OK. I got on the MR2 boards and posted a WTB thread for a MR2T transmission. The very next day I get this email from this guy who says he has a '94 MR2T transmission with LSD that he's not really that eager to sell...But for the right price he would do it. so I offered him $1000 shipped. Right now we're trying to find the cheapest rate for shipping.

BUT, at the same time MR2swift says he has a JDM '93 MR2T transmission with LSD for $850 shipped. I told him about the potential deal that I might be in with the '94 transmission.

He has sent me a couple of pms about how rare this tranny is and that I need to really watch myself before committing to this thing. He says that MR2s were extrememly rare in '94 and '95 and on top of that, even more rare were the turbo versions.

I talked to the guy selling the '94 over the phone. He has 2 MR2s. one is a race car and the other is a street car. The street car is the '94 and it had an electrical problem. His mechanic took it for a drive and wrecked the car. But the motor was still perfectly fine. So the guy pulled the motor and tranny out of the wrecked car and now has it sitting in a garage just in case he needs to swap the motor or tranny into the race car. But he saw my thread and for the right price would just sell me the tranny rather than keeping it for his race car.

The '94 tranny has 40k miles on it, he specifically said its in good condition.

Mr2swift, couldn't tell me anything about the JDM tranny he has other than " it came off a motor that looked great" (the part about 'it coming off a motor that LOOKED great' has me really suspicious.)
He said nothing about the condition nor how many miles it has on it.

Would you guys buy the '94 or go with the '93 JDM one?

Well as far as I know there is no difference between the jdm and usdm tranmissions, I think the code is e53? From the sounds of it, the 94' one might be in better condition.

yah man... for an extra $150 id go the safer route...

if he isnt willing to give out the information then there must be something shady going on.. talk to him about it and see if he is willing to tell you everything you want to know. If he is not willing think about how bad the transaction well be when you actually buy it from him.. ( aka.. " i sent the money where is the trany" "hello?")

i say go for the 94 one because of the amout of support.

i say go for the 94 tranny. that dude seems more reliable to me.

I don't think MR2swift is shady, but he certainly didn't give me much info. He is more willing to talk about the 94 being so rare and potentially shady, rather than give me much info on what he sells to try and convince me that he's got the better transmission..

BTW, I just got a 3rd email from ANOTHER guy saying he has SEVERAL transmissions for sale. I thought these things were rare?! lol

lol well, the lotus elise is a rare car too, but theyre not when you are on a lotus elise message board.

lots of those people are vendors and have connections where they will buy in bulk to get a better price then sell of the extra ones. id say either one should be okay, but id personally go with the 94 because you know that car has been babied with only 40k miles on it.