Soarer Central: The R154A's Reputation?

Soarer Central Transmission The R154A's Reputation?

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Adam Brown
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QLD
Soarer TT Manual

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Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 09:27 am, by: Adam Brown (82ajb)

As an owner of a 5 speed Soarer factory fitted with the R154A, i was interested to read the latest HPI mag where Martin Donnan did an article about import gearboxes, and the strongest for each make, and ideal conversions.
He proceeded to bag the R154A as a fragile beast, giving the impression that it is a timebomb. For those that don't know, he used to have a 5spd Soarer with over 300kw (brake), and had an experience with a thrust washer disintegrating and making a mess of his box. He did also mention that he knows of many other 300kw+ vehicles using said gearbox with no troubles.
What seems to be the general experience/feel with these boxes? After replacing the diff in my Soarer with an LSD after breaking 2 OCD's, and having a heavy duty single plate clutch, I don't want the weakest link to be the box, and am concerned after reading the article.

Graham Dollisson
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GTTL Morris Marina P76

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Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 09:36 am, by: Graham Dollisson (Alloyvee)

I wouldn't be too worried Adam!!

Simon Triantafillou
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Soarer Turbo

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Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 09:58 am, by: Simon Triantafillou (Soarer)

Fragile my arse... been pushing close to 400kW through mine for over 18 months. No problems apart from traction issues.

It has been frequently noted to take comments by a certain writer with a grain of salt (or perhaps a whole sack-full). 280kW on standard turbos was one incident that no-one seems to be able to repeat.

Benjamin Burgess
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Toyota Soarer GT-TL

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Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 11:08 am, by: Benjamin Burgess (Jampac)

Probably the way martin was driving it as well.It is their weak link, but its rare for it to happen.

Chris Davey
Goo Roo
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Corona

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Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 11:34 am, by: Chris Davey (Chris_davey)

I remember reading in HPI ages ago "the soarer auto is nobody's freind" Obviously knowbody told Sean the owner of the 450rwkw a340e powered crown or Shane who has now run 10.3@135 about that.

Basically, take all advice with a grain of salt.

The thrust washer can be upgraded also. Search on toymods.

Mark Paddick
Goo Roo
ACT
UZZ31 V8 Soarer , JZZ30 TT Soarer

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Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 01:48 pm, by: Mark Paddick (Sparks)

People who complain about gearbox/diff strength usually can't drive. I'm not saying that this makes it true of the person in question but it is anyway.
There are blown 9 litre V8's out there with W58's behind them. Fine if you can drive it. You'll break it instantly if you can't.

Simon Triantafillou
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Soarer Turbo

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Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 02:50 pm, by: Simon Triantafillou (Soarer)

I've seen a 1JZ blow two W58s in succession on the dyno

500kW is a little much for them.
But yeah, down to how you drive generally. Both Torsen and R154 are doing fine in my car after quite a while.

Dennis Tito
Tinkerer
Victoria
TT manual

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Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 10:57 pm, by: Dennis Tito (Dennis)

I agree Simon, I've had my car for five 5yrs now factory manual and torsen lsd and so far so good, i've been saying since the first month of driving... thats with calder park drag runs, cruises and daily drives...Only thing changed is the clutch

Tom Kneebone
TryHard
WA
factory 5 spd TT : Auto TT

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Friday, November 24, 2006 - 05:41 pm, by: Tom Kneebone (Tomk)

I read an article in a mag that said basically if you go past a certain limit in KW and it was a significant value, the thrust washer should be beefed up by replacing with a machined one from one of the toyota 4WD gearboxes, can't remember which 4WD it was though. This was the only recommendation for the greater levels of power through the R154.

Aaron Mead
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NT
TT

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Monday, November 27, 2006 - 12:03 pm, by: Aaron Mead (Aaron)

Its teh torque that kills em.

This months Zoom magazine has a 180SX with a 2JZ-GTE w/GT3540R, R154 and 320rwkw, and its a full house drift racer, so they can't be too bad. Simons 3.0l gives it hell too Im guessing!

