KENNY LEW 626 5th GEAR SWAP
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears.html
This is my feeble attempt at creating a write-up for my web page. I'm not proficient in web design so bare with me. This is a detailed write-up which includes pics of how to do the 5th gear swap. This only applies to the '88-89 323 GTX and GT. I'm sure the J-spec trannies are the same as the North American spec ones so the procedure should be the same. These gears will lower both the rpms in the GTX and GT in 5th gear by about 500 rpm. In the GTX, cruising with the stock 5th gear at 80 mph leaves the motor at 4200 rpm. With the 626 5th gear, you're at around 3700 rpm. Not a huge difference, but enough for a few extra miles per gallon.
The pics I took are from my GT. The shift fork is at a different location on the GT than the GTX (just updated one of the pics to show where the location of the pin is in the shift fork on the GTX), but the procedure is still the same. Much of this write-up was contributed by Paul Kroenke ([email protected]). Not sure if he's still on the list or not, but I wanted to give credit where it's due. I added a few things along with the photos. I'm sure others can add to it. Hopefully, I didn't miss anything. Paul's instructions are in blue while mine are in silver. His experience was a tad bit different than mine.
The 5th gears are originally from a '90-97 323 and an '88-92 626. Not positive on which cars they're from, but here are the part numbers for the 2 gears that you will need for the swap.
G560-17-611 G514-17-308
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears5.jpg
1. Put front of car on blocks with driver side wheel removed
2. Remove splash cover from under the fender
3. Drain tranny fluid
4. Remove round end cover on the tranny with a 10mm extension
5. Have friend get on the brakes (safe) or try a rag in between the gears. I chose the brakes.
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/tranny1.jpg
*UPDATED PIC* -- This is a pic of the GTX tranny. Note the PIN above.
6. Remove the lock nuts. I used 1 1/16" and 1 5/16", but they didn't fit perfect. Use whatever fits, because they are a little hard to find. You may
want to get new nuts, but I used the old ones fine, and it will help you to know when they are tight without a torque wrench. (The indentations fit with
the shafts indentation.)
I was fortunate enough to have an electric impact gun so I didn't need anyone to step on the brakes or use a rag in between the gears. An impact gun is the only way to go to remove those nuts. They're on there pretty good. I used metric sized sockets instead of the standard ones. The sizes are 32mm and 26mm. With the impact gun, it comes right off. No hassle.
7. Remove right hand side reverse gear
8. Remove left hand side reverse gear
9. Once you remove the reverse gears, you'll reach the fork. You may want to note the position of the gears, but there is a description of the
way it goes together at the end of this description. I'd say note the position to be sure.
Might be easier to pull the fork out with the synchros as one piece. This way, you won't have to worry about what goes where. There are synchros in front and behind the shift fork so be cautious when you pull them out.
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/tranny2.jpg
10. To remove the shift fork, you'll need to punch out the pin holding the shift fork to the shaft. I used a a 5/32 hex Allen wrench, the socket kind, and a very long extension, and hit the end with a hammer. It worked so well, you should try it first. I unplugged the lead spark plug wire harness, and removed the air filter (or box in some of your cases) to get a good angle on it. The spring pin does indeed go all the way through the fork and the shaft, and comes out some mystery hole which cannot be seen from any normal lines of sight.
I used a punch tool instead of the Allen wrench. Either one will work. I taped the punch tool to the end of a long 12" extension (3/8") so that I could position the punch tool over the pin. You have to knock the pin out from above. Once the pin is knocked out, it will fall to the ground or into the bucket of oil that you're using to catch the tranny oil.
11. Remove the 5TH gear (on the right) and the drive gear (on the left).
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/tranny3.jpg
12. Slide the new gears to there respective places
13. Slide the fork on, with the large gear in its clutches. Tap the spring
pin in as far as you can, then use the allen to pound it in flush.
This is the hard part--trying to line up the pin so that it goes into the hole on the shaft. You'll need a long extension to reach the pin. Just use the flat end of the 12" extension.
