Synchros followup
 

At 1200 miles I took my FR-S to the dealer to have the slightly crunchy gearshift checked out. There was some noise and mechanical clunkiness when I shifted sometimes. Note: I've been shifting since I was a kid and it had nothing to do with technique. Anyway I am hear to report that between 1600 and 2000 miles the problem got better - then pretty much disappeared. Maybe the parts just have to wear a little to shift smoothly. It is still a fairly notchy transmission, but the 1-2 shift is much, much smoother.

Thanks for the info, good to hear

I used to get some weird behaviour in my Nissan Versa MT when I got it, gearshift would sometimes shake when shifting out of first gear, but like the OP, seemed to correct itself in the first few thousand km's...

If I am correct - this transmission is derived from that found in the Honda S2000 .. and that notchy shift feeling is 100% normal. I like it.

I actually thought the same thing until I did some digging.

The Honda S2000 transmission is the Aisin AZ6 and that was the initial template for the development of this transmission but the engineers changed roughly 80% of the transmission. It also shares parts with another transmission as well and thus it is its own thing: the TL70

http://kaizenfactor.wordpress.com/20...n-or-is-scion/

The notchy feeling is just it wearing in. The 1st-3rd gears have triple cone synchros for improved shifts at high rpms.

My AP2 certainly did not even have a hint of this. Interesting.

I'm gonna be rinning a back to back on pennzoil syncromesh vs gm syncromesh vs a pentosin product i use in my bmw thats also gl3/4 called mtf2, has a lower VI; seems the mazda folks have good luck with 2nd gear notchyness in their aisin tranny with the GM lube

Transmission stuff always scares me. It's such a vital part of the car. Thanks for the posts! It always helps to just know what to watch out for.