I have an '84 Camaro with the stock Borg Warner 5 speed and whenever you shift you can feel a catch in between gears. It doesn't seem to matter if you shift slow or fast there is always resistance right before it drops into the next gear. Does anyone know how to fix this? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

This must be your first stick shift car.

That's not something you "fix".

That's how they work. As you move the shifter, the shift fork moves the sleeve for the gear you're shifting into, toward the gear it's about to engage. When it gets close, if the front half of the transmission is not moving at the same speed as the back half, the blocker ring gets torqued around half a tooth by the differently-spinning parts, and its clutch surface is forced to press against the gear, which "blocks" the sleeve from being able to slide any farther because the teeth don't line up any more (that's the "catch" you feel); thereby equalizing the speed of the parts. After a short time, the parts reach the same speed, the torque on the blocker ring goes away, and the blocker ring stops doing what it's named for (blocking the shift action), and the sleeve can then move the rest of the way and engage the gear.

I'm guessing you might have noticed that it always grinds going into reverse, too? If so, all you have to do, is put it into a forward gear, ANY forward gear, and THEN put it into reverse. That way, you won't fill your fluid up with metal chips from grinding the teeth off of reverse.

 

No it's actually my 4th stick shift car, and I've driven countless other vehicles with sticks including 13 speeds. The only cars that I've driven that catch like this in between gears are the two third gens. that I've had. You can't shift it smoothly unless you are really hammering it, and then you can still feel it.

 

It's normal. For ALL stick shift transmissions.

 

I realize that there is normally slight resistance in between gears, but this feels like it stops and then drops into gear. I've driven old Mack's that shift smoother than this car.

 

Are you running synthetic ATF in this T5?

 

No, it just has normal ATF in it.

 

I found when I used synthetic ATF, my NWC T5 would feel very "notchy" like it's catching a tooth. It would shift fine with regular or blended ATF.

 

I was just about to post on this matter....YUP its my first stick shift.....

BUt my clutch pedal is sitting up higher than my brake pedal( this happened after i removed my A/C lines). THen i get that catchy resistance feeling that you guys talked about.

new t-5 parts.....car only driven approx 3000 miles since new motor and new t5 parts

 

This is my first stick shift car too. I have driven countless other cars though, especially when I worked in the shop.

I just figured every tranny is different. Also, lots of the FWD cars shift easier, but I figued its because they use cables.