re gearing s54, has anyone done it? Options

[99gt3sge]

i have red some of the threads, i was wondering if anyone has changed out their fifth gear from a s54 to s51? was wondering if the rpm drop was drastic? also if anyone has completly re-geared their s54 from first thru fifth? the reason i ask is because my third gear grinds and the front shaft bearings sounds like its gone bad already. so since im going to crack it open was wondering if i can re gear it. aside from finding a lsd for it.

[BonzaiCelica]

i have red some of the threads, i was wondering if anyone has changed out their fifth gear from a s54 to s51? was wondering if the rpm drop was drastic? also if anyone has completly re-geared their s54 from first thru fifth? the reason i ask is because my third gear grinds and the front shaft bearings sounds like its gone bad already. so since im going to crack it open was wondering if i can re gear it. aside from finding a lsd for it.

regearing the whole s54 transmission wouldn't be ideal. Unless your racing and you wanted a closer gears. You could swap in the 5th gear from the s51 into the s54 if you'd wanted to for lower rpm at cruising speeds.

good luck finding a s51 transmission thats in good condition. those transmission came in late 80's camry's.

[99gt3sge]

were those the camrys that came with the 1sfe?

[BonzaiCelica]

were those the camrys that came with the 1sfe?

hmm it beats me... I'm going to sell my current s54 transmission in a month (without a final drive in it) that has about a little over 100k miles on it. It shifts fairly well I say. Let me know if your interested.

[AMCMoe]

I considered swapping 5th gear in my s54 a few years ago. Watch Craigslist (using searchtempest.com) for wrecked Camry's being parted out. Ones with front end damage are best because if the bellhousing is broken, you'll most likely get the trans for next to nothing.

You'll find this link helpful.

http://www.mr2.com/forums/v6-owners-group/...s-pics-too.html

Make sure you read post #10 and post #13 to clarify which years Camry you want to be searching for.

[AMCMoe]

Using the same gearing calculator mentioned in the link I posted earlier, I made a chart and overlaid the two (using the S54's 4.176 final drive) in order to show you the how the gearing would look if you were to swap an S51 5th gear into your S54 transmission (with the stock tire size)

Here is the S54:


Here is the S51:


S51 5th gearset in the S54:


Overlaid comparison of 5th gears in the S54:


Edited to clarify final drive used.

This post has been edited by AMCMoe: Jan 10, 2012 - 10:17 AM

[stephen_lee]

so a 300 rpm drop @ 70 basically

nice difference

[AMCMoe]

About 375rpm drop at 70mph with stock size tires. Calculated it'll be ~3008rpm with the S51/S54 hybrid instead of ~3374 with the S54 using a calculator from http://www.snoman.com/HTML/axlecalc_5a.html

[mkernz22]

now here's the question. Will the S51 swap onto a 5s no problem? Will the shift cables, axles, and etc be a perfect fit?

[kurt95gt]

now here's the question. Will the S51 swap onto a 5s no problem? Will the shift cables, axles, and etc be a perfect fit?

From what I've read on mr2.com they do swap right in No problem

[stephen_lee]

you can swap ONLY the 5th gear.
which will NOT require pulling the trans out


Basically it should be:
remove driver wheel
drain fluid
remove 5th gear cover
remove 5th gea (will need a gear.pulley puller)
install s51 5th gear
reinstall cover
add fluid
install wheel

[mkernz22]

you can swap ONLY the 5th gear.
which will NOT require pulling the trans out


Basically it should be:
remove driver wheel
drain fluid
remove 5th gear cover
remove 5th gea (will need a gear.pulley puller)
install s51 5th gear
reinstall cover
add fluid
install wheel

so you can't swap the whole transmission over?
it looks exactly the same as the s54. saw one on ebay

[stephen_lee]

oh ya you can lol but its more work lol.

[99gt3sge]

I kkow is an old post but, today I bought two transmissions one from a 87 Camry and the other from a 5th Gen, and the tooth count on both are different by two teeth. How do I know which one would give me the better 5th for a taller gear.

[mkernz22]

I believe it should be the gear with more teeth because that would make it longer, whereas less teeth would make it shorter

[BonzaiCelica]

get the final drive from a euro s54 transmission. longer gears all across. just removed weight from the car, that would be optimal.

[99gt3sge]

I swapped the fifth of the Camry to my 3rd Gen s54 and it worked it dropped my rpms by 1k. Now I can cruise it on 5th. But the only thing I didn't like was that that 5th gear uses a single syncro and my other used a double syncro.

[BonzaiCelica]

I swapped the fifth of the Camry to my 3rd Gen s54 and it worked it dropped my rpms by 1k. Now I can cruise it on 5th. But the only thing I didn't like was that that 5th gear uses a single syncro and my other used a double syncro.

what size tires do you have??

[pgiorgio]

i have red some of the threads, i was wondering if anyone has changed out their fifth gear from a s54 to s51? was wondering if the rpm drop was drastic? also if anyone has completly re-geared their s54 from first thru fifth? the reason i ask is because my third gear grinds and the front shaft bearings sounds like its gone bad already. so since im going to crack it open was wondering if i can re gear it. aside from finding a lsd for it.

I just did it on my 95 Beams vert. At 65 mph the rpms dropped from 3200 to about 2800. I'm running 16 inch tires. Also, after one tank of gas, driving carefuly, I got 35 mpg vs 31 mpg with old set up.

[purplegt4]

I swapped the fifth of the Camry to my 3rd Gen s54 and it worked it dropped my rpms by 1k. Now I can cruise it on 5th. But the only thing I didn't like was that that 5th gear uses a single syncro and my other used a double syncro.

u take any pictures?