I have been driving my Z about once every 2 months or so. Not exactly a daily driver anymore, but I drove it yesterday, and it is popping out of 3rd on decel, and was already starting to pop out of 2nd earlier. There is also a grumbling noise coming from the trans with the clutch out in neutral, which seems to be getting louder as time goes by. Noise disappears when you push the clutch in. It shifts smoothly into all gears.
My understanding is that this is pretty common, and the cause is worn countershaft bearings.
I got this tranny from a parts ZX about 8 years ago, and I've probably put 50K on it, and I have no idea how many miles it had before that, car looked like it had 250K. I realized I was going to run into this at some point, so I bought a rebuild kit when I worked for a shop. It is an RPM SuperKit. Has anyone used this kit? Are the bearings decent? I would rather use the synchros and buy Timken bearings and National Seals if it would mean that the rebuild would last longer.
Also, how hard is the rebuild? That's kind of hard to quantify, but I've only done 1 manual trans in a 4 cyl '79 Mustang, and that was 12 years ago or so, and if this has any quirky stuff that only an expert can do, I don't mind taking it to a shop.
FSM has specs on the big nut on the mainshaft and weird stuff like that? I'd need to get one so I'm asking before I plunk down the $$$.
Just looking for some feedback. Is my diagnosis correct? Should I attempt myself? FSM have everything I need?
Thanks,
Jon