Hey folks, so I have a decision to make and I was hoping to get some feedback before I make my decision. Ok so bear with me, i got a bit of a surprise yesterday. So I have a 2007 zx14 almost 70k miles and salvage title. I picked it up for $2.5k a year ago. Well I thought i blew the transmission up, nasty grinding sound shifting out of first gear then by the time i got it home second gear was grinding too and the rest of the gears no issues. So this sounds like classic transmission problems. I stoped riding the bike immediately, bought a used transmission for $350 and began to tear the old trans out. Well once i got everything appart i discovered that a bolt head had sheared off and was stuck to my magnetic oil drain plug, it wasnt there when I drain the oil at the beginning of this job but it was there once I got everything pulled apart. Here is where the bolt broke off from.
Ok so the transmission i pulled out of the bike doesn't look too bad in my opinion and I think the grinding sound I was hearing was this broken bolt grinding up my transmission. So my question is after examining the condition of the transmission I removed, which prev. owner said the transmission had been replaced on this bike so it might not even be that old. Here are pics of the trans. i pulled out.
(More photos below)
Should i put the new trans. that i bought in the bike or should I put the old transmission back in and go get my $350 back. Now I'm sure most of you guys would be thinking just put the new one in you already have it apart, its cheap insurance. But here's the other part of the story. The past couple years haven't been very good for me (as is the case for everyone) but I was getting this bike fixed to sell so I can make rent for next month. I don't particularly want to sell the bike but i need some quick cash cuz i have like 1 more mont of rent in my bank account and then im f@%d. An extra 350 could buy me enough time to make some money and avoid selling my bike. Whats your guys thoughts?