You're My Boy, Blue

[ScottyB]

i hate to disappoint everyone, but i didn't break anything again!

the 6 speed in these has notoriously picky synchros particularly on 2nd and 3rd gear.  i was fortunate to buy an example with the trans still shifting very nicely.  anybody who's been in these cars for a long time says the same thing about making them last a long time, happily: change the trans fluid very often.  i'm still "new" to what the car likes, so i decided to heed the advice.  the fact that its much easier to swap the trans fluid than the engine oil makes it a quick project to knock out.

its been about a year on the Honda MTF i filled it up with after i bought it and decided to swap over to some Amsoil Manual Synchromesh to freshen it up, but also to find out if it would work better than the Honda stuff.  i was also curious to see how the fluid looked.

would have liked to use the crawler but it just sits too high.  had to lay on the wet floor.  nice.


DANK PRODUCT PLACEMENT


welp.  that's about as clean as it gets, i should have ran it longer.  hell i probably could have saved it and used it again.


gratuitous floof boi doin a *blep*


so, yes, while i'm sure it didn't hurt anything to change the fluid, i think it was unnecessary.  i'll wait longer next time.

driving impressions:  the Amsoil shifts MUCH better on cold upshifts and better all around once warm.  i flogged the car pretty hard up and down the gears and it'll let me row 'em as fast as i can change them with no complaints.  the Honda MTF would hang up sometimes if i pushed it too quickly, as if it took an extra half second for the synchros to mate up.

HOWEVER, one thing i found odd was that cold downshifts on the Amsoil is really bad.  leaving my neighborhood i had to go from 3rd to 2nd at about 10mph and it completely locked me out of 2nd for so long that i had already rolled through the right turn at the intersection by the time i was able to engage 2nd.  i had to double-clutch it until the car warmed up.  i have to assume its just slippery to the point that the synchro teeth are gliding past each other rather than meshing.  2nd gear was the worst...downshifting in the other gears was a little clunky but i didn't get locked out.

kinda sucks with temps dropping even more now, but i'm willing to deal with a mile or two of the occassional careful downshift for how much better it feels when its hot.  the Honda MTF never felt great when cold either, which sealed the deal for me that i think i'll stick with Amsoil from here on out.