Ever since I owned the car I had problems getting into reverse, it'd pop out of gear and grind real bad. Last summer I was power shifting to 3rd, missed it, and all of the sudden 5th gear would grind going in. Kind of strange, I know. Anyway, I've got the transmission opened up and I'm looking inside. I checked the two magnets at the bottom of the case, expecting to see broken bits of metal galore. Well, there was nothing except a tiny bit of metal, I have no idea where from. It doesn't look like a tooth of any sort. I did find a chunk of plastic sitting between the 5th gear and the 5/6 shift fork. Pictures below. When I looked at the T56 service manual I noticed that 5th and 6th use the same synchronizer assembly. Does this mean that if 6th gear works, 5th should also work? In other words can I rule out the synchronizer?

If that's the case, it seems likely that the 5th gear problem is the 5th gear blocker ring. Of course, I don't even know what a blocker is/does, but it's the only other component that is strictly 5th gear related.

My reverse gear problem I've always believed was a synchro, but there aren't any teeth missing. I really wish I had checked the reverse lockout solenoid prior to taking the car apart into a million pieces.

Anyway, if you can identify the piece of plastic, or if you have any other ideas as to what might be causing my 5th/reverse problem I'd greatly appreciate your input.

 

bump

 

Well I went ahead and took more stuff off. A few bits of good news. I found out what the plastic thing was. It's from the shift fork. On either side there's a little plastic bumper, those have broken off in a number of places. I don't think it's the cause of the problem though. Since the 5th and 6th gear use the same shift fork, it'd make sense that if it was the cause it'd be a problem for both gears. I did however find that the keys for the 5th/6th gear synchronizer are broken. To me I'd think they'd still be functional, but who knows. As far as reverse gear goes I couldn't find anything wrong, other than the teeth were worn... but no more so than any other gear. I snapped a few pics, if anyone has any ideas, I'd definitely like to hear them.


Worn synchro teeth.

The top lip of two of the synchros broke off. In the picture you can see one of the broken ones and one of the good ones. The other one is a broken one but at a bad angle.


The plastic thing is suppose to clip into those two holes on either side.

 

Well I'm going to order a synchro rebuild kit from D&D performance later today. It comes with keys & fork pads as well as new blocker rings. I'm gonna grab a new synchro assembly for the 5/6 gears and a steel 3/4 shift fork while I'm at it. Unless anyone has any other ideas?

 

Just finished putting it all back together. It wasn't nearly as hard as some people make it out to be. Anyway, I've got new blocker rings on all gears, new synchro keys, new springs, new fork pads, new steel 3-4 shift fork and a new synchro for 5-6. Total cost thus far, $390 in parts from D&D performance. I was also able to flip the reverse synchronizer around and have brand new, never been used teeth on the synchro sleeve.

I won't be able to see if it actually does work until I get my car back together, and that's going to be at least a month away Maybe I can swindle a local f-body guy into giving it a test run for me.

All in all, even if it doesn't work, it was totally worth it. I still have a rebuildable core, and I have gained a great amount of knowledge that would've cost me much more than $390 to learn in a course.

 

Do not flip the synchronizer around. Bad f-body guy bad. www.thegearbox.org has new ones for 79.99 just picked one up. You can't flip the old one around you'll screw something up, plus both sides of teeth are used not just one side.

 

Actually, on the reverse synchronizer only one set of dog teeth are used. I can't see any way for this to "screw something up," but, we'll see in a few days My heads and cam will be here soon enough and I should have the car running by friday.

 

I read that to fast i thought it was the 5th/6th one that you flipped. But i still am not sure if you can flip the reverse around since there is a lazer marking on the synchros so they face the right way.