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Old 06-27-2009, 04:05 AM   #1 (permalink)
Oval_Overload
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Location: Minneapolis, MN
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Unicorn - '12 Nissan Versa 1.8S hatch
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Question Is there a better use for first gear?

Ok, so here is the scenario...

My clam to fame in town is my car. I'm known for having one of the clunkiest cars in Stillwater, not that thats any major feat as it is one of the few American cars in town. Teens in my town are generally rich s.o.b.'s and driving something made by hard working Americans would be below them. During the school year I often found myself parking between a Honda S2000 and an Audi TT. Who the #%^& buys their child an S2000??

Ok, I'm finished with my rant now. Moving on...

My friend Sam's parents just bought a 2010 Prius *w00t* to replace their aging Saturn SC and accordingly to Sam [to be taken with several large grains of salt] the SC is mine if I want it. I don't really believe anyone is really so nice as to give a car like that to someone they've known for a year, but I suppose it is possible. They are stupidly rich, and they were present when the inside of my car door fell off (and thus, my Taurus became a long running dinner joke), so maybe they just feel like being nice to a random person.

Anyway, the particular Saturn in question has about 130k on the clock and looks to be in great shape (gotta love all those plastic bits!), but first gear is a little bit "stupid" according to Sam. You gotta show the car some love to get it into first. She thinks it is "going out" but it could just be a bad shift linkage, since S-Series manuals have a habit of lasting biblically long times (I used to work with a woman who has driven the same SC2 manual since 1992... 230k miles).

If I do end up with the car, and if first gear has gone wrong, would it be possible to repurpose the gear? I don't know much about the internals of the Saturn MP transmission (IDK if it is the MP2 or MP3 tranny) other than fifth gear is easy to get to for gear swaps. If there is someone here who knows more than I, I would like to know if it would even be remotely possible to drive first gear via an electric motor.

A. I'm writing this at nearly 3 AM, so it probably sounds very odd
B. This is of course just an idea rattling around in my gray matter
so let the comments fly!

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