Restoring Rusty

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Gregski

here's a cautionary note and a heads up, remember those alignment spacers we talked about earlier for the upper control arm, well be careful when you are putting them back in as they like to rotate upside down and slip out from underneath, slippery little suckers

below I caught them in the act

One quick round of electrical tape around the top tab helps prevent them from rotating by keeping them all together.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

One quick round of electrical tape around the top tab helps prevent them from rotating by keeping them all together.

thanks, smart!

[Gregski]

after it was all back together, I decided to grease the ball joints since they came with zirc fittings and I didn't wanna assume they was pre greased proper and such

so I busted out my trusty ol' grease gun my daddy bought over 30 years ago, and first thing I had to do was replace that worthless metal feeder tube with a bendy one so I could even reach and get to where it needed getting to

then I watched a few YouTube videos on how to burp a new tube of grease after you just load the gun, ha ha, oh boy once you know how to do it, look out the grease comes out sooo good

so you grease these up until you see the rubber boot expand and a little of grease start to ooze out

[Odaroloc]

Great job! I remember reading through all of this a long time ago and its looking great!

[fordguy40]

Just spent the last couple of weeks reading this thread. Keep up the good work, Greg....Rusty's coming along nicely. Going to pass along your experience with the Vortec heads to a friend of mine who wants to put together another small block for his '70 GMC 3/4-ton 4x4 and really wanted to use those heads.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by fordguy40

Just spent the last couple of weeks reading this thread. Keep up the good work, Greg....Rusty's coming along nicely. Going to pass along your experience with the Vortec heads to a friend of mine who wants to put together another small block for his '70 GMC 3/4-ton 4x4 and really wanted to use those heads.

Thank you very much for the kind words. The Vortec heads can send one down the rabbit hole, they require a different intake manifold, they require different valve covers, and don't forget they also require that special intake manifold that only comes in that $50 gasket kit I mention.

If I was to run Vortec heads again I would only go with brand new ones to ensure they are not cracked. I would also buy them from aftermarket companies (like Scoggin-Dickey) that modify them for taller lift and install slightly larger valves in them. I don't think they port or polish them as they supposedly are good in that department already.

And if your friend really wants to get the most out of them then he should swap to a roller block and run a hydraulic roller cam.

hope that helps,
G

[Whamo]

seeing as you were the inspiration for my dash project...I thought I'd share how mine came out...I dig but not sure it was worth all the work...

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Whamo

seeing as you were the inspiration for my dash project...I thought I'd share how mine came out...I dig but not sure it was worth all the work...

Looks good, but dang, that's a ton of round holes, ha ha

[Whamo]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Looks good, but dang, that's a ton of round holes, ha ha

71 to be exact...

[Whamo]

Ive got a Hobart Champion that I am good at making a mess of things with...I have a small crush on anything Lincoln...

I considered welding up the holes (and still might) but wanted to play with the industrial and wood look in a truck - I build custom furniture out of reclaimed industrial metal and reclaimed barn wood...

It's hard to see, but I went High Class and used only the finest gutter guard material from Mé Nards to "grill" the holes...

Still need to cut slits in the dash wood...but since the AC is broked there is no hurry...

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Whamo

I have a small crush on anything Lincoln...

Oh my god your posts are hillarious, I am so glad I was not sippin on my coffee when I read that line or it would have been all over my keyboard

Originally Posted by Whamo

It's hard to see, but I went High Class and used only the finest gutter guard material from Mé Nards to "grill" the holes...

yes nothing but the finest scrap for our rigs!

[Gregski]

where do I begin this next endeavour update? I guess by saying, nothing ever good happens when I go on Craigslist "just to look"

so $180 bucks later Rusty and I got to see a bit of the hill country and were haulin' back this beauty

Can you guess what it is?

[Gregski]

Why yes it is a Saginaw 4 speed transmission. How do we know well the reverse shifter lives in the side cover, where as on a Muncie it's in the tailshaft. Cool good to know.

By the way it's called a Saginaw because it was made/built in Saginaw Michigan. And by the way Saginaw is native Indian for "Not As Good As Muncie" ha ha

So first tip on buying one of them 60's four speed gear boxes: Buy as much as you can, in other words try to buy the shifter usually a Hurst and the fingers, ie the rods/sticks with the transmission. Highly advised.

[Gregski]

Continuing on, where as the all aluminum Muncie 4 speed comes in three flavors:

• M20 (wide ratio)
• M21 (close ratio)
• M22 (also close ratio aka "The Rock Crusher" for BBCs)

The all iron Saginaw 4 speed comes in two(ish):

• M26
• M27

[Gregski]

The Saginaw gets a bad rap for not being as strong as a Muncie and it's rated up to 300 horse power. So why did The Greg get one?

Well, my beloved A833 needs a rebuild and this will allow me to do a temporary transmissino swap to keep my daily on the road, really simple as that. This will also allow me to try a true 1960's four speed transmission be it weaker than a Muncie. You gotta understand that a Turbo 350 is rated at 350 horse power so only 50 more than the Saginaw and the TH350 was GMs go to transmission for everything.

