Miata 3.636 ring and pinion?
03-21-2005, 03:39 AM
#21
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Mark, what ever came of this? I'll be dropping my transmission soon to replace what appears to be a bad throw-out bearing, and I'm toying with the idea of putting in an 04 transmission - I got in on David's deal. 
What are your thoughts on this based on your experience of driving both? I have a new set of cryo'd 4.10and 4.56 differential gears. Any thoughts as to which to use if I go with the 04 tranny?
What are your thoughts on this based on your experience of driving both? I have a new set of cryo'd 4.10and 4.56 differential gears. Any thoughts as to which to use if I go with the 04 tranny?
03-21-2005, 07:44 AM
#22
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Nothing doing yet. I'm having a difficult time deciding on doing more involved modifications like this to the '04 car. I still haven't totally warmed up to it, so I'm not sure how long it'll stick around and I don't want to hurt resale too much. On the other hand I don't know what I could replace it with that's much of an improvement - and affordable for me - but that's a different topic.
Anyway, regarding the two trannies...
1) The '04 is better suited for high-temperature operation. I've notice zero issues when things are warmed up, while the '00 tranny would do the 1-2 grind (but only after extended highway driving, never while autocrossing on during daily driving.) On the other hand, when cold the '04 is extremely crunchy when shifting, much more so than the '00 ever was. On one occasion it even popped out of gear on me - sounds like I'm not the only person with this issue either.
2) The gearing - many people have expressed an appreciation for the shorter gearing of the '04, and the additional peppiness that it gives. (gernby and his 4.77s, for example.) I dislike it however for a few reasons. First, I never thought the original configuration had any issue that needed fixing. Second, the shorter gearing really gets in the way while taking turns - it seems much more common to have to shift while actually in the turn, including the normal left-hand turns we all do in the US during daily driving. Third, along the same lines, autocrosses typically require two or three shifts into third, when the older cars can often take them entirely in 2nd gear. I theorize that this hurts laptimes a fair bit. On a car with the older engine, this isn't quite as much an issue due to the higher redlin of course. The 2% higher gearing in 6th is almost a non-issue, although a positive one. I've only very, very rarely used 6th from a performance perspective, so having a slightly less frenetic crusing gear is a good thing.
You might want to see if you can catch a test-drive in somebody's shorter gear equipped car before making a final decision. Like I said, some people absolutely love it, while I personally don't find it suits me. (In my opinion, you have so much torque and hp available to you anyway, I don't see why the extra gearing would be needed.
)
Anyway, regarding the two trannies...
1) The '04 is better suited for high-temperature operation. I've notice zero issues when things are warmed up, while the '00 tranny would do the 1-2 grind (but only after extended highway driving, never while autocrossing on during daily driving.) On the other hand, when cold the '04 is extremely crunchy when shifting, much more so than the '00 ever was. On one occasion it even popped out of gear on me - sounds like I'm not the only person with this issue either.
2) The gearing - many people have expressed an appreciation for the shorter gearing of the '04, and the additional peppiness that it gives. (gernby and his 4.77s, for example.) I dislike it however for a few reasons. First, I never thought the original configuration had any issue that needed fixing. Second, the shorter gearing really gets in the way while taking turns - it seems much more common to have to shift while actually in the turn, including the normal left-hand turns we all do in the US during daily driving. Third, along the same lines, autocrosses typically require two or three shifts into third, when the older cars can often take them entirely in 2nd gear. I theorize that this hurts laptimes a fair bit. On a car with the older engine, this isn't quite as much an issue due to the higher redlin of course. The 2% higher gearing in 6th is almost a non-issue, although a positive one. I've only very, very rarely used 6th from a performance perspective, so having a slightly less frenetic crusing gear is a good thing.
You might want to see if you can catch a test-drive in somebody's shorter gear equipped car before making a final decision. Like I said, some people absolutely love it, while I personally don't find it suits me. (In my opinion, you have so much torque and hp available to you anyway, I don't see why the extra gearing would be needed.
)
04-14-2005, 04:22 PM
#23
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Hmmmm...curious and curious....I probably won't do this with the MY04 NA...but there is a strong chance that I'll do this when/IF I go FI.
BTW according to rumours from the Miata people you can actually order this gear from Mazdaspeed in the US for something like $321. I have a guy I know who runs spec miata so I'm tempted to ask him if he'll order the gear for me also. I'm very intrigued to combine this with FI.
BTW according to rumours from the Miata people you can actually order this gear from Mazdaspeed in the US for something like $321. I have a guy I know who runs spec miata so I'm tempted to ask him if he'll order the gear for me also. I'm very intrigued to combine this with FI.
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