> The earlier ring gear was pressed onto the flywheel (what an
> engineereing faux pas that would appear to be),
How so, Rich ? It was lighter and less expensive, which would seem to be
desirable traits. Harder to change the ring gear certainly, but not
impossible by any means. You break the old one off, and then use heat to
shrink the new one into place.
> Probably they realized that a pressed-on gear on the
> flywheel was a bad idea and started changing it earlier than they
> reported.
Personally I doubt this, since a change in the transmission housing, and the
sheet metal over it, is also required. All of these changes (including the
ring gear) were to accommodate the later starter, which was lighter and less
expensive than the earlier unit.
> However, I suspect the former as many
> "later" early vintage 3A's like yours and mine
Out of curiosity, do you have the later trans tunnel (no dipstick hole) too
? Or has someone taken a hammer to it to clear the starter bulge on the
later gearbox ?
At this point, it's fairly remarkable to find a 45 year old car that hasn't
had the engine changed at least once. And before the internet, many people
(including 'professional' LBC shops) did not understand or care about the
differences. They just made it fit and went on.
TS39781LO had all the "pre-50K" parts, until I swapped them out, just as I
suspect someone has done to your cars.
Randall
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