I also twisted my logic seven different ways to justify this impulse buy. If the Muncie is all aluminum and is considered strong than aint iron stronger. Why do the Mopar guys swap from aluminum A833 cases to the iron cases when they build drag transmissions? And so what that 300 horse is it's peak, my truck in OEM form pulled 190(ish) horse on the dyno, and with my bolt on upgrades pulled only 255 horse, so I am well below that. Also with a more stout cam the power band rises from a factory idle - 5500 to something like 2500-5500 RPM so this transmission should put me in the power band with higher revs.

And finally, the Saginaw transmission was a cheaper alternative for GM but surved loyal duty in the Chevelles, Novas, Camaros, Fire Birds, Impalas, Corvettes, El Caminos, Tempests, Vegas, and did I mention Monzas, ha ha

so it will do, and I treat Rusty as a car not a truck so I don't go towing motor homes or the Space Shuttles

[Gregski]

so the gentleman who sold me this unit said it came out of a first gen Fire bird, but that it was NOT native to the car, he was very clear about that

well I was so excited at the time that it went in one ear and out the other, I'm sure some of you can relate to that, it's part of the impulse buy protocol, blinders on, and we hear what we wanna hear

so the first mistake I made or the first lesson I learned was that out of all them cars you can get the Saginaw out of, the Vega/Monza configuration is the worst one you can get which is exactly what we have here, a Vega transmission / shifter setup

Huh? What? Why?

When the General installed the Saginaw in the Vega or Monza he decided to mount the shifter to the floor of the car!!! No! Instead of the transmission itself as God intended.

So the number one reason for me getting this trans (that being cause it came with the shifter and linkage) just went out the window, and I found myself on eBay looking for a different shifter and rods.

The Vega shifter also was not a Hurst but some generic GM piece of junk and it was all warn out, I tried to rebuild it but gave up...

[Gregski]

so $217 dollars later (yes more than what we paid for the transmission in the first place) see lesson #1 above, ha ha we had ourselves what we believe is a proper or more better transmission mounted shifter linkage - this one I was told came out of a Chevelle

[Gregski]

and this is what the shifter bits looked like when they arrived, can't wait to bolt them on and give them a go shiftin gears

hopefully they don't position the shifter too far back where we have bench seat clearance issues

kinda cool that the eBayer threw in that white shifter ball, I happen to have a shifter stick that I hope will work so this should give me everything I need

[Gregski]

Saginaw Specifics

When looking at a Saginaw transmission, the front input shaft will likely have one or multiple grooves cut around its diameter. These grooves are there to indicate the ratios of the gears inside the transmission.

0 grooves: First 2.84, Second 2.01, Third 1.34, Fourth, 1.00

1 groove: First 2.54, Second 1.84, Third 1.44, Fourth, 1.00

1 groove: First 2.54, Second 1.84, Third 1.32, Fourth, 1.00

2 grooves: First 3.11, Second 2.20, Third 1.47, Fourth, 1.00

3 grooves: First 3.50, Second 2.46, Third 1.65, Fourth, 1.00 (I believe ours has three grooves so it's this one)

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Saginaw Specifics

When looking at a Saginaw transmission, the front input shaft will likely have one or multiple grooves cut around its diameter. These grooves are there to indicate the ratios of the gears inside the transmission.

0 grooves: First 2.84, Second 2.01, Third 1.34, Fourth, 1.00 (I believe ours has zero grooves so it's this one)

1 groove: First 2.54, Second 1.84, Third 1.44, Fourth, 1.00

1 groove: First 2.54, Second 1.84, Third 1.32, Fourth, 1.00

2 grooves: First 3.11, Second 2.20, Third 1.47, Fourth, 1.00

3 grooves: First 3.50, Second 2.46, Third 1.65, Fourth, 1.00

And the one with the tallest first gear (2.54) can handle the most torque. That's the ratio our trucks used for 350s with 3-speed manual trans.

The 3.50 first gear was used behind small six cyl engines, like the 250. Your 2.84 is probably right on the ragged edge for a 350, but I know you're a conservative driver.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by MikeB

...but I know you're a conservative driver.

ha ha, yup, I almost chocked on my beer when I read that, sure thing I'm a super hypermiler, lol

[rusty76]

This ought to be fun. I’m watching. I know you are ready to cruise a new four speed.

[Gregski]

so decided to clean the Saginaw four speed transmission a bit, using Mineral Spirits from Home Depot, a wire brush, and some paper towels

[Gregski]

remember our goal being: Progress Not Perfection

[Gregski]

and here it is with the Hurst four speed shifter linkage mounted and my old chrome HURST shifter installed, not sure if this stick will work/clear but we shall see, it does look pretty cool though

of course couldn't mount the white ball do to thread differences not only size but also pitch, coarse vs fine, it's not easy fellas, really wanted to see that ball atop the stick