So I'm going to to check out an 06 evo 9 MR with 52,000 on it. My buddy who owns an evo was saying that the 6 speed isn't as bullet proof as the 5 speed and that it can have some serious issues. I have also heard that 3rd gear is the weakest link.

Can anyone gimme some advice or point me to a video that I can hear what a failing 6 speed tranny might sound like?

Or just in general some tips when going to check out an evo?

 

4th gear is the weakest part of the 6 spd trans usually. Give us some more info on the car...Modifications? HP? Stock clutch? Has the current owner raced the car? How often was the gear oil changed & what fluid used? I have almost 60k miles on my 6 spd and beat the crap out of it...My 4th gear has also been grinding for the past 20k miles, haha. Also my input shaft bearing is making a bit of noise now, I blame my ACT unsprung 6 puck clutch for that though...With that said I have been surprised at how much abuse my 6 spd has taken. If you plan on drag racing the car a lot I wouldn't buy the 6 spd...

 

just search around the forum tons of info on here about the 6sp. I had to have mine rebuilt after 27k. I would say depending on the mods and HP you want to do will dictate the trans. Usually under 400 you are ok that being said depends on how you drive the car as well.

 

As was said, the 4th gear is the weak link. Its actually a smoother trans at stock power levels, and if you're not planning on pushing say....over 350/ 350, then it should still be extremely reliable. I used the stock 6 spd trans for 52K and i loved it. I did however upgrade to a build 5 spd because my goals were much more then the 6 spd could handle.

 

If you buy a car with a 6 speed, and decide down the line you want to upgrade to a built 5 speed, are there a lot of steps required besides physically bolting on a new tranny?

 

You'll need the tranny itself, new mount, shifter cables, shift bracket, etc... it cost about $400-500 for the parts needed for the conversion, plus the cost of the tranny. I just did the swap in my car a couple of months ago.

The 6 speed is a great feeling transmission, but as other people have mentioned, the 4th gear is the weak link. I was getting on the highway one day and accelerated hard in 3rd gear getting up to speed, and went into 4th gear, then eased in to 5th, and 6th... no issues. Get off the off-ramp and down shift.... hear all sorts of terrible noises. Took some teeth off of 4th gear. Prior to this, I had no grinds at all, no signs of fatigue or anything... just went. After installing the 5 speed, I dyno'ed in at 394whp/384wtq.

 

The owner said its not his DD and it hasn't ever been autoX's. It has 52,000 bone stock motor with coilovers. He said that 2 months back the tranny fluid was changed and a new ACD pump was put in.

Any suggestions?

As for my plans, I plan on keeping it basically stock for most of it's life. I'm pretty young, so I can't even think about anything more than an exhaust, financially, in the next 5 ish years lol

 

Like you said if your plans are simple and mild you should be fine with the six speed, the fact that it's stock it's a great find IMO stock evos are very hard to find, I would jump on that like a crackhead!!

 

Great price too!!! I'm going to check it out thursday, then if everything looks good, I'll be buying!

 

Make sure you test drive it if you can also take a friend with you ideally a mechanic but as long as he maintained it you should be fine, also ask for service records if available.

 

make sure you get a boost leak test right after you buy it, I bought mine pretty close to stock and still had a ton of leaks.

 

I would suggest at least having a compression test done on the car before buying it...just to be safe...

 

Just thought of this you mentioned being pretty young so make sure your insurance doesn't bankrupt you.....the evo can be expensive to insure.

 

It's technically going under my father's name just to avoid that. I'll be paying something like 623$ a year! Thank god for an old, conservative dad!

 

I'm not going to re-state what everyone has already, but I absolutely loved my 6speed. It was so smooth. Much better daily than the 5speed. Hell I even rebuilt my 6speed 2 times before I decided I was sick of fixing broken trannys. lol Again under 400 they tend to hold up pretty well. I don't recommend doing launches on them though.

Mikey