14. Now, you must maneuver the the fork in and out using 5th gear, neutral, and reverse to put all the synchros in. Put it in 5th. Slide the gapped
synchro in first. At this point, note that all these gears are either divided in 3 or 6. You will see what I am talking about when you get there. You want
all your gears so the centers on the section all line up, nice and symmetrical. Look at the gear thing that the syncros go in. Remember the keys
that flew out? Those fit in the center of the 3 indentations on the shift fork gear. This is by far the hardest part.
I didn't have any problems with this. Like I mentioned before, if you slide the fork off with all the synchros and gear stuff as one unit, you won't have to bother remembering what goes where. Saves a lot of time and hassle.
15. Fit in the gapped synchro with the centers lined up with the ones on the shift forks gear. Then holding the springed keys in place, slide the
sort-of-gear the syncros go into in so the keys line up with the marks in the other gears. Work it in by first pressing in one or two keys, then moving
around to the last one. Watch so the circular springs stay in the middle of the keys! Now I get a little long-winded. See where the circular springs are
anchored to the gear. Put that to the top, and set a key in it. Then put in the other keys and put those in first, saving the anchored one for last.
This keeps the springs centered in the keys, and makes the gear easier to put in. This is the hard part, explaining my descriptiveness.
See what I mean?
16. Put the lever in neutral, or maybe even reverse. Then go back around and slide the keyed-gear in all the way, one key at a time. They should snap into place, and the keyed-gear should fit all the way into the forks gear.
I left this part in so that in case you accidentally kick the shift fork assembly and all the pieces go flying everywhere that you will know how to put it back together.
17. Slide the last synchro into the keyed-gear, with the teeth lined up.
18. Put the right reverse gear in
19. Put the left reverse gear in.
20. Fit the spacer into the left reverse gear.
21. Put the nuts back on, and hand tighten them.
Best if you can use an impact gun to tighten the nuts.
22. Pray to whichever god you believe in, then put the car in 5th. It
should go in. If not, check your work.
23. Leave it in 5th and tighten the nuts to 127-206 N-m / 13-21 m-kg /
94-152 ft-lb.
24. Seal the end cover, and put it on, tighten to 8-11 N-m / 80-110 cm-kg
/ 69-95 in-lb.
First you'll need clean off all the old gasket off the cover and the tranny case. Then apply sealant (I used Ultra Blue since I had some) to the cover. Stick the cover back on and screw in the bolts.
25. Put your car back together, fill the tranny fluid, grab some beers and
order a pizza. You are done. Now enjoy your increased mileage and lower RPM.
Ditto that!
COMPARISON OF THE GEARS
Here is a really good comparison of each of the gears. To simplify the comparison, I counted the gears and noted the differences on each photo. This way, in case anyone missed up the two gears and can't seem to remember which is which, this is a really good reference. I'm sure some of you will probably wonder why my 626 5th gear is oily while the stock 323 one is dry. Since I sold my GT, I had to swap the 626 gears out of the tranny and replace them with the stock ones. And NO, those gears are NOT for sale. ;-)
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears1.jpg
At this time you might want to compare the old ones to the new ones for fun. The drive gear is larger on the one you are swapping in, but the 5th is smaller on the one you are swapping in. Interesting enough, the smaller 5th has 2 less teeth than the old one (33 to 35 if I remember). Sorry, but the drive gear was already in when I decided to count the teeth. It must be more than 2 teeth larger, though, right?
Here are the exact number of teeth on each gear.
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears2.jpghttp://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears3.jpg
Here's the easiest way to know if you have the right 626 5th gear. On the teeth themselves, the 626 one will have a grove in the middle of each tooth. Don't ask me what it's for because I have no clue. All I know is that the 626 has it and the 323 one doesn't.
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears4.jpg
If you have any questions, comments, feedback, or anything else to add to this write-up, drop me a line.
