And "syncro issue" means MORE than just new syncros....If you think about brake pads and rotors it makes more sense not only do the pads wear but also the rotors.... Same type of thing in the transmission except it has no way to adjust for wear ....
Plus the noise the grinding is NOT the syncro but the gear teeth on the slider against the dog teeth on the side of the gear and they wear out also. So changing a couple syncros is not rebuilding a transmission and while it might make it better it will not shift like it was designed to.

 

I bought a running ( well ) but sideswiped 86.5 car, with nice interior for 1900. 150K mi.

Jadz and I harvested the 5 speed LSD box, swapped it into his old 84 Euro, now my car.

Left now with a whole car in the garage that needs to be parted-out.

Shifts good in the Euro, which had an LSD box with very bad synchros, now tucked away in garage.

When you are upgrading like this, don't kill yourself thinking it must be factory fresh. Sure, that's the preference. But I'm calling BS on all the "it has to be perfect" stuff being spouted in this thread.

Jim and Greg, luv ya, mean it, but my advice is cut a deal with the box owner. Better yet a creative deal that has a price adjustment if the box doesn't shift as represented.

 

First person to give me 150lbs of gold can have my 5spd transmission. I'll throw in the rest of the car for free.

Rich

 

 

At current gold prices its under $3M. Some Porsches sell for more.

 

I agree!

 

He doesn't mean it the same way you do.

 

I think part of the bad reputation for the early Porsche design syncro transmissions comes from people's experiences when they paid for a "rebuild" and ONLY got some new syncros and a gasket set. Then the trans shifts BETTER but still not right ..... sure you can live with it compensate in any number of ways.
Syncros are wear items as are limited slip friction discs these cars are now ALL old cars many with a lot of miles.

 

Shifting a 928 gets a bad rap from old synros, badly adjusted clutches, poor shift linkage, and comparison to the Tremec T5.

Wow, T5 is 75 lbs dry, one of smoothest shifters I have driven hard, as in power shifting (foot to the floor through all gears without lifting).

I suppose you can get used to shifting slow, or not down shifting, I do it in my 83 US, but I don't like the car imposing limits on what I do for fun, so its not staying that way.

 

Yeah, but more than 300hp will blow up a T5 every time.

 

My point is a bit more simple.

130,000 miles is a lot of miles for any transmission. While everyone in the 928 world seems to be under the illusion that these transmissions (both manual and automatics) have some sort of "magical" ability to resist wear (compared to the transmissions in other vehicles), they are made from the same stuff. Bearings that wear out, syncros that wear out, friction discs in the limited slip that wear out, springs that fatigue.

The majority of the transmissions that I take apart are way past their life expectancy. These transmissions would have been far cheaper to repair, many miles ago, when the "standard" wear items were at the end of their life.....before "hard parts" became damaged. Since this rarely happens and people drive them (with problems) until they simply will not function any longer.....these "used until they simply will not function any longer" transmissions are tremendously more expensive to repair.

On top of that...the labor required to take one of these things in and out is not insignificant. Stuffing an unknown used transmission into a vehicle and then needing to take it out is going to burn up more labor and time than taking the thing apart and replacing the wear items, before it gets installed.

Of course, this can be a double edged sword. The "skill" required to rebuild either the manual or automatic transmissions is pretty high and thus the failure rate associated with people attempting to rebuild these units is very high....even with "so called" professionals doing them.

I took apart an automatic transmission, Friday, that had supposedly been rebuilt by one of the most "highly respected" automatic transmission rebuilders there is/was. Absolutely unbelievable. It looked as if Stevie Wonder had rebuilt it. No joking, I don't think I could not have screwed up something this bad, if I actually trying to do that.

And the last manual transmission I took apart was virtually the same thing. Very respected rebuilder...unbelievably poor workmanship. Syncros in the wrong place, internal shifting components in the wrong gears....on and on. It literally cost more to fix the crap that was damaged by the poor workmanship than the thing would have cost to fix, properly, in the first place.

Maybe there is some sanity to driving a transmission until it simply no longer functions....but be prepared to write a bigger check....especially if you take it to someone who really knows where the pieces go and what they do.

Either way; Poor workmanship or high mileage....you'd better get some metric wingnuts to use on the rear suspension, to make getting these things in and out quicker.

 

Swapping one will burn a weekend, that's for sure.

 

Jim has personally taken my class on "Why just replacing a syncro will not usually fix an early transmission's shifting problems".

It's a very interesting course.

Expensive, but very interesting and very rewarding.

When these transmissions function properly, they are such a delight. It's such a shame that people drive them around with "crunching" gears. Not only are they less fun to drive.....it just makes them that much more expensive to repair.

 

Anyone know of a well known trans shop in the North East? I don't need one at the moment but good to know when/if the time comes.

 

Check with Glen McCartney