Another wrong purchase

[Beck]

I am still fighting my little pulling tractor build. It and I are too heavy for the class. One of us has to lose weight. I'm trying without much success. That lets the tractor. My plan is to remove the 350 turbo and try for something lighter.

Transmissions are starting to accumulate. I have already had two 350 turbos built. The first was standard low gear. The 2nd has a 2.75 low gear.  Since I am going to try a manual these are getting put aside.

I found 2 places making aluminum housings for the Saganaw 3 speeds.  I decided to buy an iron one to mock things up with, and later use the internals. There was one on the local Craigslist so I arranged to meet the guy. When I thought I was near him I called him. He said it was another 27 miles to his place. Grrrrr! I was part way there so I continued. I made the deal and got him to knock $25 off because of the distance. The transmission was very dirty as shown in the photos.

I got it home and started the cleanup and disassembly. I gutted the cases and bead blasted them. While cleaning up the gearing I counted teeth and did the math to make sure the gearing was what the input shaft indicated. OOPS! Saginaw's didn't come with a 2.42 low gear. I got on the web to research.  It's a 1969 Muncie HD 3 speed. That isn't a bad tranny, but I can't buy the lightweight cases, so now it is back to Craigslist to shop for another and put the Muncie up for sale.

I'm so stupid! I'm 3 days into this transmission, and now it isn't the right one. To make the Muncie right to sell it I need gaskets and seals, which I haven't located yet. The output seal is standard stuff. There isn't a number on the input seal. I may do the little ball-peen hammer and paper gasket material trick for the gaskets. I wonder if the case dimensions are tight enough that the gaskets are required? If not I would just use sealer.

[enjenjo]

Use The Right Stuff.  http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-29208-Right-Stuff-Gasket/dp/B000HBNV8U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464475712&sr=8-1&keywords=the+right+stuff+sealant  It will seal it.

[58 Yeoman]

58 Chevy 3 speed, short trans; is that a Saginaw? I think I've got one buried in the shop.

[Beck]

58 Chevy 3 speed, short trans; is that a Saginaw? I think I've got one buried in the shop.

I'm not sure when they swapped from the early style with a 4 bolt cover
https://www.google.com/search?q=saginaw+3+speed&biw=1067&bih=730&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1uvuSjP7MAhVFQSYKHYWQALEQsAQIGw#imgrc=3gQQznJB9dhIUM%3A

To the later style with a 7 bolt cover
https://www.google.com/search?q=saginaw+3+speed&biw=1067&bih=730&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1uvuSjP7MAhVFQSYKHYWQALEQsAQIGw#imgrc=p0b81SCz41aZdM%3A

I need the 7 bolt cover. A Saginaw has a bolt in the top center of the shifter cover. A Muncie does not. There seems to be a lot of confusion of what others on the net truly have.

[Beck]

The Muncie is all back in one piece. The internals looked really good, so I didn't replace anything. I just cleaned it all up and reassembled it. The local parts store had the seals it needed. I had a tube of Yamabond here so I used that instead of gaskets or Right Stuff. I have had good success with it. For those unfamiliar with it, it's the Yamaha motorcycle sealant. It is used on the case halves and other flanges.

In 2 days the clean castings looked like they were beginning to rust. It is in epoxy primer tonight. Tomorrow I'll shoot dark grey metallic on it.

That is the first time I disassembled a manual transmission. I'm sure there are 1000 tricks to it. I learned about 10 of them today. There are 116 little needle bearing rollers in it. When I had them in I was one short. Under my workbench got a good cleaning. #116 was found on the floor. I surprised myself. Everything seems to work.

[39deluxe]

I have one that was original in my friends '67 Lemans. He swapped in a 4 speed. It's a good one but probably not worth the 360 miles each way to get it.

Tom

[Beck]

The Muncie 3 speed was sold last night to a Demo derby guy. He was very happy.

39 deluxe -  Your right about the drive. I could way overpay for one local and have less invested than the fuel. Unless I am really on a mission 700+ miles in one day is too much for me anymore. That would add the cost of a nights motel stay driving my purchase price higher.