Hot Rods Look what followed me home today

A big piece of the rebuild was completed today. That being the trans. Follow along on this as this is no ordinary muncie rebuild.
The only drawback to the muncie is that it lacks the strength of its rival the mopar 833. The muncie is lighter; smaller; better shifting. There is a reason you find adaptors to put 833s on chevies back in the days before the lenco but not the other way around.
There are some modern solutions to their short comings. I started the project using a rock crusher input shaft. Its larger diameter and fine spline count make it very easy to identify. Its the strongest muncie unit. Its straighter cut gears produce a whine until its in fourth.
When the cases were originally machined they had very poor quality control. Alot of guys machine cases in what they think is a fix when its really not. Most index off the original holes that are in the wrong place to start with.
Its not uncommon to find them up to .060 off on the main shafts and cluster shaft not to mention not being parallel to each other. No wonder why they break teeth off. This case was machined off the original blue prints in a special fixture. To fix this the case counter shaft hole is milled out and moved .005 closer to the main shaft. This provides more tooth engagement as the case flexes. Having the teeth engaging as intended is a big deal. The case gets machined steel bushings. Stock there was nothing. The new counter shaft on the back side is drilled and tapped for a allen bolt. The shaft originally had just a flat cut into it that rested on the case. This just kept the shaft from spinning. Bolting the cross shaft to the case helps hold things together. The thrust washers supplied in the rebuld kits are cheap steel washers. The copper style are much better.
The back of the case gets thin in several places. This is were they break. See the pic of the T-10. To help out here the stock aluminum mid plate is replaced with one made of steel. This minimizes flex and greatly reduces breakage as it ties everything together without flexing. Its a huge improvement. The gears are all new. The common big rpm drop off from third gear to fourth is eliminated with new ratios. Attaching the arms to the case and the linkage uses special parts. The normal hurst steel bushings are replaced with tool steel bushings. The linkage is jam nutted on each end of the adjuster. It cant move. The clips are spring steel. Special washers go into the arms so they can be positively tightened and not have the nut bottom out. The arms are special units that are shorter than the hurst arms for faster shifts. These are not old double drilled vette pieces. Eliminating the built in problems of the muncie this way allows the trans to handle 600 hp. Getting the shafts parallel makes it a super smooth shiftting unit.
I was going to put my hurst competition plus back in after i had it rebuilt. Seeing this has really gone the way of a hard core vintage street strip car i have changed my mind. Im putting in a hurst ram rod shifter. This cool vintage piece is a inline unit. The H pattern is gone just back and fourth. No more missed third gear. A seperate lever needs to be held in place for reverse. Letting off tbis spring loaded handle places the car in neutral. Its a safety feature to prevent launching in reverse. There is a t handle that lifts the detent up so gear changes can be made without having to go through the whole pattern. The ram rod is street friendly unlike the other inlines. They started to show up around 1970 my cut off year. I think it will look cool. You dont see these in street cars any more. They have a distinct look thats all business. A hurst glove would complete the look and vibe. I took several detail pics of the parts. Just remember not all muncies are the same on the inside.

 

Currently the Ram Rod shifter is being rebuilt. All of the parts that need to be phosphate coated are done. The shift handle has been re chrome plated. It just needs assembled. Looks like my new floor will require some mods do to the shifter moving back and to the drivers side.

 

Big thanks go out to Eric at crash enterprises for providing parts and service to me for alot of years. He is truly at the forefront of muncie rebuilds. He has alot of knowledge and is a true muncie expert. He has hundreds of muncies; t-10s; doug nash; 833 etc in stock along with all of the service parts. Muscle car high end trans restorations are one of his specialties along with the crazy race builds like mine.

 

I came across a big pile of chevy big block parts. I have a 454 short block and a 496 stroker short block. Theres 20 plus carbs and distributors. Dominators; 850s; 780s; 600s msd units etc. Ten cams some are rollers. I have a crane rev kit. Several sets of roller lifters and pushrods. Several sets of gears both dana 60 and a few nine inch. Finned M/T valve covers. A fixed idler gear drive. Nmw ladder bars are in the pile. Pm me if you need something there is alot here.

 

How the he'll do you keep coming up with all this great stuff? You have a real knack for founding great cars and parts.

 

Is there any 3.91 Dana 60 gears in that pile I need some for the Dana 60 I’m putting together for my afx car

 

Bryan
Double check air horns on Holley carbs for OEM list and part numbers.
Especially look for this one (L79 Nova), worth big $$$.

