1982 Frame Off Restoration

[SupercoolBill]

After the sealant was laid down I realized that we had to get the reverse gear in the correct position for the shift arm to land in the slot on the gear. We tried fitting the other case half several times and it seemed like things weren't lining up correctly. The whole time I am thinking that we can drag this out forever...we've got sealant and bearing retainer that is drying. I panicked and started using a plastic dead blow hammer to persuade the case half to go on. We decided to pull the case half off AGAIN. I noticed that the input shaft seal was not sitting exactly right in the case and therefore not lining up with the groove on the other case half. This time we measured how far inward the reverse gear arm was then measured the other case half and set the reverse gear in a position that had the groove the same distance inward. The problem is when you flip the case half if you allow the case half to tip, the reverse gear easily slides on the shaft. We put the case half on as far as we could push it on by hand.

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[SupercoolBill]

We tried to look in and see if the seal was sitting in the groove like it is supposed to and is the reverse gear and arm aligned? Well...this is nearly impossible to do. We just had to continue on. We put six bolts in the case and used them to pull the halves together. Did I mention this was stressful for me?
We had it pulled together almost all the way (1/2" gap). I tried spinning the shafts and it didn't feel right. It was not smooth at all and felt like it was trying to bind up. I started cursing and throwing tools. Not something I'm proud of but it happened. So now we had to decide do we keep going or take everything apart and start over. We thought about, looked at the picture of the parts laying in the case half before putting the other side on. We decided to keep going. #sendit! The case halves pulled together. I tried spinning the input shaft. It would not turn beyond just a tiny movement. Great! Now this thing is together and it needs to all come apart now!! #%$&!!!
We took a break and after decided to try to change gears (even though we were in neutral). I moved one of the shift rods. I still couldn't move the input shaft. I put it back in neutral. Now I could spin the input shaft and the pinion shaft. Okay that's a win. I tried shifting into a gear but this time I rotated the input shaft WHILE moving the shaft. "Clunk" it fell into gear and everything spun. It felt much more smooth. I also had to remind myself that the bearings and gears were dry other than a light coating of WD40 so that is affecting how it feels. I ran through several of the gears and tried to figure out what gear I was in for each rod position change.

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[SupercoolBill]

Since we finally felt confident that things went together properly we put the rest of the bolts in, torqued them to spec, and marked them.
We sealed the bolts that go though the case. The manual says you only need to seal one of them but we didn't want to take any chances.

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[SupercoolBill]

This picture shows the bolt #1 that they want sealed in and you can see why. But also of you look at where the other bolt passes through yes it is a nice flat mating surface but I don't trust it to not weep oil with no sealant on the bolt or the mating surfaces.

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[SupercoolBill]

We continued assembling the transmission and testing the gears trying to figure what gear we were in.
Can I just say that there should be a separate word for gears as it refers to shifting gears vs. gears the circular cogs located inside the transmission. It is confusing.

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[SupercoolBill]

I would like to point out that I don't hate manual transmissions.
My wife and I have always been huge advocates for manual transmissions. We bought manual transmission vehicles for daily drivers starting with my first vehicle, a 1986 Nissan truck and her first a 1984 Chevy S10 truck up until it became nearly impossible to buy a new manual transmission vehicle around 10 years ago.

They have been around since 1891 and aside from constant mesh with synchronization rings added in the 1920s and remained the same basic design. They are cheap to make, rarely fail, don't require external components such as cooler, control units, etc. They are cheap and easy to repair/rebuild.
Outside of the US manual transmissions are still very popular and in some countries they are adored and automatic transmissions hated. Although this is slowly starting to change as other countries follow the US.

Long live the manual transmission!

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[WHO1DMC]

I would like to point out that I don't hate manual transmissions.
My wife and I have always been huge advocates for manual transmissions. We bought manual transmission vehicles for daily drivers starting with my first vehicle, a 1986 Nissan truck and her first a 1984 Chevy S10 truck up until it became nearly impossible to buy a new manual transmission vehicle around 10 years ago.

They have been around since 1891 and aside from constant mesh with synchronization rings added in the 1920s and remained the same basic design. They are cheap to make, rarely fail, don't require external components such as cooler, control units, etc. They are cheap and easy to repair/rebuild.
Outside of the US manual transmissions are still very popular and in some countries they are adored and automatic transmissions hated. Although this is slowly starting to change as other countries follow the US.

Long live the manual transmission!

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I've owned nothing but manual transmission vehicles for 25 years. It definitely sucks trying to find a new vehicle with a manual you like these days!




Dave B.

[SupercoolBill]

I've owned nothing but manual transmission vehicles for 25 years. It definitely sucks trying to find a new vehicle with a manual you like these days!




Dave B.

Yeah if you can find one it is usually a base model.

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[Timeless]

I've owned nothing but manual transmission vehicles for 25 years. It definitely sucks trying to find a new vehicle with a manual you like these days!
Dave B.

Indeed. Thankfully a couple E39 M5s still grace my garage.

[SupercoolBill]

We ran a 10 mile race this morning then after worked on the transmission for a few hours.
We started by installing the 5th gear gears. Torqued the nuts to 105 ft-lbs and staked them down.
As you can see we forgot to install the 5th gear shift fork. More on that later. At this point we hadn't yet realized that we messed up.

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