Acute onset of warm 4th gear popping out…
Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2015 12:07 am
I'm enjoying the heck out of this new engine, but as I give it longer and longer road trip responsibilities, I'm noticing a few things.
1) The transaxle popped out of fourth about once a month for the last few years, usually when under full throttle between 2k-3k RPMs up a hill, right before I would downshift to third. This only happened when the transaxle/engine combo was 100% warmed up.
2) When my engine was tuned well and running its best, this would happen more often. If I was experimenting with induction, timing, or exhaust, the popping out would happen less with a less-efficient setup.
3) Now with the rebuilt engine, after about 40 miles on the freeway, I can not keep it in 4th gear under 55mph. It just pops out within a few seconds of selecting the gear. Speeds above 55 seem to mitigate the problem, though on a steep hill @60 it will still pop out with a heavy right foot. Speeds under 50 require a painful hand on the shifter. :( This has been constant since I took it on its first 50+ mile freeway drive with the new engine. It was tolerable until I removed the engine to adjust endplay. Now it is worse.
I'm hoping that there is some secret alignment trick, with something like the mustache bar fore-aft placement, that hopefully I'm missing. I briefly hypothesized that the issue has been there all along, and the new engine is just that much more powerful, but I do not think it is THAT much more powerful… With the new engine, I did remove the transaxle to clean it, install a nosecone boot, paint the mount, and replace the shift rod shuttlecocks bushings. These small details should not matter, I think.
I'm open to installing a bearing retainer plate, but this happens on acceleration, not on deceleration. Wouldn't that push the mainshaft back in my case?
The 1,100-mile trip planned for early May has been temporarily rerouted from the mountain route to the flat desert route.
Robbie
1) The transaxle popped out of fourth about once a month for the last few years, usually when under full throttle between 2k-3k RPMs up a hill, right before I would downshift to third. This only happened when the transaxle/engine combo was 100% warmed up.
2) When my engine was tuned well and running its best, this would happen more often. If I was experimenting with induction, timing, or exhaust, the popping out would happen less with a less-efficient setup.
3) Now with the rebuilt engine, after about 40 miles on the freeway, I can not keep it in 4th gear under 55mph. It just pops out within a few seconds of selecting the gear. Speeds above 55 seem to mitigate the problem, though on a steep hill @60 it will still pop out with a heavy right foot. Speeds under 50 require a painful hand on the shifter. :( This has been constant since I took it on its first 50+ mile freeway drive with the new engine. It was tolerable until I removed the engine to adjust endplay. Now it is worse.
I'm hoping that there is some secret alignment trick, with something like the mustache bar fore-aft placement, that hopefully I'm missing. I briefly hypothesized that the issue has been there all along, and the new engine is just that much more powerful, but I do not think it is THAT much more powerful… With the new engine, I did remove the transaxle to clean it, install a nosecone boot, paint the mount, and replace the shift rod shuttlecocks bushings. These small details should not matter, I think.
I'm open to installing a bearing retainer plate, but this happens on acceleration, not on deceleration. Wouldn't that push the mainshaft back in my case?
The 1,100-mile trip planned for early May has been temporarily rerouted from the mountain route to the flat desert route.
Robbie