[TR] Toyota tranny conversion TR6?

[Tim Gaines]

I asked for list advice on diagnosing a possible gearbox failure in 
my TR6 awhile back (original post below), and after several helpful 
suggestions I finally accepted that it almost certainly was the 
tranny.  I'm into it now, and the damage is obvious.  For several 
years I had planned a Type J overdrive installation at some point, 
and I obtained the O/D unit from a Spit and a TR6 mounting plate.  I 
know that there are a couple of other things I would need, and I 
don't even know if the O/D unit is in good shape (it's still on the 
Spit parts car in my shed!).  Now that the time has come, I've just 
about decided to abandon the O/D plan in favor of the 5-speed Toyota 
conversion using Herman van den Akker's kit.  It sounds like a much 
easier job with the likelihood of more reliability in the future.  I 
went out looking for the required Toyota tranny just to see if they 
are available, and I got lucky (I think) with a solid, clean, smooth 
one with 56,000 miles for $100.  I decided to buy it on the spot even 
though I hadn't completely decided on getting the kit.  Now I'm at 
the point of ordering the kit, but at $1675 (no shipping charge!) 
this is pretty sobering decision.  I've probably missed some 
discussion of this conversion on the list (sorry), but I'd like some 
reassurances from those who have done it or looked into it.  I've 
talked to Herman, and he seems like a very helpful, friendly guy, but 
I just don't want to be surprised by something down the road that I 
should have considered.

Thanks,
Tim Gaines
Clinton, SC
1974 TR6
1980 Spitfire

>I thought I was leaving for a nice drive of about 150 miles in the 
>TR6 a few days ago, but I didn't get farther than the gas station 
>before some nasty noises turned me right around.  When taking off 
>from a stop I get a crunching sound plus a "zzzup" thrown in once in 
>a while.  My first thought was that I had a stone or two from my 
>newly graveled driveway sitting on top of the drive shaft.  But I 
>also thought it could be the tranny or the differential, and I 
>didn't want to take any chances out on the road.  I got home 
>okay.  In fact, the car ran smoothly once up to speed.  It only made 
>the sounds at takeoff.  I got it up on jackstands and couldn't find 
>any evidence of stones or loose flange bolts at either end of the 
>drive shaft or at the rear axles.  I also couldn't reproduce the 
>sounds with the wheels off the ground, either with the rear  wheels 
>under power or by turning the front ones by hand.  I also couldn't 
>feel or hear anything when I turned the rear wheels by hand or the 
>drive shaft with a wrench on the flange bolts.
>
>When I got the car on the ground and found that it still made the 
>sounds (no lucky fix!), I started thinking it might be a disc brake 
>pad issue.  It seemed like the sounds were coming from the 
>front.  Today I replaced the pads and the nasty looking anti squeal 
>shims.  In the process I rotated the rotors with and without pads in 
>place and got no noises.  However, I did get something like the 
>"zzzup" noise when I deflected the rotor guard into the rotor while 
>turning it.  After everything was back together I made sure that the 
>guard wasn't touching the rotor before getting the car back on the 
>ground.  Just took a drive up the road, and nothing has changed; 
>crunchy noises and "zzzups" at takeoff, forward and backward, but 
>fine after it's up to speed.  I think I can feel a little something 
>through the shifter when the noises occur, but I'm not really 
>positive about that.  I also think that the noises stop when I 
>disengage the clutch, but by the time I reach speed enough for that, 
>the noises are usually gone anyway.
>
>So folks, what am I up against?  Does a transmission make those 
>kinds of noises when it's failing?  Is there something else I should 
>be looking at?  Thanks for any help you can offer.