Tom W

Recap: My shifter ceased normal operations. Pulling the transmission indicated that something inside had broken and the debris was preventing the movement of the shift rod.

The diagnosis: A few pices chipped off of the "spider shaft" (?) and were causing the obstruction. The differential was also shot, cause unknown. The shift fork was fine as were the existing gears and synchros.

The repair and upgrade: As long as it's all pulled apart ...
I had the RS low weight flywheel/clutch installed, an LSD added and the gearing redone. I did not pay the upcharge for steel synchros as I will not track the car often or long enough for heat to become a factor. My gears are now:
1st 3.818 (stock)
2nd 2.25
3rd 1.632
4th 1.286
5th 1.083
5th 0.937 (original 5th)

Initial impression: A dramatic difference. I've only driven about 20 miles since I picked it up, but it sure moves through the gears quicker. It was also very strange to actual shift into 6th gear when zipping up Highway 101 at 85 MPH. No stalling problem even though I have not yet changed the chip.

There was some dicussion about where the clutch grabbed on cars recently. With the new clutch, mine grabs much closer to the floor (that will take a bit to get used to) and is suprisingly much easier to depress.

993RS

Tom,
I keep saying that the gear ratio mod is great and has the advantage of not touching the engine.
Did you feel the car was noisier after installing the single mass flywheel?

Tom W

Yes, it's a bit nosier. Most noticably a new high pitched whine. Also a bit more noise when coasting or using engine breaking when going down a steep slope. Not objectionable, just different.

The difference in gearing will take some adjustment. On the drive home I found that old habits are hard to break as I constantly misjudged what gear I was in. I would think I was in 3rd but when I went to shift, found I was in 4th, etc.

Definitely more fun on "brisk" acceleration as the rpm drop between gears is much less. It stays high and in the power band a lot more.

Martin S.

What did this "operation" cost, dare I ask?

MarkC

Why would the flywheel make it noisier?

A whine could be the diff setup (crownwheel to pinion alignment/clearance), I do hope not. Differential's are notoriously difficult to setup.
Does it do it when on or off the power, or both?

DJ

The sound is gear whine from the new gears. They're typically a little noisier than stock gears (maybe they're stronger?). After a few thousand miles, the gear whine will dissipate, which is sad, really, because I did so enjoy it. The other source of noise would be from the LW flywheel. It doesn't dampen the little vibrations quite as good, and at high-load/low rpm, it rattles a bit. With the windows up, you'll probably not hear it. That sound will not dissipate.

H20NOO

Tom,

Tell us more when you've driven the car a bit further. Describe the improvement in acceleration, especially as related to the flywheel. Do you notice a big difference in downshifting, throttle blips, etc? Does the car idle a little bit rough?

I've installed lightweight flywheels on my Ducati and other machines and have always been impressed with the dramatic improvement in acceleration AND increased compression braking.

Who did the work? Would you recommend them? Sorry but, how much? Please reply by e-mail if you'd prefer.

Thanks,

MC

Tom W

The final damage was $11,000 Obviously, I've decided this is a car I'll be keeping a while!

There is a dramatic difference in how the car moves through the gears under full acceleration. I'll never know if it's "faster" because I made no pre-change measurements (I did not plan on doing this work to a car with only 25k miles on it). It feels quicker but I've been driving crappy rental cars for 2 weeks and anything would feel fast after that. I'll know a lot more about performance after autocross school in April. The idle is fine.

The work was done by Tony Heyer (Heyer Performance) in Mt. View. I was quite happy with Tony. The transmission work was done by Rothsport in Portland.

Now all I have to do is convince my wife that a rollbar and 6 point harness is a good idea...

H20NOO

Thanks Tom. I'm also engaged in the rollbar dialogue at the moment!

mags993tt

Sorry, this is a bit OT but does anyone understand why reverse gear is longer than first? (I'm pretty sure it is on my car - is that normal?) I don't think I've ever driven another car with a taller reverse gear than first gear and I can't imagine why the car would be set up in that way?

I'm guessing I could do 50mph in reverse, which I haven't found useful so far, but I do have to slip the clutch a lot reversing into a parking space...

Tom W

Matt,

If you get a bar before me I'd like to see it. The only way I'll ever be able to get spousal agreement is to get one I can remove and only instali it for DE events. Since my wife is doing the autocross school too, I'll have a much better understanding of how much I can push after it (depending on if she has fun).

H20NOO

Tom,

Will do.. I'm looking at the DAS bolt-in model available through
www.das-sport.com

I'm not fully committed yet so it could be a few weeks.

Mags993tt - My reverse gear is taller than 1st for sure. I don't know why, but it could simply be a matter of packaging within the transmission. Perhaps the taller (smaller) gear was a better fit... That's pure speculation on my part!

H20NOO

Tom,

Eric in Chicago has the DAS bar in his Cab. E-mail me for more info.