down-shifts.

I am 45 and have always driven manual tranny cars and know how to shift pretty damn well. The bottom line is that the EVO is touchy when shifted from first to second, at or near redline.Its nowhere near the pain in the **** that the WRX was though.

With the EVO it really does feel as though you are exceeding the syncro speed which in turn keeps the change from occuring smoothly. All of the other gears are a piece of cake.

This does seem to be pretty commonplace with the EVO's.

N10S

 

Every once in a while, my car doesn't feel like it wants to go into gear on the 1-2 shift, near, or at redline. I still haven't tried pulling the lever a little to the left, like some have said. What does this actually do?

If the Evo8 tranny does have the double or triple syncro thing that everybody talks about, then why does a 100,000 mile SOHC Civic shift better? U can bang gears like there's no tomorrow, and never hear or feel a grind.

I think this transmission has poor design. 7000rpm isn't that high...