Well guys, I was on my way home went to shift into 4th and it just blew... I was able to limp home in 3rd, 4th appears to be the only gear gone, as 1-3 seemed smooth with a little pop. My car being a six speed, I knew the time was coming at 60,000 miles but my question is Would I be better off buying a rebuilt 5 speed as I plan on going higher horsepower in the future, or would I be just as well off rebuilding the 6?

 

The 5 speed is known to be stronger than the 6, but its more about what you want. I would feel better about either rebuilding your current transmission, or purchasing the 5 speed and have that gone over by a reputable builder than dropping in a trans of unknown condition.

 

Wanna do it right? Get a used 5 speed, rebuilt it yourself or send it in to jacks. Also make sure to get the Fordge out put shaft from jacks, you wanna upgrade that output shaft as the OEM unit is said to be the weak point. If you dont like the 5 speed Gear ratios, you can always change them around to support anything you desire, I.E final drive or just the gears it self. It all depends on your needs, and your engine and torque facts. 1/4 mile or cursing RPM or quick accerlation in a lower torque curve. It all depends on your final destination with your engine.
most people go with the ultimate Gear ratio, as to not hit 5th in the 1/4 mile. All things considerd it still depends on your Turbo, torque Curve and set up with ratios.

also im not a fan of the 6 speed lol. Rule of thumb for me, horse power sells cars, Torque wins races lol.

 

Yeah, my future mods will be the 2.3L FP black, cams, all those goodies. I have cams ucip and licp ordered now. Was getting excited about having them on this week and then bam... I was thinking 5 speed and having it built by someone reputable on the forums here. There are no 1/4 miles around here only 1/8th but it also pretty much daily driven so I would like to stay in the 20mpg range Ive been getting.

 

Eventually, after I finish paying off my loan I was going for 600-700 hp range. Pipe dreams as of now, as I am happy with 450awhp until I finish off the loan.

 

im looking into buying an evo soon and have read about the 6 speed trannies being bad..are they so bad as to fail so easily at such low miles? the MR im gonna go see has 50k miles on it and i dont feel like buying a car with a tranny that needs a replacing every 4 years

 

Really depends on how its driven. The six speeds are not as strong as the fives. Nice having that extra gear for daily driving, but as stated you can put any ratio you desire with a five speed as well.

 

interesting......

 

Like the other guys said the 5 Speed is strong, but me personally I DD mine and the 6 Speed is a lot smoother. I am going to try having my trans built by TRE, I do like my 6 Speed. But my goals are much less than 600-700hp. If that is your goal do the 5 speed swap.

 

question, Pulled the car out of the garage, still no transmission yet, but even with the clutch pressed in the car makes a grinding/clicking noise, could it be the transfer case rather than the transmission?

 

Did it shift notchy into 4th before this happened? Mine's doing that now,but i think my clutch is on it's way out.

I hope it's not my 4th gear synchro....

 

Been there, done that, only I split the 6-speed bell housing clean in two instead of taking out a single gear . Got a used Evo 8 5-speed on eBay, had it shipped to Buschur for Bushwacker rebuild (stock gearing), that's what I'm running now. Note that if you go with a 5-speed and don't want to pay for custom gearing, the 8 and 9 5-speeds have different gearing stock. Only 2nd gear is the same in both. 8 5-speed has shorter 1st but taller 3rd, 4th, 5th. I do a lot of highway driving so I went with that.

As for driving impressions, 6-speed is definitely smoother and nicer to daily. No doubt about that. Feels more refined. But no one who is serious about racing the Evo in any form sticks with the 6-speed. Hope that helps.

 

So i guess i should quit dreaming about tracking my 6-Speed...

 

Actually, I've heard you can have the 6 speed built to handle higher horsepower, I guess from what I've been researching it's all in what you want. I myself prefer the 6 speed because I drive the car nearly everyday. Fortunately I have a few others to drive while its down, so I am in no hurry and I'm gonna do it the right way. Still debating five speed, hope to talk to Jon at TRE tomorrow and let him decide for me

 

Actually, I've only had the car, 4th gear was very notchy, but I have read these transmissions have clunky shifts anyways and it seemed smooth to me, well until I downshifted to 4th and it went bang, then made an awful racket, I thought I blew out a tire at first