Finally got it back together and running. Took a while... first deciding the best route to take, which turned out to be fixing it myself, then order parts, parts came, and that is when I discovered that parts had changed, which required... more parts. That took another week to get, then I got it together and in the car Friday. Grand total for parts was ~$900.00 from Rockland Standard Gear. Ouch... but small potatoes compared to a trans assy.
Here is a pic w/it disassembled. Reminds me of Dr. Seuss, and "
poor Herbie Hart, who apparently has taken his “Thromdibulator” apart". Anyway...
So, apparently there was a "design change" to the mainshaft at some point, the way the 1-2 synchro hub is retained to the shaft. That necessitates a new first gear and the retainer parts. Here is a pic of the two shafts, side by side. Note the width of the snap ring groove by the synchro hub:
The snap ring groove on the new shaft is nearly 1/4" wide!. The "new design" uses two 1/2 circle pieces that fit in that wide groove, and then a collar slides over those, to retain them. The "new design" first gear has a groove machined out of the ID on the synchro side, and that fits over the retaining ring to hold it in place. I wonder what was wrong w/the first design, a simple snap ring? The re-design cost me an extra ~$300.00. :annoyed:
Here are a few more random pics during reassembly....
And finally, back in the car...
Here are the parts that were left over; either damaged, or not reused as a result of the update:
So.....does it work??
Like I said, finished it up Friday night, then Saturday morning, it drove great on the way to the dyno-day, where it put down a slightly disappointing 325-338 RWHP... but didn't break or make any noises. :lol: From there, I drove to the local drag track and did a few T&T passes w/the car and it handled all of that hard use gracefully and w/o issue. I filled the trans w/Pennzoil Synchromesh, and it shifts the best it ever has, at this point, but in general, it seems great! Quiet, smooth... hopefully the reverse bearing holds up for another 125k miles... or longer! We'll see. I'll tell you what... that trans is a LOT more complex than the Borg Warner T-5, and other manual trans I've rebuilt!