Starting line mishap in Indy during HRDW21 resulted in way more damage than I expected. Long story short: they were cleaning up the starting line, put us in the burnout box, I rolled in, they didn't turn the tree on until I was in the 2nd bulb and rolling out. I backed up enough to set the 2nd bulb, the starting line guy comes over to see if I have "DEEP" on my windshield, I'm like "wtf, time trials?!", and never took it out of reverse. Got up on the 2 step, dumped the clutch, and bang. Lesson learned- I'll never be the first in the lights. I'll wait until the other guy/gal goes in for the 1st bulb.



I thought I had just knocked the teeth off the reverse gears. Nope. I ordered up stuff to upgrade to the 32 spline output, BUT I need a case, idler, countergear, and 1st. Dammit, man!!!

 

You are kicking the crap out of the Munchie. Hopefully she holds together this time for a long while.

 

Ouch, that's unfortunate.

 

Time for a TH-400

 

Man, that really sucks. I hope you get it fixed and back on the track soon.

Back in high school in the late 80s, I used to race at the High School Drags in Tulsa, but we would stay around for the other races after we finished. A guy we knew from my hometown had a Dodge Challenger that he was running for the first time. A few of us helped him get it ready and trailered down to Tulsa.

It was already dark when he ran, and he had some kind of ignition problem. The car was screaming but sputtering all the way down the track. About 3/4 of the way down the track, we saw the scooped hood fly up in the air and crash down on the track. He tripped the lights at around 12 seconds and 120 mph, but immediately afterwards we saw the car spin out, headlights, taillights, headlights, taillights over and over again. He was fine, but when they towed the car back to the pits, we gathered to see what had happened.

He had not even seen the hood fly off, but he said that the brake linkage fell apart and he had forgotten to install an emergency brake. Without any brakes, he threw the automatic transmission (I think it was a 727) into reverse at 120 mph. I guess that there was no lockout to prevent this. We dragged the car onto the trailer and saw that he had twisted the driveshaft in half. It looked like a corkscrew.

Back at his shop, he fixed the brakes and installed a new driveshaft. He started up the car and tested all the gears, and everything worked just fine. The axles were fine. The rear end was fine, and the transmission was fine. I guess something had to give, and the driveshaft was the weak link.

He was one lucky guy in many ways.

 

Or learn where 1st gear is...........

 

I talked to AutoGear for about 2 hours today. They were out of Mesario 1st cogs, so they had the bright idea to upgrade me to the M23 since I was buying all the components that make it different from the 22W, anyway. I think it was an additional $50. I also get to test some fancy new bronze syncro rings. Basically, with the iron midplate, 32 spline main, and 40 spline hubs,, I'll have a 1st gen M23, their improved version of the 22.
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/inside-n-series-m23-transmission-auto-gear-engineering/

 

I’ve had nothing but good experiences with Auto Gear, odds are really good that you’ll be happy. Might take some of the sting out of a poopy situation.

​​​​​​….

 

Sorry to see the damage caused, but I am pleased that you are getting to race it and enjoy it anyways. I hope your new trans fixes it up good and all works awesome.

 

Thanks. It's just step 3 in the process:;build it, race it, break it, repeat. Hopefully, it stays together longer this time.

 

That's cool that you race a 4 speed, not many do anymore. Silly **** happens 🤷‍♂️. Out of curiosity what clutch set up do you have?

 

Very unfortunate. I hate hearing about stuff like that. Hope your up and running sooner than later.

 

I've been beating on an autogear m22w for years. You'll be happy. I thought for sure mine would explode when I dumped it at 4k with the slicks. The car lifted the front tires 8-10" and carried them for a few feet. The trans was fine..

 

Clutch is McLeod RST twin disc on a neutral balance steel flywheel
I got the goods today. Assembly tomorrow.

 

If drag racing for consistent ETs, then a manual trans will not win in today's time trials. Automatics are very consistent in ET drag racing. With manuals, the human shifting variable will never equal the accuracy of automatic transmissions. Cool nostalgic points for manuals but auto's rule in constant ETs

 

​​​​​​Great all around clutch. Excellent.

 

I'm not dumb or talented enough to try bracket racing this thing. Hell, I'm not even driving it to its potential yet! I do like the drag n drive events, and I'll do some small arm drop stuff if I can sucker some unsuspecting fool into racing that's slower. Truth is that it's not a single digit ET car and it won't get cut up for a cage. I just like beating it like a rented mule.
I got it most of the way back together, but hit a shig with some of this proprietary M23 stuff (can't get the countershaft pin seated). I need to call them tomorrow to figure out what I'm missing, procedure wise. The mainshaft assembly is back together and ready to go in once I get the case stuff straight.

 

Here we go: the Frankenstein M23

 

 

So is this the close ratio? I see they have both and are slightly different from the original GM ratios.

 

What hydraulic throwout bearing is that ?

and can you talk a little about setting it up ?

Id like to goto a hyd TO bearing on mine when i 4 four speed it

 

The M22W/23 is wide ratio. Basically, it is an M20 with straight(er) cut gears. The M23's distinguishing features are: polished, modular countergear, thrust button on the front of the case for the countergear pin, 36 spline, press fit hubs, and a polished, slightly steeper, 2.57 1st gear. There are some features I don't have like the bushed side cover, but I did get the lighter forged forks. I'm not sure if they come with the bronze syncro rings standard, but I got me some.

 

I don't know what throwout bearing it is, honestly. I got it from Trimble. It came off a Top Loader, I think. I had to get a different seal, and have a 137 thou spacer machined to make it work. It's sooooo much easier to install than trying to line up the fork on the stud like my old Howe and Ram.
Speedway sells a setup tool for about $50. It makes life much easier. Check your clutch requirements and weigh them against the travel of the bearing. My McLeod needs .440-.445 release. The maximum distance from the face of the trans plus the clutch release determines the shim amount. Mine was .137 and I needed a different bearing retainer, so I combined the two into one piece.

 

You can still break it if you dump it in reverse…

just a heads up 😁

 

Thanks, Captain O. I'm putting a white LED bar under the dash ledge! Danger, Will Robinson!

 

Nice!

 

A close ratio kinda negates using the big, fat torque of an Olds.

 

Installed some idiot lights for myself

 

Yes! That should get your attention; I like that!

 

A guy I worked for years ago had a Muncie in his 9 second Vega. They put two metal bands around shift fork plate said it kept it from expanding under high loads. Bands like they use to strap large items to a pallet

 

Holy crap! I have an AutoGear Supercase; haven't had any problems that weren't self inflicted. They have been really good to deal with.

 

Oh didn't see that yes only stock case would need bands.

 

I suppose I should update/clarify this. The above did not work. It could have, but did not. They sent me a mismatched tooth count that, while did fit, was not correct. I should have checked the lash, but did not- rookie move. The result was wiping the teeth clean off the countergear input cog. The company was very apologetic, and sent me a new input and counter cluster cog. It was once the new gear arrived when I discovered the mismatch. Their thrust button equipped Supercase seemed to not have the countergear registers square or parallel, so I'm sending that back, too. I'm back to square 1, waiting on a 36 tooth 1st gear to complete the repair. Apparently, that's sitting on a boat in the NY harbor.