So I was reading in one of the forums that changing the fluid in my manual 5-speed was a good thing... Duh. It was simple to do and it cured some of the roughness in the shifts. The car has 54K on it so it was probably overdue. Just used some Mobil synthetic ATF. So if anyone is contemplating it... just do it.

 

maybe any synthetic is the key. I fried my 2nd syncho powershifting at the track, ok for half a dozen runs, then bang/grind...couldnt even get into second in normal driving at times, no way at 4k or above...I put up with it for a year, after so many folks saying royal purple was best, just do it...so i did and felt pretty stupid- the tranny was better than new shift wise after a hour of driving, immediately it would just fall into third, amazing stuff...I'd hem-hawed around with that balky second for a year, and a simple oil change helped dramatically. its been 2 years now, might change it again, last time at the track it was getting notchy at high rpm...need a clutch now, so will over the winter tear it apart and see about replacing the synchronizer/blocker rings with something better while its down- and definitely getting RP oil again

 

I think their was some kind of debate on the S197 forum as to what oil to use. Some say the Trans manufacturer says DO NOT USE RP. So I just stuck with what the manufacturer recommends. But really if they had RP at the Auto Zone by my house I would have used that. Any way, It DID make a difference. Not a HUGE "OH WOW!!" but it's just a little smoother ya know?