Hot Rods Price of 4 speed transmissions

Dirt track guys took care of all the three speeds around here.

 

If I can find a Camaro 5 spd at the pick and pull, I'll more than likely go that route. My buddy hauls crushed cars out of there and gets a heck of a discount. I'll go with a cam that sounds decent and maybe a set of alum heads, painted, with a little bigger chamber to run pump gas. Won't be no race engine, just something like I had in my first car. The double hump, 300 HP heads will be sold. By the time you put exh valve seats in and rebuild them you're better off buying a set of alum ones. I would like to put a 2x4 intake with 2 small eldebrock carbs on it. With the first gear in the 5 spd and a 3.73 gear it ought to have some zip. I never heard of that AX15 trans, have to check it out.

 

Sorry for long Muncie memory post but I too love muncies. As Mike C. Mentioned , Here’s a pic of the “beefed up shifter rods “ on the left , compared to oem gm hurst jobs.......Way stout.

While I’ve gutted a few , they are no doubt slick shifting little gear boxes . In late 1980s i pulled these 2 out of 55 chevys. I believe dad paid about $250 for the one on right a 1969 “660” case & the other was in his 55 , cracked off ear with a 26 spline input & 1971 model 661 case. Like many , I always dreamed of finding a real m22 , once letting one go that had been wore out on dirt tracks & lightened up too way before resto parts were made. So years later I saved up & converted a 660 case to the straighter 20 degree cut itilian made repop gear set using the close ratio spread , looks like new all over & been oiled down & living in a plastic tote awaiting future install. I did a m21 for dirt duty using scraps & only reverse 3 rd & 4 th with a mini clutch for 7 prob feee years , simply changing fluids , weighed 59 lbs & cost about $1500 less than Brinn / Bert clutchless jobs. Dug out a war torn case & many less than perfect items so as to not feel like it was a crime , I luckily hoarded a pallet full of them as I scoured local yards now gone away , once full of Muncie treasures. I know inflation kicks in but I would be reluctant to give in to current road ready freshened jobs that are often for over a grand ...... unless it was a true blue m22. The last Muncie i sold was a m20 wise that needed gone thru For 550. Think i paid 450 few years earlier for it. Still encounter a few that might not realize the difference between wide & close ratios. My 69 OT was odd in fact it’s 4.10s we’re paired with a close ratio m21 & it lost no momentum from a 2-3 split & would seriously back scratch the tires just letting out clutch w no go pedal under normal driving. I enjoy road coarse / oval racing mostly not as hard as slamming the gears like popping the clutch at 7500. I realize t10s benefit from the straight cut gears i believe in most be models . Either way they’re easy to tinker with. Fun factor with 4 speeds = flux

 

Probably not enough seat time... My daily has a six-speed, and it took quite a bit of getting used to. You can't slam 'em around like you could the four-speeds, they take finesse. Best results for me in making the 2nd-to-3rd shift is don't grip the knob, open your hand and just push straight ahead. The trans wants to go into 3rd, but your 'helping' it will cause it to overshoot. It's a bit of an acquired skill and takes practice.

 

Related, the price of Hurst shifters is absurd. They whack you for the install kit and the shifter separately, so that $149 Comp Plus I bought in '78 is now between $400 and $500. I'm fortunate that the one I got in '78 is still in good shape. I may have put 40k miles on it before it went into my Ford, so it has a total of 50k miles on it now.

 

Bob
The newer generation of Hurst Comp Plus shifters don't seem to have the firm feel of the earlier ones, one of my new ones seems sloppier than the other, it seems to rock back and forth more than other new ones I've bought, even when the stops are fully adjusted.
I always looked forward to the firm feeling of them the first time they were tried out.
Not so much any more, and I have bought many new ones.