silver1.3

Grinded going from 1st to 2nd last night! Must have not had the clutch in all the way - happend at 8500 rpm, man thats a mean sound!!! Hopefully I didn't damage anything - just had to vent my stupidity - ahhh, now all is tranquil and good in the world of the '8.

VooDoo

Been there, done that, during the test drive (I felt like an idiot!). I ended up buying a different RX-8.

rotten42

Been there too...the worst is when your next to someone in an RSX, WRX or something like that...then the grind

former_s2k'r

pfft.... 1-2 grinded the s2k over 100 times in ownership. It was documented tranny problem in early build ones. Quite embarrasing to say the least.

StewC625

First of all, you should know you're not grinding the actual GEARS but instead crunching the synchronizers - the synchros are toothed cone-shaped devices in the gearbox next to the gears and are there to protect the gears from grinding and to bring the gears to similar speeds prior to engagement.

I occasionally miss that 1-2 shift as well ...

Coop '04

Actually it is the gears grinding, by the time you get to the point in the shifting motion for grinding to happen, the synchros have done their job and are out of the picture. The grinding happens when you have engaged the clutch prior to the gears meshing completely, but the gear faces are touching, which is right after the synchros have already lined things up.

khtm

So which is it? The gears or the synchros??

beachdog

gears

When you grind a synchro gear or a non-synchro gear it sounds exactly the same.

zevans

It's not gear teeth grinding... all gear teeth are permanently engaged and always turning.

The grind is the dogs on the collar on the output shaft trying to locate in the holes for 'em on the face of the gear. The synchro is not rocket science - they just make the dogs conical so that you don't have to have everything quite centred to start pushing things home.

See http://auto.howstuffworks.com/transmission3.htm

StewC625

Zevans - cool Avatar!

rotayking

Were you on the race track??????????

irish8

It's really a "rite of passage" (sp?)

Don't sweat it. Just don't it again!!

- Irish

zevans

Ta. :D It's the top of the Gotthardpass in the Swiss Alps. It would be an even better photo if it wasn't for the BRIGHT orange litter bin you can't see just to the left of where I cropped it...

BTW racing downshift from 6th to 3rd and booting it past another car when they move over is very satisfying indeed with the 8's drivetrain :D

StewC625

By the way ... while it's fun being in the RX-8 "cult" isn't it even more fun being part of that wild-eyed special sect known as the "Lightning Yellow Owners" ... it takes a special person to own a car in that color!

SC

SpinninAgain!

Yowza! Just don't hit 1st by mistake :p

And yes, I've done the 1st/2nd grind. Stupid klutz

And yes, Lightning Yellow rules!

Shamblerock

Yellow only rules when Velocity Red is not around!

silver1.3

no, I was passing a whale of a SUV - you know, trying to show him how silly his big boat is - and alas I was the silly one :p