Video of concern:
Hey guys. A while ago, I pulled an H2A5 from a donor CB7 for my manual swap. Today I was inspecting the tranny to see if there was anything that needed addressing before the swap. I turned the input shaft by hand, and I hear this raspy bearing sound. Same thing in all gears. The input shaft has no discernable play in it. When changing the direction of rotation of the input shaft, a clunky clattery noise can be heard, dunno what that's about. The car shifted great when it was alive, however, its cat was stolen so if the car was making any whirring or whining noises from the transmission, I def did not hear it over the open exhaust. I posted a video link above, let me know if that sounds normal to you or a sign of something more sinister lurking within. Someone on reddit told me the noise was normal and to just send it, but I'm not convinced.

So is this sound normal or is the tranny on its way out? I found a video on how to open up an H22 transmission and it honestly doesn't seem all that hard, I've already got the transmission out of the car. I'm assuming I can follow the H22 transmission teardown guide for an H2A5, is this correct or am I an idiot?

 

For the few trannys I've worked with, I would say it sounds normal with the age and slight wear of internal parts it has. Personally I would inspect the inside workings and bearings while it's out of the car. That case also sounded dry so should be a bit better once filled.

 

Yeah I think I'm gonna crack it open and inspect all the bearings, someone over on CB7Tuner told me their transmission doesn't make this noise when they do the same thing I'm doing in the video. I'd rather have some peace of mind that the bearing isn't going to crap out on me and ruin everything else in the transmission.

Also this transmission is not dry, it's had oil in it the entire time, which is what leads me to believe something is going bad inside

 

Scratch that, I drained the oil and there was barely any left, I think it all leaked out when I pulled the axles, however, there should have been enough to reach the ISB when I flipped it around and shook it. Either way the noise is still a problem. I started the disassembly and so far I got a look at some of the synchros which don't look too bad to my untrained eye. Will update on what I find inside once I get it fully torn down.