Fall/Winter 2004-2005 Archives

9-23-04 Pulled the cluster to change out the tachometer and oil pressure gauge. The oil pressure gauge was changed from a 60 lb to the 80lb version. And the 6500 RPM red line tachometer was installed in place of the 5300 gauge. A new bulb kit was installed while the cluster was out. I used 5 threaded rods to slide the cluster out and labeled each connection. The cluster came out without removing the steering column but I need need to loosen it and drop it a few inches. I'll have to do this again as the tachometer did not work right after I reinstalled it.

Here's the back of the cluster	The green paint inside the cluster flakes easily.	Odometer gears	Here's the worm gear that drives everything.
Trip odometer gears and trip odo reset cable. This was broken before I pulled it and now it works.	Here's what is Behind the cluster. It's a good idea to protect the top of the steering column from scratches.	Date stamp on the back of the cluster reads Feb 12 1965	Local Car Show - Corvette Night

12-18-04 Pulled apart the Muncie M20 I found on EBAY. It had been rebuilt but there was something rattling around in the case so I decided to pull it apart and rebuild it. Some of the gears have worn engagement teeth but the drive teeth all looked great.

3851325 main case - 64-65 Muncie with 7/8" countershaft	Shift forks. These are pitted and excessively worn and need replacement.	This slider was pitted and needs to be replaced.	Slider teeth are rounded and chipped. It is garbage.
Gear with worn engagement teeth. This gear is marginal.	Used gear with great engagement teeth.	Reverse idler gear. A little chipped but reusable.	Rear housing is garbage. The reverse sifter boss was cracked because someone drove the taper pin in from the wrong direction
Input nut removed and input shaft bearing.	Cluster gear - M20 7/8" pin.	Reverse shift lever. The stud had been sheared off
Mainshaft with 3rd, 2nd, 1st, and reverse gear from left to right. Speedo gear was missing.	Reverse gear on the mainshaft and rear mainshaft bearing in the midplate	Main components of a Muncie transmission (minus the side cover). There really isn't much to them if you ignore the many roller bearings and small parts.

1-2-05 New parts arrived. Added 1,2,3 gears, hubs, sliders to the mainshaft.

used input gear on the right - used on the left. Also known as 4th gear.	Top cluster new - bottom used. This is the 7/8" 2.56:1 first cluster.	Reverse shift shafts. The stud is sheared off on the right. New shaft on the left.
These are the early hubs. Had the clean the one on the right up with a file. Later hubs were hardened.	Assembled hub, slider, keys, and spring assembly	This is an oil slinger. My early m20 did not have one but since all gears are new I used one.
Regular used slider on the left - new torque lock slider on the right. Notice the back cut on the teeth. This helps keep the transmission in gear.		Speedo gear - 8 tooth for 3.73:1 rear end and below.
used shift fork on the left - new shift fork on the right.	1st and 2nd gear along with the mid plate on the mainshaft	left to right - reverse, 1st, 2nd, 3rd.

1-15-05 - Assembled transmission. Main case, tailshaft, old input gear, and tailhousing were bead blasted.

Needle bearings in the input gear. The roller cage has a very subtle front and rear	The input bearing retainer had a very fine crack which I would not have noticed w/o beadblasting	Assembled gears- reverse is on the far right
Cluster gear, all the needle bearings, the cluster pin, and the spacers	Packed needles - I used grease. It was messy but worked very well.	More greased packed needle bearings - notice the rows.
Reverse lever and detent ball. Use a paint can opener to hold the ball while the lever slides in.	I used a thin coat of locktite to seal the cluster pin bore to prevent leaks.	Assembled side cover with new forks.
New tailshaft bushing before the seal is installed. I installed it with a socket and a hammer.	Input gear without the bearing retainer. Notice the oil slinger.	Here's the inside of the tailshaft - detent spring is in place w/o the lever.
Installing the tailshaft is difficult becuase the rear shift lever must slide onto the edge of the reverse gear. I used some paint cans and some 2x4s to hold the transmission upright.	Fresh new gears and synchros. It's almost a shame that I have to use this!

2-07-05 - Some Final Transmission Pictures

Here's the input bearing before the input nut has been installed.	Back of the front bearing retainer. The recess needs to line up with the oil hole in the main housing.	This is the front of the transmission after the retainer has been installed. Notice the French locks.
Old speedo gear housing on the right, new on the left. Notice the small rubber seal?	Speedo housing and speedo driven gear. Blue is correct for a 3.36:1 rear end ratio.	It sure looks nice.
VIN stamped on the top of the transmission. Too bad its not my VIN	Finished Transmission - almost as good as new.	Here's the side cover. Notice the slight Muncie date stamp in the lower right hand corner?

3-9-05 - Flywheel after the 2nd cut, new pressure plate and clutch. Three pictures below will show why I was having such a hard time with the clutch I had just put in. Still have not figured out why I was getting extreme judder. Could have been a bad pressure plate (clutch was locked when I first tried to drive it), could have been a flywheel that was too smooth, or could have been excess grease applied to the splines.

This is why LUK thinks the failure was caused by too much spline grease	Notice the matching hot spots on pressure plate and flywheel	Flywheel took some extreme heat. Luckily, these were not deep and the flywheel could be resurfaced.
Here's the oil pan saddle I made for use with the jack bridge on the 4 post lift.	Look at this mirror smooth surface on my flywheel - used with the severe clutch problems.	Different machine shop = different results. The finish on this cut was very rough.
A close up of the surface finish on the flywheel that was used successfully.	This 2nd time I was extra paranoid and was worried about this small chip. It was not a problem.	This is a new TO bearing on a new PP and the fingers weren't even but it worked. This was more severe on my failed unit and caused the TO bearing to bounce around