Confused about using a 90 Trans in a 91-94 Car

[360glitch]

Just got done installing a 90 transmission into my 92 Talon. I was told to expect a short shift, however I am without 5th gear and reverse. I've done some research and I've heard different things, leaving me a bit confused. This is my current setup:

90 Transmission
90 Shift Levers on Trans
90 Bracket that holds cables to trans
91-94 Cables
91-94 Shifter

Extra parts I have available:
92 Shifter Lever (the one externally accessible)
92 Bracket to hold cables

I've tried adjusting the cables to make things work and I had not had any luck. I have not tried swapping out any of the parts. Any suggestions on what I can do to make this work? Worst case scenario I could get a hold of 90 cables and a 90 shifter assembly however I'd love to figure things out with the parts that I already have on hand.

 

[V8killerturbo4]

Just got done installing a 90 transmission into my 92 Talon. I was told to expect a short shift, however I am without 5th gear and reverse. I've done some research and I've heard different things, leaving me a bit confused. This is my current setup:

90 Transmission
90 Shift Levers on Trans
90 Bracket that holds cables to trans
91-94 Cables
91-94 Shifter

Extra parts I have available:
92 Shifter Lever (the one externally accessible)
92 Bracket to hold cables

I've tried adjusting the cables to make things work and I had not had any luck. I have not tried swapping out any of the parts. Any suggestions on what I can do to make this work? Worst case scenario I could get a hold of 90 cables and a 90 shifter assembly however I'd love to figure things out with the parts that I already have on hand.

Bump

Extra parts I have available:
92 Shifter Lever (the one externally accessible)
92 Bracket to hold cables

Swap these out, you need to use your 92's with the 90 trans.

 

[My1GLaser]

According to this http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/drivetrain-tech/93739-90-shift-linkage-vs-91-94-shift-linkage.html you need to use the 90 brackets.

But for whatever reason, I am using EVERYTHING 91-94 with my 90 tranny and I have all the gears.

I am going to try the 90 cable bracket & mounting bracket this week to see if it gets any better. The tranny is notchier than it should be, but I am still breaking in a new clutch disc.

 

[360glitch]

Extra parts I have available:
92 Shifter Lever (the one externally accessible)
92 Bracket to hold cables

Swap these out, you need to use your 92's with the 90 trans.

Bingo.

Here is what I've got:

92 Car
90 Trans
92 Shifter Cable Bracket (one that secures cables near shifter levers, bolts to side of trans)
(1) 92 Shifter Lever (the one that is externally attached, bolts into side of trans)
(1) 90 Shifter Lever (the one that is not externally removable)
92 Shifter
92 Shifter Cables

Works absolutely perfectly now. Also have that nice shorter shift that is sometimes obtained when running a 90 trans with mixed components.

 

[My1GLaser]

Thanks for updating the thread man. I was very interested in your findings.

So you pulled the lever with the 2 bolts off the 90 tranny and put the 92 one in its place? This is the adjustable cable at the shifter base in the car, so did you have to screw with it much?

When you say 92 shifter cable bracket do you mean the whole thing? Because there are 2 parts. One part holds the cables together and sets the spacing between them. It bolts to the other one that sets the angle in relation to the levers and that bolts to the tranny. I just want to clarify that you used both parts from a 92.

I have a late '91 23 spline tranny sitting around, so I am pretty sure that lever will work.

 

[Morphius]

Not sure why you had to change that bracket/lever which changes between 1-2 to 3-4 to 5-R gates. If you look in the thread that's linked, the pics I have show it's the same length, etc. The interfacing lever on the shifter both for a 90 and 91-94 that operate that are also the same length. Maybe it was just bound up or bent.

Either way, glad it works now.

 

[360glitch]

Thanks for updating the thread man. I was very interested in your findings.

So you pulled the lever with the 2 bolts off the 90 tranny and put the 92 one in its place? This is the adjustable cable at the shifter base in the car, so did you have to screw with it much?

When you say 92 shifter cable bracket do you mean the whole thing? Because there are 2 parts. One part holds the cables together and sets the spacing between them. It bolts to the other one that sets the angle in relation to the levers and that bolts to the tranny. I just want to clarify that you used both parts from a 92.

I have a late '91 23 spline tranny sitting around, so I am pretty sure that lever will work.

Not sure why you had to change that bracket/lever which changes between 1-2 to 3-4 to 5-R gates. If you look in the thread that's linked, the pics I have show it's the same length, etc. The interfacing lever on the shifter both for a 90 and 91-94 that operate that are also the same length. Maybe it was just bound up or bent.

Either way, glad it works now.

