OP here -

Shop service manager just called and said "your car has a clean bill of health...you need to brush up on your speed shifting, one of the smoothest shifting cars I've ever driven".

Considering this shop has an outstanding reputation for specializing in import sports cars, Porsche in particular, I'm satisfied.

Thanks for the replies guys! Have a great weekend!

Next step - wax job this weekend. Photos to follow.

 

A high RPM shift is alot for any transmission to handle. I find the S2k trans to be quite good considering the speeds at which the synchros need to align. As said before, its a "common" issue, but can be avoided with a bit of practice and patience. Problem is, the more you do it, the more you likely can damge or mushroom the synchonizer, leading to more grinding and mis-shifts.

 

i grinded my gear yesterday from 1st to 2nd.



it hurt me more than it did the car. hate that feeling.

 

Gears aren't actually grinding. It's the dogteeth, right?

 

Same thing the dealership told me the first two times I took my car in for this problem. Even shifting moderately fast would cause the gears to grind. It wasn't until I started losing 6th gear and took it to a different dealer, that they rebuilt my tranny under Honda Care. Now my transmission is smooth as silk. Fortunately, it didn't cost me anything, but it pisses me off how many times the dealership told me I was imagining things and how many idiots on these forums blamed it on driver error.

Many people here will tell you to change your fluid, hold the knob different, learn to drive a stick, blah, blah, blah....

Maybe some of these suggestions will help some people, but I've found there's only one thing you can do to avoid it... learn to shift a little slower. Eventually, you'll learn how fast you can shift before you grind. Try to develop a slight pause right before pulling it into 2nd. This will give the synchros a little extra time to do their job.

If you grind it a few times, don't freak out. My car had bad 1-2 grind from the day I bought it and I ground the gears countless times over the first two years before I required a rebuild.