I got an opportunity to drive my friend's ITR with a JDM 98 Spec R tranny before and after he did the tranny swap.

The JDM definately has alot of go with 1-2-3 gears but after all that good acceleration, it feels like it falls flat on it's face with the 4th and 5th gears because I was so used to it pulling well with the 1-2-3.

The freeway rpms are the same due to the same gearing as the usdm gsr 4th and 5th gears. Definately ideal for those that drive the freeway to work.

All in all, the 98 spec tranny is good for the daily driving people out there and the usdm is just inferior.

I never at all felt like I was shifting too often. I truely understand why people want the ats 4.9 now because I bet that it makes a world of difference.

I would recommend:
JDM 98 Spec R for the draily drivers
USDM with JDM final for the racers who don't mind higher rpms
USDM with ATS final for the hardcore mad shifting racers who love to cruise in vtec.

Cliffnotes:
98 spec r tranny spanks the usdm. Good for daily driving.
1st gear:
2nd gear: x 2
3rd gear:
4th gear: Where did the power go?
5th gear: great cruising rpms

 

Is that 98 spec JDM tranny just a USDM with a 4.7FD? I assumed it just had the 4.7FD and the other gearing was the same. All the different tranny combos confuse the hell out of me sometimes.

 

JDM 98 Spec R Tranny:
1st: 3.230
2nd: 2.105
3rd: 1.458
4th: 1.034
5th: 0.787
Final Drive 4.785

USDM ITR Tranny:
1st: 3.230
2nd: 2.105
3rd: 1.458
4th: 1.107
5th: 0.848

 

try JDM tranny w/ turbo....OMG!!

 

the 4th and 5th gears of the 98 tranny are the same gearing as the 96 due to longer gearing,.

 

I luved the 4.7.. it just rips from dead stops and downshifts..

However i hated 4th and 5th too.

 

i've personally had 3 of these trannies in my own cars. and i love them! will be putting the 4th one soon.

 

what happend to the first 3 :?

 

sold them

 

love my ATS 4.9 fd '97 spec ITR tranny,
love it love it love it

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B2FiNiTY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">USDM with ATS final for the hardcore mad shifting racers who love to cruise in vtec.
</TD></TR></TABLE>


Hey now, I resemble that remark!

If you really wanna get crazy, try the 4.7 or 4.9 final with ats 1st, itr 2nd, and ats 3,4,5 gearset..... :O:O

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Black R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
If you really wanna get crazy, try the 4.7 or 4.9 final with ats 1st, itr 2nd, and ats 3,4,5 gearset..... :O:O </TD></TR></TABLE>

The gears will probably cost more than the tranny itself. Basically building a brand new one

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by all stock &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the 4th and 5th gears of the 98 tranny are the same gearing as the 96 due to longer gearing,.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You mean the 98 and 96 4th and 5th gears take the car to the same speed due to DIFFERENT gearing. They compesated for the higher final driver of the 98 tranny by making the 4th and 5th gears longer for cruising. The downside to this is that the 98 JDM tranny has a wide gap between 3rd and 4th gear. Good example is in the best motoring video. They race the 96 and 98 spec and both drivers get identical lauches. The 98 spec pulls ahead slightly due to the shorter FD advangtage of the first 3 gears, but when it shifts to 4th the 96 R(same as US tranny) closes the gap since its gears aren't as wide from 3rd to 4th.

USDM or 96 spec JDM have the best gear ratios. 98 Spec JDM has the best FD.

 

Can a JDM 98 Spec R Tranny still be found? I'd really like to get one for my hatch if the price is right. A local kid wants my GSR tranny.

Also, isn't the Spoon tranny just a reworked 98 Spec R tranny? Does it offer anything else that the regular tranny doesn't?

 

The spoon tranny = brand new 98 spec tranny

Nothing more than that.

You can still find jdm 98 spec r trannies but the condition varies. It will cost around 1200-1600.

 

Yes.

Yes.

No.

 

my first post on h-t was asking the benefits of the spoon spec'd jdm tranny... inlinefour.com has it listed that spoon disassembles the jdm tranny and the reassembles it to their "own" specs... i didnt know why and my noob *** got flamed for being wrong. jerks

edit: i just checked inlinefour and they no longer offer the spoon tranny, i know spoon "discontinued" it about a year ago.

 

there are different specs for spoon tranny. most comon one are the n3e which is same as 98 spec jdm tranny. but you could order a r4d with a 4.7. and that would be a ctr with 4.7 fd. and so on. but most shops only order "spoon tranny" and not specify what they want so the get the regular n3e.
still $1800 is pretty good price for a brand new tranny.

 

Yeah, I've got a 98+ JDM ITR Tranny, was on the GSR, now goin in the hatch, I love it, but its still nothing like the ITR with ATS and the drop off of 4th and 5th kinda sucks but its better for daily driving and cruising, later

 

I think the FD makes up for the long 4th and 5th gears. But I honestly believe the perfect tranny for the R would have been the JDM FD, 1-3 and USDM 4-5. Oh well.

That tranny, even with the 96 ITR 4-5, in an EG with a b18c (r) kicks some serious ***. If I could only loose 400 lbs off my R.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris N &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">=That tranny, even with the 96 ITR 4-5, in an EG with a b18c (r) kicks some serious ***. If I could only loose 400 lbs off my R..... </TD></TR></TABLE>



basically you just desribed the perfect tranny as a usdm or 96jdm itr tranny with a 4.7fd in it... i think 1-3gear on the 98+ jdm tranny is the same as the usdm tranny, then 4th and 5th are gsr gears, if you put usdm itr 4th and 5th into a 98jdm then you would have all usdm gearing with the 4.7 jdm fd.

 

Does anyone know what the top MPH is in each gear with the 98 spec tranny?

 

try 98 spec jdm itr with a 97 spec 4th gear.

 

When Tom (B18C5-eh) and I were comparing trannys (Stock USDM ITR tranny) my gears felt longer then his (He had 15's and I had 16's.....i dunno how much wheel diameter played in it). But when driving my friends ITR tranny GSR or my other friends ITR it feels completely different.

Weird.

Oh and I know my tranny is from a 98 ITR. It came from my 98 JDM ITR swap and all the serial numbers matched up between the head tranny and block.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B2FiNiTY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">USDM with ATS final for the hardcore mad shifting racers who love to cruise in vtec. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Unless you cruise over 100mph or your vtec point is lowered, you won't be in vtec yo!