OH CRAP!!!! SOMETHING BROKE!!!!!&# Options

[toyotacrazy]

I was driving on the highway about 70 mph today, I gave it a full boost accelleration and my friend in the pass seat noticed the shifter popped out of 5th gear into neutral. So I put it back into 5th and I couldnt accelerate. Now the car is stuck in 5th gear. All the shifter cables are good. I think the spec stage 2 disc broke. It was custom for the 3s swap using the stock gt transmission. Ive been hearing a rattle sound when at idle with the clutch petal out. When I pushed it in it would go away. I was told by spec that its my throw out bearing. It made sense at the time. I guess they were probably wrong. This sucks!!!!!I'll let you all know when I get it apart. later
-toyotacrazy

[rzanology]

damn.....hope it didnt damage anything too bad!

[x_itchy_b_x]

haha oh man thats really familiar.
happened to me twice, same scenario and it turned out to be the clutch both times, both times a spec stage 2.
I'm sure the stage 2 will come out in two pieces.
Spec will most likely cover it as they did both of mine. id rather have the clutch break than my tranny so i hope nothing is damaged to bad.

[6strngs]

damn... I have a spec stage 2... if this happens to me after I turbocharge my 5s, is spec gonna cover the $700 labor to have the new one put in?!

[toyotacrazy]

will the v-6 solara 5 speed trans bolt right up to a 3sgte??????

[playr158]

yup its an E153 tranny

[celica3sgte]

The v-6 solara tranny will slap right on. You need the solara, st185, or st205 shift cables, driver's side mount, rear mount from an st205, and , but before you slap on another tranny, check to see if the horseshoe shaped clip that holds the shift cable to the tranny fell off. It's happened to me. Usually you'll only be able to move the shifter either sideways or forward and back. I wouldn't doubt that it's that clutch though, they are crap. Go with ACT.

[toyotacrazy]

thanks for the advise. when I was stranded I had wishful thinking and checked all the linkage. It was fine

[toyotacrazy]

The v-6 solara tranny will slap right on. You need the solara, st185, or st205 shift cables, driver's side mount, rear mount from an st205, and , but before you slap on another tranny, check to see if the horseshoe shaped clip that holds the shift cable to the tranny fell off. It's happened to me. Usually you'll only be able to move the shifter either sideways or forward and back. I wouldn't doubt that it's that clutch though, they are crap. Go with ACT.

Do I also need mr2 turbo axles and some sort of spacer????Where can I get the spacers?

[celica3sgte]

You can use a few things as a spacer. I used a chunk of aluminum(which is very light and made pattern) With the st205 rear insulator I haven't needed the spacer, but I think the axles are still slightly short. You'll need the mr2/solara inners axles and outer axles from from an st185. I might have a couple of those too, lol. I'll have to look.

[lagos]

Ive been hearing a rattle sound when at idle with the clutch petal out. When I pushed it in it would go away. I was told by spec that its my throw out bearing.

i used to have that same noise. it would go away after pushing the clutch in . everyone told me it was the throw out bearing too . then one day, i had to get the car towed because my pass side axle fell out of my tranny. turns out, the noise i was hearing was because one of the bolts for the axle bracket that attaches to the engine block, came out, and the other bolt broke in half. once the bolts broke, axle fell out and the car would just idle while in gear. so you might want to look into that.

[malecrod]

Sorry man, but it sounds all too familiar. I went through 2 spec stage 2 clucthes within 3 months. First one was a piece of metal broke off the clutch disc and wouldn't let me into any gear. The second was the clutch disc itself and I was driving onto the highway and shifted to 4th gear it was just reving but no accelearation just as you described. I have since switched to exedy for 4months now and speaking from experience it feels a lot better almost like OEM. And the other thing I did was I went back to the 5sfe flywheel and I can also tell you that the car feel much more nimble and revs faster and surprisingly my mpg improved also. The only other person I know using the 5sfe flywheel I believe it easternpiro? Clutch jobs get expensive, hopefully you can do it yourself.

[toyotacrazy]

Ok. I got it apart in 1 hour and 15 minutes on the ground in 30* weather I must add. To my suprise the spec clutch looks great. Everything looks great. I still cant manually shift the transmission at all. Something is wrong in the gearbox. I put it in the back of the solara and will tear into it at work tomorrow. All you guys running spec stage 2 clutches can relax a little more now I hope. I may end up throwing an e-153 or mr2 trans. in it while its apart. Depends on cost. Anyways if anyones got those spacers, shift cables, or mr2 axles or a transmission let me know. Thanks guys!
-toyotacrazy

[lagos]

did you check your hydraulic lines?