Simon Triantafillou
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Soarer Turbo

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Monday, November 27, 2006 - 01:38 pm, by: Simon Triantafillou (Soarer)

2JZ-GTE + GT3540 is exactly my combo too. Street driven at 12psi (306kW) and dyno/track at 23psi (383kW). Never had any reliability issues with the box.

Aaron Mead
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TT

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Thursday, November 30, 2006 - 05:26 pm, by: Aaron Mead (Aaron)

Just flicking back over the old issues of Zoom. A Mazda, 13b, BIG turbo, 500+kw@wheels. Using a FACTORY W58 manual, big clutch. Scary.

Simon, I've bought a GT3540R .82 for my 1JZ. Can't wait!

Ewan Paterson
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midori ku
v8

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Thursday, December 07, 2006 - 12:46 am, by: Ewan Paterson (Ewan_paterson)

hi

i fitted a w58 to a 1uzfe, 5 1/2 " flywheel, tilton single plate clutch, i felt it was to hard on the box, after a while 3 gear or first when driving, the gear stick would ride up and slip out of gear! motor was really snappy on box, skids for africa, put it on the strip, smoking the tyres 1st, 2nd , 3rd reved hard , 4th , lined up took off 1,2,3,3,3,3 no third wot the f , ok 4th, ok pulled a 13 in a old ta63 celica, had no 3rd sounded bad, limped home 200ks away, took box out opened it up wow, gold!!! lots of it third gear teeth missing
after that i decided those boxes are not what they are cracked up to be for strenght,the clutch was to hard on it,they cant handle torque it kills the sincros, so next 1uzfe project got auto and no problems!

ewan

Damien Smith
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Manual UZZ31

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Thursday, December 07, 2006 - 12:56 pm, by: Damien Smith (Damien)

W58's have never been reputed to be bullet proof but they hold up OK if they're not hammered. R154 is much stronger.

Adam Brown
TryHard
QLD
Soarer TT Manual

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Monday, December 11, 2006 - 01:51 pm, by: Adam Brown (82ajb)

Well, that's good to know. Though, mine seems a little crunchy 1st to 2nd, and 2nd to 1st requires heel toe to blip throttle. I heel toe back through gears anyway, good habit to get into.
Would an additive help with the cruncy-ness? Have motul gear300 oil in it now, but is probably over 10,000k's old.

Shane McInnes
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JZZ30 GT-TL Manual

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Monday, December 11, 2006 - 04:40 pm, by: Shane McInnes (Soarin_tt)

Try some Redline MTL adam. That should fix your problem.

If its still crunchy, try some Redline Light Weight Shock Proof. (Keep in my there have been reports of the Light Weight Shock Proof, causing more problems for Gearboxs.)

I tried the MTL and it still crunched so i put in the Light Weight Shock Proof and that solved my problem so im happy with it.

MTL and Light Weight Shock Proof retail for around $110+ for roughly 4ltrs i think.

Braden Murdoch
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Cressida 1JZ TT

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Tuesday, December 12, 2006 - 03:07 pm, by: Braden Murdoch (Ribfeast)

Strong box but not nice to drive apparently. Upgrade the thrust washer and you'll have a VERY strong box that will take the abuse and come back for more. A mate blew up three W58 boxes with 300rwkw on a 1JZ (GT35R), so the R154 is much better suited.

Costa Tsimiklis
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TT 300rwkw

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Friday, May 08, 2009 - 11:50 am, by: Costa Tsimiklis (Driftshop)

I've yet to see an R154 Gearset fail. R33 and GTR gearboxes strip 3rd gear whereas the R154 has not to my knowledge had a pure gearset failure.

Billet Thrust washer + retainer is a cheap fix for the thrust washer issue.

I'm engineering my own billet steel selector forks as they are the next weakpoint if you shift like a dickhead or race change often.