[email protected]
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears.html
This is my feeble attempt at creating a write-up for my web page. I'm not proficient in web design so bare with me. This is a detailed write-up which includes pics of how to do the 5th gear swap. This only applies to the '88-89 323 GTX and GT. I'm sure the J-spec trannies are the same as the North American spec ones so the procedure should be the same. These gears will lower both the rpms in the GTX and GT in 5th gear by about 500 rpm. In the GTX, cruising with the stock 5th gear at 80 mph leaves the motor at 4200 rpm. With the 626 5th gear, you're at around 3700 rpm. Not a huge difference, but enough for a few extra miles per gallon.
The pics I took are from my GT. The shift fork is at a different location on the GT than the GTX (just updated one of the pics to show where the location of the pin is in the shift fork on the GTX), but the procedure is still the same. Much of this write-up was contributed by Paul Kroenke ([email protected]). Not sure if he's still on the list or not, but I wanted to give credit where it's due. I added a few things along with the photos. I'm sure others can add to it. Hopefully, I didn't miss anything. Paul's instructions are in blue while mine are in silver. His experience was a tad bit different than mine.
The 5th gears are originally from a '90-97 323 and an '88-92 626. Not positive on which cars they're from, but here are the part numbers for the 2 gears that you will need for the swap.
G560-17-611 G514-17-308
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears5.jpg
1. Put front of car on blocks with driver side wheel removed
2. Remove splash cover from under the fender
3. Drain tranny fluid
4. Remove round end cover on the tranny with a 10mm extension
5. Have friend get on the brakes (safe) or try a rag in between the gears. I chose the brakes.
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/tranny1.jpg
*UPDATED PIC* -- This is a pic of the GTX tranny. Note the PIN above.
6. Remove the lock nuts. I used 1 1/16" and 1 5/16", but they didn't fit perfect. Use whatever fits, because they are a little hard to find. You may
want to get new nuts, but I used the old ones fine, and it will help you to know when they are tight without a torque wrench. (The indentations fit with
the shafts indentation.)
I was fortunate enough to have an electric impact gun so I didn't need anyone to step on the brakes or use a rag in between the gears. An impact gun is the only way to go to remove those nuts. They're on there pretty good. I used metric sized sockets instead of the standard ones. The sizes are 32mm and 26mm. With the impact gun, it comes right off. No hassle.
7. Remove right hand side reverse gear
8. Remove left hand side reverse gear
9. Once you remove the reverse gears, you'll reach the fork. You may want to note the position of the gears, but there is a description of the
way it goes together at the end of this description. I'd say note the position to be sure.
Might be easier to pull the fork out with the synchros as one piece. This way, you won't have to worry about what goes where. There are synchros in front and behind the shift fork so be cautious when you pull them out.
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/tranny2.jpg
10. To remove the shift fork, you'll need to punch out the pin holding the shift fork to the shaft. I used a a 5/32 hex Allen wrench, the socket kind, and a very long extension, and hit the end with a hammer. It worked so well, you should try it first. I unplugged the lead spark plug wire harness, and removed the air filter (or box in some of your cases) to get a good angle on it. The spring pin does indeed go all the way through the fork and the shaft, and comes out some mystery hole which cannot be seen from any normal lines of sight.
I used a punch tool instead of the Allen wrench. Either one will work. I taped the punch tool to the end of a long 12" extension (3/8") so that I could position the punch tool over the pin. You have to knock the pin out from above. Once the pin is knocked out, it will fall to the ground or into the bucket of oil that you're using to catch the tranny oil.
11. Remove the 5TH gear (on the right) and the drive gear (on the left).
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/tranny3.jpg
12. Slide the new gears to there respective places
13. Slide the fork on, with the large gear in its clutches. Tap the spring
pin in as far as you can, then use the allen to pound it in flush.
This is the hard part--trying to line up the pin so that it goes into the hole on the shaft. You'll need a long extension to reach the pin. Just use the flat end of the 12" extension.
