Hi all, I hope I post this in the right place. As some of you know, I just recently bought a 2000 GT with 63k on it. I have never owned a manual tranny car before, so I don't know what they are supposed to sound like when changing gears. My concern is, whenever I change gears, I can hear them being changed...almost like a mild thunk noise and I can also feel it changing too (but it's honestly not toooo loud nor does the car bump that much). It's usually when going from 1st to 2nd then 2nd to 3rd, and most noticable when going from 3rd to 2nd and then 2nd to 1st. 3 to 4 and 4 to 5 aren't noticable really (at least I havn't heard it yet).

Is this noise common among manual trannys? If not, what could I do to fix this? How much would a it cost to repair a manual tranny for a "worst case scenario" situation?

Thanks,

Matt

 

Wow. That's a tough one to diagnose over the forum. But, I do have one question. Does the car have an after-market shifter? If it does, (as most of us have them), the transmission is much louder than stock because all the rubber bushings and noice isolators are removed. This makes the shifter noisy and clanky in feel. If you have one of these on the car, then I would not worry about it. But, if the sound is loud or really clanky it could be signs of trouble no matter what shifter you have.

If I were you, I would see if there is a Mustang Enthusist on the forums who lives by you so he can take a listen. Otherwise, you might end up going to shop and spending $ for no reason.

 

Yea, just pull the shifter bezel and see if there is an aftermarket shifter. It would definately make more sound than stock.

 

Thanks for the info...I am going to just assume (before I look) that it is an aftermarket shifter only because a few things on it seems to be replaced with Steeda products (most noticable is the Steeda cold air intake). On the end of the exhaust tips (3.5" I believe), it says Steeda on them so I have a feeling the prev. owner swapped a few cheap and common upgradable items. However, if he didn't swap the shifter, any suggestions as to what I should upgrade to? I'd like to have a short shifter because the longer ones look a little bulky for my buds.

I'm going to be having a buddy of mine (who owns a '04 V6) take me to his mechanic tomorrow, who happens to be a Ford guru, and have him take a look at the car. I got the dealer to sign a 30 day money back warranty if I find anything wrong with it. I'm not too sure what I want him to look for as far as the tranny is concerned...any ideas? Should I have him take a look at the flywheel? Is this a common upgradable product? Also, can mechanics tell if a car has posi-?

 

You don't do that while it's going more than like 5 miles an hour do you?

 

No, not at all. Only when I am rolling to a stop and I "think" I am going to have to come to a complete stop. I usually just drop it into 2nd when I am going 10-15 MPH (or so) preparing to stop at a traffic light or something like that.

Is it bad to put the gear into 1st even though you don't release the clutch? On my bike, instead of apply a ton of pressure onto my brakes, I just let the engine rev down and continue to drop the gears until I am ready to stop...then I'll hold in the clutch and drop it into 1st (however, on my bike's tranny, it wont let me drop into a lower gear depending on how high the rpms are...it just makes a grindy noise. This is different for cars right?).

 

Yeah it's different...You don't want to downshift too high especially to first I always downshift to second then put it in neutral coming to stops...if the light changes then I just go back to 2nd. I have gears though so the pickup with lower RPM's in second is a lot different...doesn't bog.

 

Did you leave something out? What type of gears do you have? I hate that bogging...is there a way to fix that?

 

Buy a shifter gasket for your car. Also check your trans fluid, it sounds like its overdue for a change and go with a fully synthetic lubricant. I suggest Amsoil, royal purple, or mobile 1.

 

I have the FRPP 4.10 gears...there is a little link above the car in my sig.

 

Dude, those shoes are friggin sweet!! They're the best ones I've seen on a stang thus far. Nice pick man! So you say your rarely experience bogging with those gears? Are they meant for street, drag, or autocross?

BTW, I was reading stuff on the internet last night about manual trannys and came across this pretty good article about how to determine your speed based on your gear ratios and radius of your tires. Check it out!

 

Thanks Matt for the tip...I'll be having a mechanic go over the car in detail checking every nook and cranny imaginable. What does a shifter gasket do?

 

Well, when you install a shifter, most kits tell you to use RTV sealant to seal the shifter to the tranny, but now theres a guy that makes gaskets that eliminate the need for RTV and they quiet the shifter down a lot.

 

The shifter gasket also prevents you from getting silicone in your trans. It also picks up most of the noise you may get.

 

Alright, I just got my car inspected by a Ford specialist and he said everything was perfect and well maintained by the previous owner. I also found the prev. owner's paperwork from when he bought his car from the dealer. He had just about $450 monthly payments on it, not including insurance, which is why I am going to go on a limb and say that he couldn't afford it anymore which is why he sold it.

There is a Steeda shifter on it and I forgot to ask about the gasket but the mechanic said that the transmission was perfect. It also has the Steeda Timing Adjuster (which I still don't know how to use, or what it's purpose is) and the mech. said he's never seen one on a Mustang before.

It also has a Steeda Cat-back exhaust system on it which saves me about $600 ($750 including labor)!! Oh and did I mention...it also has the catted SLP X-pipe which is another $450 to $550 savings!



The only thing the previous owner DIDN'T maintain too well is the rims. The inside is eroded pretty bad and whoever tried maintaining the rims must have used the wrong product because the chrome is chipping off. Which leads me to my next question....


For those FR500's I want to put on my car, what wheel cleaning product IS a good product for cleaning chrome rims? I used the Meguire's Gold Series Instant Wheel Cleaner today: I rinsed off the rims real well, then sprayed the rims with the cleaner, let the spray sit there for 15-20 seconds (as directed), rinsed the rims again, and then dried them with a terry towel. They came out really nice and I haven't noticed any damage.

Well, that's my news and I must say what a great deal I got on this car! I doubt the dealer had any idea what the products were (they were a little older than my generation...in their 40's and 50's). But I'm not knocking them, they are great people and even more so now.