Hi,

Well, I've got two transmissions now with the same problem, the
transmission will not stay in 1st gear. I think both have the same cause.
I broke both of them autocrossing, and I think I hit 1st while trying
to do a 2nd->3rd shift.

A friend has a 901 transmission that I can get parts from, but I'm
not sure what I'm looking for.

Any ideas? I'm assuming 1st is chipped or something, maybe it
is easier than that. The other gears are all okay. I drove the car
home without problems (and drove back the next day to get my
time recorded)!

I've got the pelican article about replacing 1st gear....

Any help would be appreciated!!

Thanks,

Jeff

I would be surprised if you broke 1st. 1st gear staying "in gear" relies on the slider and the dog teeth. I would bet that you are in need of new ones. They are easy enough to check. If you have access to the other tranny with the same issue, take the tail off and extract the 1st gear parts and inspect. If you photo them and post them we can help you diagnose them

Thanks Mike!

I'll be pulling the transmission tomorrow and getting replacement parts Monday.
They will be used, but I've never had a working 1st gear synchro anyway, at
least for the past 30 years!!

I appreciate your help! I'll get some pictures posted ASAP.

Jeff

Your somewhat lucky; 1st is easy to R&R. Mine did the pop-out-of 1st too. The good doctor took care of it.

You can use a 2-5 set of teeth on the 1st gear as long as you use all the internals as well. Easier to get used, I have a bunch of them if you need.

Hey Jim

As the good Dr said, there is no need to remove the transmission to get at 1st gear. You only need to remove the tail piece.

not sure what you mean here Mike. Does that meant that the
parts for 2nd through 5th are the same? It would be a real pleasure to
have a fist gear synchro again!!

Anyway, here are the pictures:


Click to view attachment
Slider





Click to view attachment
Dog teeth

To my eye, the slider looks okay, but the dog teeth are bad.
I haven't gotten the dog teeth out yet, it's hard to exert enough
torque with the transmission out of the car to get off that 30
mm nut! Need to fix my impact wrench!!

Any coments? I'm going to get another set of 1st gears from a
pulled out transmission tomorrow.

Thanks,

Jeff

Yup, those dog teeth are past finished. The 1st slider is pretty toasted as well, but you could still use it if you had too. I have better used ones, though.

Yes, the parts for 2-5 are the same. Yes, you can use the teeth for a 2-5 on 1st gear if you use all the insides as well.

To get the 30mm bolt off you can select both 1st and 5th gears. You will need to remove the shifter console assembly to do this.

:Echo:

Don't forget.... Red Beard's free transmission rebuild clinic is April 26th in Houston. If you can shake free, bring the box up and let him take a look. Not that far from Rockport to Houston.... Look for the thread if you're not sure....

, good idea!!

Definitely! I already sent him a box of spare parts

Ok, I got some (used) dog teeth from Red-Beard, and some better synchro rings!

I removed the dog teeth from first gear with a chisel as a wedge.

Now, the new dog teeth are from 2nd-5th gears, and there is only one
notch in them. First gear has two notches! Should I notch the dog teeth
I am putting on first gear? That looks logical if I unless I am missing
something.

Looks like I may be able to do this job!! I'm excited!!

A lot of thanks to Red-Beard particularly, and Dr. Evil for their help! It's not a piece
of cake, but not as bad as I'd feared!! (Well, I SHOULD wait until I test it!)

Thanks,

Jeff