'95 Miata Busted Transmission
1995 Mazda Miata MX-5, 5-Speed 1.8L BP Engine.
Background: I got the car 3 months ago from my Aunt; it had been parked for ~2 years but she had it touched-up before I bought it for $800. It has 170k miles, a decent-sounding engine, new tires and belts. Apparently what it didn't have a was a good alignment, because it's been vibrating at certain speeds since I got it.
Driving home from work Friday on 75N in I heard a pretty disturbing noise. A crack/bang, something flew out from under/back of the car, and the car started shaking uncontrollably. I was doing maybe 85MPH, which I've done several times before without dramatic effects, in fact higher speeds often seemed to drown out the vibrations.
I had been suspicious of the driveshaft being warped/off-balance, since I knew the tires were new. After Friday's "boom" it was unable to drive much more than maybe 15MPH without shaking/sounding violent. It's hard to say the exact speed, because the "boom" incident made the speedometer inoperable (perhaps the speedo cable was what flew out onto the highway).
So I finally got it home late last night and put it on stands today to take a look. This is what I found at the transmission output onto the driveshaft.
Link to image:http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...b&id=810900404
It looks like someone took a hammer to the end of the transmission. I also spun the tires slowly and watched the driveshaft, and confirmed that it does have a subtle movement as it rotates, i.e. not necessarily warped, but it doesn't spin in one place as it should. I imagine this off-axis rotation of the driveshaft, at about 85MPH, was pretty excessive on the transmission and it went just busted open.
So what I'm looking for from folks today, I suppose, is a couple of things:
- Is this a reasonable conclusion, based on the history and the image?
- Am I correct in assuming that this sort of transmission issue can not be repaired, as it is the casing of the transmission?
- If the above is correct, I need the names/numbers of junk yards or other good places to find a cheap transmission.
Any sort of help, advise, feedback is welcome. Thanks IA.
EDIT:
Follow up question, does anyone know if the transmissions from the 1.6L Miatas will fit the 1995?
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