So I have recently gone from an 80k JDM 1999 spec engine and gearbox (deceased) to a 30k UKDM 2004 spec engine and gearbox and I have noticed the 04 engine gearbox seems to 'sound' different.

The 1999 gearbox\transmission was silent in all gears at all speeds.

The 2004 gearbox although the shifting is comparably smooth makes a bit of a subtle whirring noise in 1st and 2nd gear at low speeds (below 3k rpm). It is best described as a hollow sounding, almost plastic gear noise... it is almost like that whine you get in reverse and deeper and much quieter.

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this difference between post and pre 04 cars – perhaps it is to do with the carbon fibre synchromesh’s?

I might post up a youtube vid if not as any gearbox noise tends to frighten me.

 

Mine tends to whine a lot with power. Sounds pretty good IMO

 

Mine whines a bit and I have an MY00...my MY04 did as well though and think its a combination of gearbox and also propshaft noise.

I have noticed that on my MY00 that I have a bit of noise that sounds like gearbox drag/slack though at times when my foot is resting/feathering on the throttle which I didn't get on the MY04 so am also wondering whether this is normal? I think my EP3 made a similar noise so am guessing its nothing to be too worried about as the gear shift is MUCH smoother on my MY00 than the MY04 I had.

 

The drag/slack is called backlash, and is due to the space between the teeth. Consider two interconnected gears; one gear turns the other, then stops. When it comes to rotating in the opposite direction, there is a gap that has to be taken up with rotation of the primary gear before any angular movement of the second gear occurs.

Backlash increases with wear, but can be minimised with a good design.

Control Engineering 101

 

Bang Tidy! All makes sense now, cheers