[toyotacrazy]

The clutch petal felt good and was moving normally. I looked at the fork while someone stepped on the petal also.

This post has been edited by toyotacrazy: Jan 24, 2007 - 10:18 PM

[cheeco]

just out of curiousity, does the spec stage 2 clutch you have, have rivots holding the hub section to the friction section? after my first one broke, they sent me a stage 2 disk without any rivots, and ive had no problems since.

[6strngs]

just out of curiousity, does the spec stage 2 clutch you have, have rivots holding the hub section to the friction section? after my first one broke, they sent me a stage 2 disk without any rivots, and ive had no problems since.

I can't tell if mine has rivets... this is the only picture I took of it before it was installed, and I didn't install it myself.

[toyotacrazy]

Yes mine has rivots. They look pretty sturdy though. I would hope they fixed the flaws by now.

just out of curiousity, does the spec stage 2 clutch you have, have rivots holding the hub section to the friction section? after my first one broke, they sent me a stage 2 disk without any rivots, and ive had no problems since.

How does the one without rivots engage compaired to the other one? Is it still a sprung hub?

[x_itchy_b_x]

New Design ^

Old Design ^

its a solid piece now looks alot stronger.

[jcbass7]

Thats my stage two.. old design? i bought it last june

I just figure when she pops ill get a stage 3

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Jan 25, 2007 - 10:00 AM

[toyotacrazy]

That looks like the old design. Id contact spec before you install it and get the updated one. You dont want to be stranded on the side of the road. All you can do is ask..

[toyotacrazy]

So if I use a mr2 3sgte transmission, What do I need? Will my gt shift cables work? Motor mounts? Spacers? I will need the mr2 axles regardless if I use the mr2 or the solara 5 speed. Is that correct? Thanks

[jcbass7]

That looks like the old design. Id contact spec before you install it and get the updated one. You dont want to be stranded on the side of the road. All you can do is ask..

Its been in the car since june, thats an old pic.. ive got approx 1000 miles on it so far.. so its basically just broken in

[cheeco]

Yes mine has rivots. They look pretty sturdy though. I would hope they fixed the flaws by now.

just out of curiousity, does the spec stage 2 clutch you have, have rivots holding the hub section to the friction section? after my first one broke, they sent me a stage 2 disk without any rivots, and ive had no problems since.

How does the one without rivots engage compaired to the other one? Is it still a sprung hub?

engagement is basically the same, i did notice alot less rattling with the clutch released though. the hub is still sprung.

[toyotacrazy]

5th gear slid off the shaft and was cutting into the outer case. Im getting a new trans.

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

So if I use a mr2 3sgte transmission, What do I need? Will my gt shift cables work? Motor mounts? Spacers? I will need the mr2 axles regardless if I use the mr2 or the solara 5 speed. Is that correct? Thanks

Sorry to hear about the transmission.


If you decide to get an E153, 3sgtecelica covered it all perfectly. Heres what you need to know in a nutshell if you go for it.

You can find an E153 on V6 5spd Solaras and Camrys up to about 2000-2001....MR2 turbos (require shift bracket relocation, or use of a FWD shift bracket from aforementioned cars) also use this trans, and many 93+ models have LSD from the factory, albeit being very expensive. Best bet for availability and cost is to purchase a Solara or Camry version from a local salvage yard.

www.car-part.com will yeild the most matches.

To make it all work, you'll need to get yourself a rear ST205 mount, drivers side ST185 mount and bracket. The other stock GT 5spd mounts will work. For axles, you can get MR2 inners and ST185 outers, and use them as hybrid axles....others have used different axles, like 92 Camry V6 shafts, some use ST205 axles. The MR2/ST185 combo will require a spacer like 3sgtecelica posted a picture of.

Contrary to popular belief, the stock GT cables will work, they just require slight cutting of the E153's shift cable bracket so that they mate up perfectly....IMO its not worth it to spend the extra money on different cables when a minor ammount of cutting will do the job just as well. ST205 or ST185 cables will work without any cutting, however. From here, just use a 3SGTE flywheel, 3SGTE clutch from any chassis and you'll be set.