Swapping that lever may or may not have accomplished anything now that I go back and think about it. As you said, they measure to be the same. I did not get goods results until after I swapped the bracket.

My1GLaser, it is the bracket that connects the bracket that holds the other bracket that actually holds the cables and the transmission itself. (If that makes any sense) I can't seem to find a picture.

 

[My1GLaser]

Aha! The man himself. I have a question for you Morphius. Am I supposed to need the 90 bracket in order to run a 90 tranny in my 92? I ask because the spacing seems correct, but the angle doesn't.

I am using the 92 cable bracket but it makes my pass side cable arc up higher than the drivers side one. But if I put on the 90 bracket the angle to the levers doesn't seem right at all, but the cables seem to follow the same path from the firewall. Its not extremely aggravated or anything, but it arcs up about an inch higher and leads me to believe I should somehow use the 90 bracket.

The reason I ask is b/c its notchier than I would like going into 3rd & 4th, and the shifter is biased toward the pass side to make it work correctly.

I would like to have an adjustable cable on the pass side one too. Are the cables the same length so I could pull one from another car I have, since there is only one adj cable per set?

 

[Morphius]

Aha! The man himself. I have a question for you Morphius. Am I supposed to need the 90 bracket in order to run a 90 tranny in my 92? I ask because the spacing seems correct, but the angle doesn't.

I am using the 92 cable bracket but it makes my pass side cable arc up higher than the drivers side one. But if I put on the 90 bracket the angle to the levers doesn't seem right at all, but the cables seem to follow the same path from the firewall. Its not extremely aggravated or anything, but it arcs up about an inch higher and leads me to believe I should somehow use the 90 bracket.

The reason I ask is b/c its notchier than I would like going into 3rd & 4th, and the shifter is biased toward the pass side to make it work correctly.

I would like to have an adjustable cable on the pass side one too. Are the cables the same length so I could pull one from another car I have, since there is only one adj cable per set?

I have not gone the inverse, 90 into a 91-94, so I'm going on what I saw with the parts. Basically, the 91-94 has longer levers and the cables travel longer distances. The complete cable bracket that goes on the trans for the 91-94 has a different angle and sits higher to accomidate the longer throw of the system. It should work to use the 90 bracket on your 90 trans. I'd have to go back and look at the cables to see if there is a large difference in the distance, at a netutral point, of the eyelet of the cable to the location where the cable fastens to the shifter bracket with the c-clip. I do recall one vs the other had adjustable cables but don't recall which. It's been too long and those cars are 1500 miles away from me right now. I'll have to see what I can did out of my storage here.

 

[My1GLaser]

Ok then. Well thanks for the reply. I will just screw around with it over the next few days to see what I end up with before the track Fri night. I am dealing with clutch disengagement issues simultaneously, so I am not quite sure of the culprit and am trying to figure out exactly what I should be using. There were so many hack jobs when I got the car, I am beginning to question everything that seems out of whack.

Edit:I'm not trying to thread jack here, just updating for the archives.

Look whatI found on my tranny. I don't know where this lever came from, but it was on my '90 Dogbox racing stage 3 tranny that I just got. I have 4 1g AWD trannies at my house. 3 are 90 and 1 is a 91 and this is the only lever like this.

"Normal Lever" in bottom pic was on the 90 AWD tranny, " Shorter Lever" on top that I got off my 89 JDM VR4 tranny.

I haven't driven it yet, but I wanted to do this while I was still motivated.

Morphius, Can I put this in your thread that I linked to? Or I can email the pics to you and you can. I reference it alot and link people to it also.

Edit for reference: The longer lever was the one on my tranny and apparently is the normal one. I switched to the shorter one and was shifting at 8,000-8500 rpm at the track with ease last night.

 

[Morphius]

If you can find out what exactly it is from, then post it in my thread. As it stands know, it's unknown and really doesn't help anyone.

My guess is that it's off a galant or JDM something. How about 2g? Aren't 2g levers shorter?

One of the JDM transmissions I installed in my colt, had a similiar lever. But it's a different family of transmissions. If I have time, I'll take a look again.

 

[My1GLaser]

Glitch,
When you get the time can you measure the lever you took off that wasn't shifting well? I really am curious which one you had. I have another 90 tranny to put in my friends 91 that I am building, so I will be doing this again in a couple months. As you see, the unknown lever that came off my tranny is about 3.75" long compared to the normal 3."

Morphius,
I have an 89 JDM VR4 tranny that has the same 3" lever as the rest. I was running it right before I switched to the 90 DBR stage 3. I was just listing it as one of my 90s for simplicity.

 

[Morphius]

The 3.75" one is the "normal" one. It's the short one that's the odd-ball.