 

I just listed in the classifieds a rare L-78 396/375hp solid lifter cam carb. The big tip off on the factory carbs is the large vacuum port exiting from the side. The after market carbs exit from the ends. Most factory carbs did not have a manual choke. Good swap meet info to remember.

 

The pile had 410 gears along with a clutch style sure grip. They are both sold.
I ended up with this pile after a friend passed away. It was bought from his widow last week.

 

I now have the shifter its a Hurst Ram Rod. Im not sure how early these were available. The hot rod article is from September of 1971. That issue most likely hit the news stands several months earlier. The lead time on the article had to be several months. So im thinking it is possible there were some around in 1970 my cut off year. Mine is the first edition shifter. It has the round spacers moving the shifter to the left. The second version had the spacer as part of the shifter body. The second clue is the black ball. The second version had a smaller red ball.
This shifter removes the H pattern. It acts as a anti theft device for anyone that doesnt know how to operate it. Its been a long time since i have seen one in a street car. They are becoming very collectable. Keep a eye out for them at the swap meets. The original boots are very hard to find. They are often confused with the super shifter boot. The freshly rechromed handles and rephosphated parts really make it look like new.

 

I'm really curious about these. Am I correct in assuming that to get the 'equal length' the long collector simply hides the unequal ends of the primaries? And how well did they work? Not as well as the 'bag of snakes' type I'd assume or you would have seen more of them, but how close do they get? For a guy trying to stuff equal-length headers into a congested engine compartment, these look like an answer...

The unique sound would just be a side benefit.

 

They didnt last long because M/T was sued over the design and were forced to stop production. The primary tubes are all different lengths inside the collectors. Thats why they are so long. You can hear each valve open and close. It sounds like a bunch of marbles bouncing aound in the pipes. Once you hear it you wont ever forget it.

 

Its just about ready to go on the test stand for break in. I will be taking it Saturday to Dons Speed Shop in Kenosha WI.
The plan is to run it at 2500 rpms for 30 minutes. After a cool down period it will run again for 30 minutes.
Its pre oiled and timed. The carbs are set. All i have to do is set the lash.
When its done breaking in the inner valve springs go back in and a oil change performed.

 

That's the stuff wet dream's are made of, right there!!! Lookin' good Brian! I'm jealous, wish I had one!

 

Looks great Brian can’t wait to hear that thing run

 

I couldnt help myself. I had to puchase some repro plug wires. The orange solid core packard wires only came on ZL-1 and L-88s im told. The transistorized ignitions required them. It complete the package with the brown distributor cap and green stripe AC plugs.

 

Absolutely kick ass!
Almost too pretty to put in a car! Almost.

 

The lash is done. The flywheel and starter is on. The engine is now on the transport cart waiting for Saturday.

 

What kind of green oil is that?

 

^^^ wondered about oil color also. Sort of remember Castrol was green?

 

Brad Penn racing oil is green. Some break in oils are, too.
Good choice of oil filter!

 

What a great shot of the ports you can look inside and see the valves.

 

The oil is Brad Penn break in oil.
I use their 70 weight or lucas in the nitro coupe. Good stuff.

 

I remember us picking up a Mr Gasket V-Gate shifter at a swap meet way back, and while attending the drags at US 131 the tech guys there, exchanged ours for a rebuilt one. No charge! We used it in a street Chevelle. Fun car. Had another friend using the Ram Rod in a 340 Dart. Just about every page of posts here, triggers another memory!

 

Like i said on a earlier post this build is all about the way they were done in the late 60s early 70s if you were a bad ass on the street. I remember alot of those cars from back in my day. They had a certain look that was unique to the era.

 

Sharp eyes will spot the original oil pressure fitting in the block. You cant find that at the local parts store.

 

I have one of those fittings in my 65 Impala with a 502. was a "96" car.

 

Everything went as planned. Good oil pressure and water temp. It ran three times for ten mitutes each run. Idle was then set. Sounds bad ass. Its very responsive. The inner springs are now going in. The filter is off to cut open for inspection.

 

Inner springs going on. The manifold had to come off to do it. A good look at the cam and lifters was done to check out the wear pattern. All is good. The engine is now broken in. The filter looked perfect inside. This all brought alot of peace of mind knowing it can go right in the car and go. Video coming soon.