i have a 3 ring saginaw 4 speed in the impala behind a 283. shifter is a hurst universal 4 speed, think it's an "indy." clutch is a big ass truck clutch that i got with the trans used, but in near perfect shape for next to nothing so i ran it. i can't remember exactly, but i think it is an 11 inch or so because i thought i heard a 12" clutch takes a different bellhousing... driven the car like this since we put the four speed in late last fall so i've only driven it about a month last fall and a month this spring. problem i am having is that it is damned near impossible to shift quickly into 2nd over 2500 rpm unless you pull the shifter towards 2nd, just before it would pop out of 1st, and then it will shift pretty well around 4000-4500 rpm. are my synchros shot? are my shifter linkages not quite right as far as adjustment goes? is the big ass clutch fuckin me? is it just me? all the sticks i have driven are late models, being a young guy, and just snap from gear to gear. what the hell's my problem? pissin me off as a direct result of pure EMBARASSMENT, fellas. nuthin looks cooler than missing a gear, bigger than shit. broke a valve spring from a free rev i had last night. only missed gear i've had on this set of valve springs. putting along this afternoon and i could tell it was an intake valve right away. regarding the valve springs, they're sealed power springs, VS 677 is the part number. figured they'd be ok given that this is a pretty mild engine. tried to get a set of either comp or cranes at the parts store today and they couldn't find the box i looked at less than a month ago when i bought the sealed power springs in the first place. then i had to drive to other store across town to get the other 8 springs to make a whole damned set of sealed power's finest... a fool with a stick shift and his money are soon parting...
I think that you do have a synchro going bad. Seems to me the saginaws never did like to be speed shifted though. jerry
i suspected that. i do have a spare that i picked up this spring that i intended to go through, looks like that's gonna happen this year. tell ya what else, i'm buyin my best bud's muncie too solely because i can get it for what he has in it and use it when i build my 327. i'd just like to be able to shift and accelerate a the same time. this magic touch bullshit on the 1-2 shift is fer the birds. oh well, my drag link and idler arm came today, so i've got that goin for me i guess. thanks man.
My dad tells me that these saginaws are famous for this type of thing. He says to pull the drain plug and see if any filings come out. If there are then the gears are probably missing some teeth. If not then the synchro drums are probably done. Adam
discussed it with my buddy with the muncie today and i'll be picking it up this summer sometime for the 327 build i plan to do. till then i guess i'll just make do with what i have. kinda why i decided to go with a sag in the first place. 130$ for damned near everything i need is about a fifth of what i have seen alot of muncies go for. it's still a HELLUVA lot funner to drive than with the old powerglide... shouldn't be any shit in the box, but you never know. we had the cover off, inspected it and added new gear oil when we did the swap in october. lookin like a synchro then... balls. i did get to enjoy some killer spring weather today and cruised town after fixing the valve spring issue and saw some other folks running old stuff. pretty good day. anyways, thanks again, fellas
I ran a Saginaw for 13 years in my car beat the s---t out of it almost every day. I never had a problem, during the same time I also had a Muncie in another car rebuilt it twice. I am going to run another Saginaw in the car I am doing now, with the low first and a 3.00 rear I will have a poor mans 5 speed. I neve heard or felt that they were weak, years ago Popular Hot rodding ran one in thier project X 57 chev. behind a big block and reported no problems.
how'd that saginaw of yours shift, man? if i don't do it just right, there's alot of resistance going into second. either gotta baby it or do the aforementioned "magic-touch one-two punch" for it to shift and feel right... what're some symptoms of bum synchros?
If Saginaw four speeds go for the same money in Ohio as they do in New York, you'd be better off to pick up another one than to rebuild yours if it needs anything more serious than synchro rings and gaskets.
yeah, i just gave 75 for one a few months back. figured i'd throw some bearings, synchros and seals at it and put it in until i have the dough to make my 327 happen next summer.
I just picked up a pair of 3 spd's today (trying to ID them, thinking they're saginaw's)...got em for 20 bucks each...I'm guessing they're not going to work well behind a stout early hemi in a gasser...guess I'll have to look for a muncie or a toploader ford...
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