ST185 Gearboxes

[Lanius]

Hi guys, have a chance to purchase a gearbox from an NZ new ST185. I know they should be identical, but want to make sure before putting any money into it ...

Can anyone tell me if the gearboxes for an NZ new ST185 is identical to the box from a JDM ST185?

Reason for asking is because the synchros for 2nd gear in my current g-box are stuffed, and the box graunches something nasty when going into second ... so I guess my other question should be - has anyone here had an ST185 gearbox rebuilt? If so, could you let me know roughly how much it cost, and where you got it done?

Many thanks,
Bruce

[Silent Knight]

Should be a straigt swap......

[Twolitre]

Yeah they're the same thing but seriously look for an ST205 box, they bolt straight up and have much more durable synchros with tripple cone synchros on 2nd and dual cone on 3rd IIRC
If you buy a 2nd hand ST185 box it is inevitable that the same problem will re-occur sooner or later unless you completely nanna it, and I don't know about you but it's not exactly a fun job removing the engine and gearbox in GT4

[flygt4]

yeah i managed to kill a box on my 185... its really not worth rebuilding them...i got a few quotes and from memory they were way too much to be worth it , think upwards of 2g... as twolitre said , st205 box wuld be your best best , if you can find one..

[Lanius]

Cheers guys ... I have a couple of places where I can get a good deal on a 185 gbox, otherwise I'd love to get a 205 gbox if the money was available

I thought that might be the case with rebuilding the box ... so will probably just go for the replacement one if its cheap enough, and will ask around on the board at some stage to see if anyones keen on a couple boxes of beer and an afternoon or three installing the new box

[Silent Knight]

board at some stage to see if anyones keen on a couple boxes of beer and an afternoon or three installing the new box

Should only really take a day......depending on what kinda beer it is i might be keen

[flygt4]

haha you'd hav to be keen to wanna do a gt4 gbox...i took one look and was like flag that! doesnt look like a very fun thing to do

[Twolitre]

Should only really take a day

Famous last words Unless of course your names All_Fours and you would push yourself like hell just to see if you could do it in a day

http://forums.toyspeed.org.nz/viewtopic.php?t=26063

Check that link as that persons apparently selling an ST205 box, cost me about 1000 just to get new synchros put in an st165 box on 1st 2nd & 3rd which I'd either reccomend you do or buy an ST205 box because as I said in another years time you might have the same problem with the "new" second hand box.

[Lanius]

Awesome, thanks heaps for the link Twolitre ... have pm'd her

Now, having never done a gearbox (at all, never mind in a 185), can anyone tell me what else I should be thinking about doing at the same time?

Thanks heaps

[Skin]

i still got the damaged box from my old st205. Would need pulling apart and fixing 5th/reverse but should cost too much. you can have it for $150 if you want it

[vvega]

you can drop the box in about 3 hours and will take 4-5 to stick it back in +the time it will take you to pull the box down
1-2 have the same syncros so they can be swaped aournd and the syncros ar eabout 90 a pop from the last set we did

dont get me wrong pulling the gearbox is a motor out job and not something you will do without th right tools and experance
ive done boxes bout 9-10 times now and see it as just work rather than difficult

just take ya time and its eazy

[vvega]

Should only really take a day

Famous last words Unless of course your names All_Fours and you would push yourself like hell just to see if you could do it in a day

sorry been there done that not that hard

[Malcolm]

Now, having never done a gearbox (at all, never mind in a 185), can anyone tell me what else I should be thinking about doing at the same time?

Thanks heaps

Definitely do the clutch. Partmaster in Central Park Drive do really good prices on clutch rebuilds+upgrades. They go through Autoclutch and do prices cheaper than Autoclutch's retail. I paid $480 for a rebuilt and upgraded pressure plate and rebuilt disk with carbon/kevlar friction material. This is a very good price, I paid $750 for essentially the same thing through Master Part (0800 BRAKES), and Partmaster took less than a day, vs 3 days through Master part.
Cambelt could be worth doing if it's within about 10,000km of being due, engine doesn't need to be out to do this, it's just easier.
Also probably worth doing the rear main seal, although if it's not leaking or showing signs of doing so it's often best to just leave it.

Oh yeah, and painting the enginebay is quite rewarding and easy to do.

Would definitely allow more than a day to do it if you've never done a clutch before, gt4's are the hardest cars to do engine removals in, although with practice it's not too bad, have got about 4 out in less than 2 hours, including one with no helpers, but I've been playing with gt4's for about 5 years now, the first time I attempted a clutch change on a gt4 with a mate we took far, far longer...if you want easy clutch changes then get a rwd...(MA61 engine out in 45 mins, start to finish, boo yah)

[Lanius]

Cheers All_Fours ... the clutch has already been done though (by previous owner). Cam belt is a good point ... not sure how many km's the current one has on it.