Brian’s 6 Speed Transmission Swap w/ Clutch and Flywheel

It was a gay o’l time … it was a jolly good time.

The New Year has come and brought us another weekend of problematic install. What we thought would go somewhat smooth went and took a detour. Fear not… we managed to tackle them and finished the install.

Quick recap of how we got here…

I have acquired a 2000 Miata NB. After few months of driving I’ve noticed the 5th gear was starting to grind. After enduring the grind by double clutching it eventually locked me out of 5th gear. The cold weather started rolling in and I’ve noticed the 5th gear started opening it’s butthole once again. But with one condition… please be gentle putting it in.

So I figured with this problem, I can either drain and put better fluids or replace the transmission. As you can see I went with the more awesome route. With the holidays coming in fast I had to budget my spending tighter than your ex-gf’s butthole. I managed to purchase a 6 speed transmission from the land of the rising sun and motherland for low mileage miata parts… 2ndchanceroadster located in Hesperia California.

We set a date for installation.. originally New Year’s day. But bumped to 2nd week of January. Originally planned to do a straight 6 speed swap, I was jedi mind tricked to do clutch + lightweight flywheel combo… since you know, “the transmission is out anyways might as well right?”

It so happened I found someone selling a BRAND NEW Exedy Clutch Kit + performance 11lbs flywheel. Once again, I turned to my bank’s butthole and force it open for some raping…

So how did the install went? Well, it started at 2:30pm in the afternoon… hit a road block in the first step trying to get the exhaust manifold out which took many hours due to a stuck permanently torque spec’d bolts between the header and downpipe. Finally found a way to get through that and started taking off the transmission as well as other parts.

Had a nice shabu shabu dinner in between… after fighting off the upcoming food coma, the work started once again. Stock clutch and flywheel came off and the new ones came on. Then the 6 speed transmission of doom was installed. Work stopped at 11pm and figured the rest will complete the next day.

Next day comes… old fluids came out and new ones came in. New parts were installed without me knowing. But in the end the car was finally done.

How’s the car? Well, it definitely stays in the powerband and loves to stay in the high rpm range thanks to do the 4.3 diff. The real test will come soon at the track and after the “break-in” period for the clutch. But so far so good!