A Newb to shifting and did a MTEC install questions

[YamahaR86]

So, I'm by no means a super car guy. I've driven my FR-S for about 20k miles now and decided to do a little upgrade to the shifter.
By popular posts, I installed the MTEC Shift Springs (took about 3 hours of pain).

I'm not sure if they were what I was expecting them to be, I still get a slight resistance when going through the gates (I imagine tranny fluid change, whiteline bushing and perrin would help it further).

What I do notice is that each gear takes a bit more effort to get into but they all have their own solid feel, like each one has their own personality or definition. Hard to explain.

On the stock springs, with a slight touch of a finger I can snap the gear out of place and back into neutral easily. With the new, it doesn't work that way.
I've read that

The springs keep the shifter centered. With stronger springs the shifter will center itself better, it allow for easier 2-3 and 3-4 shifts.

Is this what is causing it to "hold" the gears into place more? The stiffer springs?
Is this feeling normal? What it's supposed to be?

EDIT: It seems like NissanGuy is the only other person who has the same problem as me.

The springs make the shifting way heavier, it reduces grind by just forcing the lever into gear very hard, and shifting into neutral requires tons of strength. Shifting out of gear is very heavy, then very light as it seeks neutral, and then the lever almost accelerates ahead of your hand into the next gear. I dislike the heavy lever and the nonlinear feel, but like the slightly reduced grind. Overall I'd say they're neither better nor worse than stock

[Machfive]

I upgraded to mtec springs along with a flossy knob and got rid of the stock fluid too. Sounds like you are using the stock knob still? A heavier knob will help reduce shifting effort when going into a gear.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[olsonpg]

^ Larger and heavier knob makes getting it in easier.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by olsonpg

^ Larger and heavier knob makes getting it in easier.

That's what she said.
I just had to

[YamahaR86]

Originally Posted by Machfive

I upgraded to mtec springs along with a flossy knob and got rid of the stock fluid too. Sounds like you are using the stock knob still? A heavier knob will help reduce shifting effort when going into a gear.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Ive switched over to a heavier shift knob before doing the install though , forgot to mention that. (Blox Platinum about 490 grams)

[humfrz]

For cryen out loud, folks ......

(not specifically the OP)

In my 65 years of shifting many, many transmissions, I've found the transmission in the FR-S one of the easiest (my miata was easier) manual transmissions to shift.

It's not a toggle switch on the controller of a video game ....... its a short lever, directly moving big, heavy transmission parts around.

I suggest to some folks, just get over it ...... it's part of the driving experience ........

Rant over!


humfrz

[YamahaR86]

Originally Posted by humfrz

For cryen out loud, folks ......

(not specifically the OP)

In my 65 years of shifting many, many transmissions, I've found the transmission in the FR-S one of the easiest (my miata was easier) manual transmissions to shift.

It's not a toggle switch on the controller of a video game ....... its a short lever, directly moving big, heavy transmission parts around.

I suggest to some folks, just get over it ...... it's part of the driving experience ........

Rant over!


humfrz

Thanks for your input.

But I'm asking about an aftermarket part install feedback and if it's normal that I paid money for, not on the manual transmission shift.

[PunX]

Fear not, you are not alone. I too have battled with this. first it started with grinding gears. went with whiteline and rear shifter bushing, then it became crunchy and hard to slip through gates(making shifting slower actually, no matter the force you put into it). then i thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a shorter shifter, so i went with TRD USA short shifter set, it was more solid and precise(love it) but even harder to shift(no momentum to carry along shifter with move). Then i thought heavy shift knob would do the trick, it didn't. actually lighter one(220g vs heavy 530g) had better feel of things and weight didn't make any difference in getting into gear, helped more in getting to neutral. after a track day, now i have this awful slack in shifter sideways, no matter in gear or not. going to install Mtec springs and see what happens next also in process, i'll try to diagnose, where this slack comes from(as i'm already under car). I wouldn't appreciate mechanics, specially dealer mechanics telling me, that this is now a big boy car and you must brute force it. doesn't make sense, if i want to brute force stuff and break my wrist, i'll upgrade to a dog box and not put oil into it. this is not how synchronized box should be. Gearbox is delicate thing of precise mechanics and does not tolerate forces in unintended directions - this i would consider brute forcing shift forks, grinding gears and so forth. Also have tried all oils possible, pentosin, motul thin and thick. Clutch has been replaced. hydraulics opened up, cleaned and checked. And only logical explanation would be, that clutch is dragging, but well, i don't dare to adjust it for even longer throw as i may already be in limits of clutch cylinders.
Also, i would eliminate a fact that i'm just a puny nerd, nope, former pro swimmer, so this shouldn't play any role as well.

what happens to help, oil change, but for about few hundred miles, also clutch bleed have eased things, again, for very short period of time. everything checked and all seems good and in order. Also spinning tires first thing after start up, makes a difference sometimes. I may suspect, that oils for this manual tranny are too slippery and don't let synchronizers to works properly. Dealer has opened gearbox, all dandy. And then it comes again, you must rape the S**T out from that gearbox, it loves that, then it will work well - sorry, can't agree with that.