Advantages for using a E153-

-Great 1st gear for much better launches at the strip, longer gears for better cruising RPM's, much higher top speed.
-Beefier internals, some with dual syncros, heavier duty axles, and availability of LSD.
-Come with plumbing for a transmission oil cooler, a big plus for track driven cars.

Advantages of using an S54-

-Lighter, easier to maneuver during installation
-Shorter gears make for great acceleration from a roll, and allow you to keep the motor really wound up
-Cheaper by using all stock GT parts like axles, mounts, cables.



Best of luck with the setup, hopefully you get all the bugs worked out.

This post has been edited by Silver94CelicaOwner: Jan 26, 2007 - 4:40 PM

[toyotacrazy]

Thank you so much. Thats what I needed to know. I found an e-153 trans. for $300 including shipping. I should be set. The main reasons I want to use this trans. is the longer 4-5th gears for better gas mileage. Also it should hold up to the power. The s534 broke the day after I raised my boost from 6 to 10. This says a lot about what it can handle. But maybe it was a problem with my box. I did have grinding before the 3sgte swap. Thanks again!

[presure2]

The s534 broke the day after I raised my boost from 6 to 10. This says a lot about what it can handle. But maybe it was a problem with my box. I did have grinding before the 3sgte swap. Thanks again!

if you had problems with the tranny before you swaped, thats why you had problems after you swaped.
there are lots of guys here running 3sgtes and 5sftes with no issues.

[lagos]

The s534 broke the day after I raised my boost from 6 to 10. This says a lot about what it can handle.

whatever your problem is, its not because the tranny cant handle 10psi. like presure2 said, there are a lot of us that have been beating the crap out of s54s for years at a lot higher boost levels then just 10psi, with no problems at all.

i hope that you diagnose the issue before buying a 2nd trans. its kind of odd to loose 5th gear. if it was an issue of too much power or a bad sychro, then you would probably have problems with 2nd or 3rd gear, more then you would in 5th.

[toyotacrazy]

Heres how it broke. I was on the highway doing about 60 mph. I came up to an mr2 and he was looking at me like he wanted to go. So I hit it. Next thing I knew I was doing 100 mph and the trans slipped out of 5th. I tried to put it back in and it was grinding. when I did get it into gear it got stuck. 5th slipped off the end of the shaft and rubbed into the case. It tore the synchros up somewhat.

Im not saying that the s54's cant handle the power, It just seems that they have a better chance of failure because they arent designed for the extra torque. The only problem I had with it before was when it was cold 3rd gear would grind. Lately it got much worse. Only after I bumped up the boost. Im sure it was coming sooner or later. I just thing the extra power made it come sooner. I dont want this problem again so I bought an E-153. I dont like being stranded on the highway and paying a tow bill.

[x_itchy_b_x]

The s534 broke the day after I raised my boost from 6 to 10. This says a lot about what it can handle. But maybe it was a problem with my box. I did have grinding before the 3sgte swap. Thanks again!

if you had problems with the tranny before you swaped, thats why you had problems after you swaped.
there are lots of guys here running 3sgtes and 5sftes with no issues.

words. 5sfte i beat on my tranny 3sgte i beat on my tranny. still shifts great. i hope it continues too now ....

[lagos]

did you look inside to verify that the 5th gear syncrho is shot? if so, can you take pics?

i was just out driving. ran into a dsm. similar situation to yours. my result was....



thats 1.21bar aka 17.5psi . it holds that just fine. so i don't think your problem was in anyway related to turning up the boost to just 10psi.

This post has been edited by lagos: Jan 26, 2007 - 10:35 PM

[toyotacrazy]

I took the box completely apart. I will take pics on Monday as the transmission is at work. I dont know if you can really see anything in a pic though. It basically just broke the retaining clip off the end of the 5th gear shaft. Then the gear continued to slide off until the case stopped it. I probably could just replace 5th gear synchrose, but I dont want this to ever happen again.
Again, Im not saying the boost is what killed the trans. It probably has some issues before hand. All Im saying is that the extra torque finished it off or made it happen sooner than it would have with the 5s-fe.
I will get some pics for you guys.
BTW: if anyone wants a spec stage 2 kevlar clutch custom for 3sgte-e54 transmission. Let me know. It only has 700 miles on it. I didnt slip it excessively. I can give you pics of flywheel and everything. It engages so smooth and grabs when you need it to. I spent $200+ on from spec. It does have the updated heavy duty disc componets. Thanks.