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jaydog · Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:12 pm Post subject: 97 Kia trans

I got the new Kia trans in today. It feels 10x better in the shifting than the previous Protege gearbox. There is no slop in the shifter anymore which brings up an issue with the old trans. The shift shaft that runs through the gearbox has a ton of play in it. When I opened the case up, third gear was broken in 2 spots which could have contributed to the no 2nd, 4th, and reverse gears. Anyways, the reverse light has to be from the Kia's, but the connection end will not plug up to the Mazdas wiring harness. I had the Protege's reverse switch in it at first and noticed the reverse lights were on all the time. I pulled it out, swapped it over to the Kia's and rewired it. Problem solved. Another concern of mine is the speedometer driven gear. The Protege's is slightly different in that the gear is smaller than the Kia's. Now you all know the problems I had before with running different speedometer gears in Protege gearbox's. The Kia's speedometer gear is bigger and is also electronic. It also sports 3 wires out of the connector when the 94 Mazdas 1.6 used a 2 wire connection. I may convert back to the electronic gear and use the 94+ gauge cluster. Currently using the cable driven speedo. We shall see what happens. Untill then, I've got a lot of little details on the car to work on.
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94 (Mazdaspeed) RS-T
300hp / 250ftlbs.

Patdiesel · Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 11:14 am Post subject:

Cool, glad it is back on the road. I want to drive it and feel the difference in the Kia too if you don't mind. Not that I can change to a Kia box, but just curiosity really.
Did your Kia come with a speedo gear in it?
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jaydog · Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 1:26 pm Post subject:

It did and I've also got another speedometer gear from the first Kia gearbox I bought yrs ago.
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94 (Mazdaspeed) RS-T
300hp / 250ftlbs.

jaydog · Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:19 pm Post subject:

A quick search on Mx-3.com about the speedometer gear. All I have to do is unscrew the electrical portion of the Kia's gear and bam, it is identical to the Protege's! Now I have no worries of the gear breaking off into the gearbox. Razz

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94 (Mazdaspeed) RS-T
300hp / 250ftlbs.