Well, after the break in now I've tried a little hard driving with the car. Particularly testing out the tranny with some quick shifts to see how easy it goes into gear. Well it doesn't. Maybe I've got a ****e one but even warmed up the stick doesn't want to go into gear under load. I've missed quite a few shifts with this thing now that really pisses me off. Under load it always hits a snag in the neutral gate before engaging into gear. It's so annoying. Maybe I'm not slamming it hard enough but I shouldn't have to. When still at idle it shifts smooth as silk. THAT'S the way it should be all the time. I have a feeling it's going to severely screw up my 1/4 mi runs if I don't figure a way around it. Hopefully an easy throw short shifter is in the makes real soon. Anyone else trying to speed shift yet and noticeing the same thing?

 

I have the exact same problem in my turbo Colt (Mitsu Mirage) from 3rd to 4th. It got a little better when I started using Redline synthetic tranny fluid, but still not the way I'd like it to be.

 

I know there's a short shifter in the works from ILP but no idea when it'll be done. Do you think the problem is in the shifter assembly or in the transmission itself?

 

My guess is the single syncro for 4th gear.

EDIT: I'm refering to the Evo here.

 

I'm hoping it will be solved through the shifter but more than likely it's in the tranny. But I'm guessing a shorter throw coupled with a well thoughtout build will alleviate a lot of the snagging that happens in the shifts. It only happens in the lower half of the gear box ie: gears 2 and 4. I grinded going into 2nd today which was embarassing. If it didn't snag my clutch lift and gear shift would sync perfectly but the snag makes me lift off before it's engaged. I'm going to play with it a lot tonight and see if anything changes. I've heard of lots of people using redline to make the shifts smoother but when I had my Supra they found out it was bad for the tranny long term. So I never got the stuff.

 

Funny thing, in the new SCC (Street Racing in Tokyo cover) they guy complained about how poorly he shifted and had at least two missed shifts at his day at the track. I believe he missed 2nd both times. His range was anywhere from mid 14's to (I believe) 13.882. It may be something common of all Evos.

 

How'd you come up with .7 secs? Well if I was shifting at .7 secs I wouldn't be too worried about it. I am speed shifting as fast as I can to eliminate speed loss for 1/4 mi. But the shifter doesn't want to engage as easy as it should. Like I said it snags before engaging everytime when the car is moving. It's the notchy feeling people are using only I'm not casually shifting. I'm trying to shift it like an automatic would shift.

 

I've been using Redline for 12 years in the same car now. I haven't had any problems, but I may be the exception.

 

Sounds to me like your just beating the synchros before it does it's job.

 

I'd agree based on what you've told us. You know a nice dog-box and excellent technique is going to be even quicker than a syncrho-mesh box standard on the Evo. just food for thought.

 

So what to do then? I can't simply wait for it to properly engage. This car will never win a race in that manner. The stoopid syncros are supposed to help the shift transition not hinder it. Bah!

 

just shift slower
it will start to go away my us lancer was the same way youll either get used to it or it will get used to you

 

This is why Mistubishi gave us it's more reliable 5 speed instead of the unproven 6 speed. Yet still this tranny was not designed for power speed shifting down the 1/4 mile. It is designed to last almost forever under hard rally driving conditions even with some increased hp.

I haven't driven your car to know if it's a problem with you tranny, but from what you've described, I've come up with a theory. 2nd to 3rd isn't causing you any trouble and this might be because of the distance and complexity of the route the shifter has to travel, your shifts 2nd to 3rd may be just slow enough for the synchros to work properly. In other words trying shifting the other gears slower by a tenth of a second. 2nd and 4th are shifts that are in a straight line towards you, thereby being your fastest shifts. Maybe too fast.

I'll never forget when my stepbrother shifted so fast the shift knob came off in his hand, bending the iron shift lever and clashing the gears in his tranny together before the synchros had a chance. Basically his tranny exploded. This was done with a Mitsu tranny that in principle works the same way as the Evo tranny.

 

Hey it's much better shift than the WRX. AWD cars seem to shift differently than RWD for some reason. I dont' think i'll power shift an AWD car. Too bad we can't go out and buy a ripper shifter or a hurst for our racing needs I just want to let you know that after I bought a hurst for my mustang i'd never missed any gears on it! I wish the japanese should start developing Strong spring loaded shifter with stopper bolt so we can bang every gear without ripping out of the trans.