I took a look at my old Type A transmission that ran quiet in reverse and every other gear except for a whine in 3rd, which I think all of these things do. The output shaft splines of that one (71k miles) moved far more than the one I just took out. So I think some movement is normal. With the driveshaft yoke inserted it moves much less.

With that being said, I found a local Z specialty shop in Houston that has lots of experience with these transmissions. He is going to look at it and give me a final diagnosis on reverse and every other gear. I am happy to report that, as all the guys in the local Z club give this company very high marks. So hopefully within a week I will get an answer.

Be sure & let us know what they find, with pics if possible. Enquiring minds want to know.

Will do, Dropped it off at Awesome Z in Houston. Doug is going to take a look at it. He is probably one of if not the most knowledgeable guy in Houston on these cars.

My rebuilt transmission is back. But not from Zcarsource. I did not send it to them. I let Doug at Awesome Z here in Houston take it apart and rebuild it again. He found several things wrong. One of the teeth was damaged in 4th, and some shims were incorrectly placed and the 4th gear shaft had way too much radial movement. So it was not in good shape. Doug fixed me up and I am ready to attempt to install it again with the engine in the car.

Not looking forward to this.

I am wondering if I should even call zcarsource who was expecting me to ship it to them, on my dime, pay for them to fix it, and then pay to ship it back. They were nice enough, as they owe me nothing since it was out of warranty. I like zcarsource and will order form them again, but I am pleased with the service I got at Awesome Z.

Maybe they'll discount you what they would have paid to have it fixed if you had sent it back. That would be fair since they had planned to pay it anyway. Worth a shot. Everybody's happy.

They'd probably like to know about the errors their rebuilder made also. Future customers...

According to the guy who rebuilt it, the shaft that 4th gear rides on moved radially too much. 4th gear itself had something hard embedded into the root of one of the gear teeth that was causing a sticking point and that is what probably wore out the shaft. The other shaft apparently was shimmed incorrectly.

I will contact them shortly.

On a happy note, I was able to get the re-rebuilt transmission instaled in 41 minutes from when I started. It just sort of plopped on. I could not believe how easy it was. The last one I tried for hours with no avail. Then had to pull the engine to do it. Man, that feeling of 'clunk' when it just falls in place was as sweet as hearing my baby laugh for the first time!

Good to hear the tranny went back in so easy. With a bit of luck your problem will be fix and ready for summer:)

Chas

Thanks for the follow-up. I've had them clunk into place too. Sweet sound. My worst case was a 66 mustang 4 speed with a cast-iron case. Clutch disc spline had a burr on it. 3 hours!

Enjoy your toy.

Well if there was any doubt, I finished my transmission swap out Friday and went to the track Saturday! Car ran flawlessly. This is the best sounding and feeling transmission I have ever had in the car. Smooth in every gear, no whine in any gear accelerating or decelerating. Car is just quiet and smooth.

I finally got to feel what my L28 feels like with 3.90 gears when driven in anger. My gosh that car flat out hustles. The mid and upper rpm torque is just nuts. I had some sticky throttle issues toward the end of each run, so I am going to design my own throttle linkage and have it machined. Enough nonsense. I will fix this forever.

Edited March 31, 201411 yr by Zedyone_kenobi