14. Now, you must maneuver the the fork in and out using 5th gear, neutral, and reverse to put all the synchros in. Put it in 5th. Slide the gapped
synchro in first. At this point, note that all these gears are either divided in 3 or 6. You will see what I am talking about when you get there. You want
all your gears so the centers on the section all line up, nice and symmetrical. Look at the gear thing that the syncros go in. Remember the keys
that flew out? Those fit in the center of the 3 indentations on the shift fork gear. This is by far the hardest part.
I didn't have any problems with this. Like I mentioned before, if you slide the fork off with all the synchros and gear stuff as one unit, you won't have to bother remembering what goes where. Saves a lot of time and hassle.
15. Fit in the gapped synchro with the centers lined up with the ones on the shift forks gear. Then holding the springed keys in place, slide the
sort-of-gear the syncros go into in so the keys line up with the marks in the other gears. Work it in by first pressing in one or two keys, then moving
around to the last one. Watch so the circular springs stay in the middle of the keys! Now I get a little long-winded. See where the circular springs are
anchored to the gear. Put that to the top, and set a key in it. Then put in the other keys and put those in first, saving the anchored one for last.
This keeps the springs centered in the keys, and makes the gear easier to put in. This is the hard part, explaining my descriptiveness.
See what I mean?
16. Put the lever in neutral, or maybe even reverse. Then go back around and slide the keyed-gear in all the way, one key at a time. They should snap into place, and the keyed-gear should fit all the way into the forks gear.
I left this part in so that in case you accidentally kick the shift fork assembly and all the pieces go flying everywhere that you will know how to put it back together.
17. Slide the last synchro into the keyed-gear, with the teeth lined up.
18. Put the right reverse gear in
19. Put the left reverse gear in.
20. Fit the spacer into the left reverse gear.
21. Put the nuts back on, and hand tighten them.
Best if you can use an impact gun to tighten the nuts.
22. Pray to whichever god you believe in, then put the car in 5th. It
should go in. If not, check your work.
23. Leave it in 5th and tighten the nuts to 127-206 N-m / 13-21 m-kg /
94-152 ft-lb.
24. Seal the end cover, and put it on, tighten to 8-11 N-m / 80-110 cm-kg
/ 69-95 in-lb.
First you'll need clean off all the old gasket off the cover and the tranny case. Then apply sealant (I used Ultra Blue since I had some) to the cover. Stick the cover back on and screw in the bolts.
25. Put your car back together, fill the tranny fluid, grab some beers and
order a pizza. You are done. Now enjoy your increased mileage and lower RPM.
Ditto that!
COMPARISON OF THE GEARS
Here is a really good comparison of each of the gears. To simplify the comparison, I counted the gears and noted the differences on each photo. This way, in case anyone missed up the two gears and can't seem to remember which is which, this is a really good reference. I'm sure some of you will probably wonder why my 626 5th gear is oily while the stock 323 one is dry. Since I sold my GT, I had to swap the 626 gears out of the tranny and replace them with the stock ones. And NO, those gears are NOT for sale. ;-)
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears1.jpg
At this time you might want to compare the old ones to the new ones for fun. The drive gear is larger on the one you are swapping in, but the 5th is smaller on the one you are swapping in. Interesting enough, the smaller 5th has 2 less teeth than the old one (33 to 35 if I remember). Sorry, but the drive gear was already in when I decided to count the teeth. It must be more than 2 teeth larger, though, right?
Here are the exact number of teeth on each gear.
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears2.jpghttp://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears3.jpg
Here's the easiest way to know if you have the right 626 5th gear. On the teeth themselves, the 626 one will have a grove in the middle of each tooth. Don't ask me what it's for because I have no clue. All I know is that the 626 has it and the 323 one doesn't.
http://rxtrme7.aaph.com/gtx/gears4.jpg
If you have any questions, comments, feedback, or anything else to add to this write-up, drop me a line.
[email protected]
