So im currently debating what will be the smarter choice to go with. I have an R154 that needs to be rebuilt sitting at home from a mk3 supra. I was thinking of sending it in to MC to get it rebuilt. I know on top of that I would also have to buy bell housing, speed sensor, and extend the shifter housing. Or I can buy a stock soarer R154.

I was told I wouldn't have to spend the money on any of that extra stuff and on top of that the way the soarer trans shifts is much smoother. I was also told it was be able to hold 800hp stock. I dont know how true that is. Anyways anybody have any input into which way
I should go about doing this?

 

um, well if you rebuild it you know the life will be longer vs getting an unknown tranny with unknown miles/gear condition!!

 

If I could have found a decent deal on a soarer R154 I would have done that anyday!

My vote is the Soarer Trans!!

 

This is the main dilemma I am facing. The marlin crawler trans comes with a 1 year warranty.

I forgot to mention that the soarer trans cost 1800 and the marlin trans will cost about 2200 after everything.

 

Anybody else have an opionion on this? I know a built r154 can handle something like 800hp but what about a stock soarer r154?

 

I actually have proof. In my signature you will find the dyno chart of my friend Jay's 2JZGTE swapped motor. He had a Soarer R154 in it with a Spec stage 5 clutch. Upon his second rebuild, he decided to go with a V160 and different clutch all together. He gave me his Soarer tranny. I had the MKIII tranny with the shifter extension done at the handle not the true extension of the housing on top. The Soarer by far is more superior than the MKIII in shifting, more precision and smoother all around shifting. My friends Jay's SC made over 830RWHP at 26 pounds of boost on this tranny that I have. You will NOT have to do the shifter extension with this one either. They will hold the power and much better performance in my opinion. Now that I can tell you from personal experience. GO WITH THE SOARER, HANDS DOWN.......

 

Thankyou man. That was just the kind of response I was waiting for. Soarer tranny it is.

 

Exactly what I was looking to hear as well, was kinda undecided on which tranny to use. Not anymore.

 

Your welcome man. Glad I could help out.

 

Don't mean to thread jack but I kind of have a similar question:

I have an MKIII trans already installed on my SC it shifts kinda of funny and grinds sometimes going into reverse. My plan was to send it off to marlin crawler to be rebuilt, get the shifter extended the right way and buy a new clutch set or should I try and buy a soarer tran. Which route would be the cheapest and have the same results??

**side question: if I buy the soarer trans. would marlin crawler still rebuild it since it is still an R154??

 

Anybody???

 

I beleave the soarer tranny has a little difference on some of the syncros but everything else should be the same, so I dont see why not ? Call and ask

 

Anyone have any firsthand proof that there are internal differences between the two? (even if only synchros?) Just curious. Just seems kind of odd that a R154 built in roughly the same year would have such varying spec internals depending on application... especially since both applications are JZ powered and are expected to handle roughly identical power figures from the factory.

I would have guessed the internals should be identical besides the extension hardware.

 

I stripped fellow members Zgagnon's soarer with him to part it out and the r154 was the same as the mk3 I have other than the shifter had a much more aggressive bend in it. As far as internals I'm not sure but I think they would have specified that certain r154 kits would only work on the other

 

its incredibly simple: reverse is NOT syncroed. so, you need to put the clutch in, put the trans in a FWD gear, THEN shift to reverse. bam, no grinding.

Op it really doesn't matter i know alot of mk3 guys making 800whp on the daily basis on e85 running the old style r154.

I run stock r154 on my car 701whp over 670wtq