After these upgrade parts - the only thing that I can see failing due to shear torque load is the gearset and I believe that the 2J or 1J will not be able to do this under pure power on the road.

Martin Donnon is a bit of a "I think I know it all" wanker who only knows whats in his limited capacity and is biased towards Nissan.

Damien Smith
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Friday, May 08, 2009 - 11:58 am, by: Damien Smith (Damien)

Old thread but worth repeating. I saw in the latest HPI they're still saying the R154 is weak based on Donnon's single experience with a busted thrust washer. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater methinks...

Shane McInnes
Goo Roo
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JZZ30 GT-TL Manual

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Friday, May 08, 2009 - 04:10 pm, by: Shane McInnes (Soarin_tt)

I broke a R154, its a fair call to say i abused it by slamming gears every so often and the driveline coped some heavey axle tramp over the time, whether that contributed to it probally not.

But it didnt break when i was going silly speeds or slamming gears or anything i just happened to be going around a round about and a crunch, grind noise happened, couldnt get 2nd and 4th. The only signs i had was finding it difficult to get into 2nd gear that week, i went to the mecahnics and had a chat to him about it and a couple days later thats when the box let go. I was using Redline LWSP oil, I believe that made the gearbox last longer because it fixed the problem i had with 3rd gear from the beginning.

But i bought it 2nd hand and who knows what treatment it got in Japan.

Steven Anderson
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UZZ31 Manual

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Friday, May 08, 2009 - 07:25 pm, by: Steven Anderson (Cusscuss)

My R154 cops plenty at motorkhana's, cant really steer that tightly so spend most of the day doing clutch kicks to bring the arse around. Still going beautifuly. It does get plenty of TLC from Niall though.

Costa Tsimiklis
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Victoria
TT 300rwkw

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Monday, May 11, 2009 - 01:14 am, by: Costa Tsimiklis (Driftshop)

Axel tramp will shock load the gearset and can cause it to shear. I have engineered subframe spacers and diff spacers out of alloy to stop my axel tramp when I convert to five speed in the the next few weeks.

Slamming gears = broken selector forks. You may have chipped it and then whats happened is dislodged a piece of alloy and its finally found its way into the gearset.

I have an R33 box that I will be stripping soon and 2x R154 boxes. I will take some photos for everyone to compare the two.

R33 is a great box for what it is and is somewhat stronger than a R154 in stock trim, only because of the thrust washer issue with the R154.

If you fix the thrust washer with the kit that I will soon be selling - then this problem will go away. I should be getting quotes on everything next week from the engineer and hopefully these aussie guys can make it cheaper for everyone. So far my experience with local manufacturing has been very very poor with sky high costs compared to what I can get it done for in the US/Japan/Taiwan and China.

Further discussion about the R154 upgrade parts and billet parts with pictures here: http://www.toymods.net//forums/showthread.php?p=956621#post956621

Shane McInnes
Goo Roo
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JZZ30 GT-TL Manual

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Wednesday, May 13, 2009 - 04:18 pm, by: Shane McInnes (Soarin_tt)

Steven Anderson wrote on Friday, May 08, 2009 - 07:25 pm:
My R154 cops plenty at motorkhana's, cant really steer that tightly so spend most of the day doing clutch kicks to bring the arse around. Still going beautifuly. It does get plenty of TLC from Niall though.

Yeah mine was and still is serviced by Niall.

Costa Tsimiklis wrote on Monday, May 11, 2009 - 01:14 am:
Axel tramp will shock load the gearset and can cause it to shear. I have engineered subframe spacers and diff spacers out of alloy to stop my axel tramp when I convert to five speed in the the next few weeks.

Slamming gears = broken selector forks. You may have chipped it and then whats happened is dislodged a piece of alloy and its finally found its way into the gearset.

Interesting to find this out...My gearbox is still at my mechanics, one day hopefully when we have time we will strip it and see what went wrong and why.