Dear Scions...
I'm in the process of doing my "first ever" transmission rebuild.
The transmission in question is from a '76 Spit 1500, and I'd say
it is an early single rail version owing to the oil slinger design
input shaft.
I've been trying to follow the repair manual <Haynes> to the letter,
and I thought things were progressing nicely until my good friend and
part-time troublemaker Bob Sykes took the wind outta my sails. :-)
It seems Bob's friend just had a tranny rebuilt by a local mechanic
and the results were excellant. "I must say it's the tightest gearbox
I've felt in a long time"...quoting Mr. Sykes. The mechanic commented
that the box came to him "missing the same three springs that every
other Spit box he's ever worked on was missing". <Am I telling this
right Bobby?> :-)
Dumbfounded, I started pouring over the parts diagrams trying to locate
these things. After about an hour of scrutinizing I came up with
the following:
The gearbox front face has three holes drilled through that would accept
small coil springs. The front layshaft thrustwasher would be tensioned
by these springs when the bellhousing was bolted in place....effectivly
sandwiching the little buggers. This would appear to reduce layshaft
endfloat from the .007 - .015" specified to essentially nothing.
My box never had 'em....no marks on the washer face or gasket. The
Haynes book shows 'em in the diagram but does not have them in the
assembly procedure. Rimmer shows 'em, but no part number. VB had them
available. Now *I* have 'em.
So the question is: Should my box have these turkeys in there, or
were they omitted as part of some production change for some reason?
Anyone *else* ever run across 'em? BTW....they are meaty little things.
Looks like they'd exert considerable force on the thrustwahers.
One last question to the list for anyone not asleep yet: :-)
Under what conditions should I have the flywheel face re-surfaced, and
what else get's knocked outta whack if I do?
Thanks guys...
Tom O'Malley
'74, '77 Spits
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