[crass]

So my transmission, I believe, is at the end of it's life, or at least the linkage.

I have an M400, I think, four-speed with no overdrive.
At the moment, the shift lever will only go in the first and second position, and when releasing the clutch, they give the impression of being third and fourth gear. the transition for the third and fourth gears in the shift pattern isn't detectable at all so I assume at least a shift fork is trashed.

Anyways, I'd like to rebuild it, but I figure some of you might know a little bit about it.

Are the parts available? Are they going to cost so much it would be stupid?
Financially am I better off going with a used transmission crap shoot?
I'm not even sure what my options are at the moment, enlighten me, if you'd be so kind.

 

[lawnbizzz05]

Sorry to break it to you but I took my car to 3 different shops before I believed that they could not repair, nor are their parts for the tranny. Mine was an M66 Six speed manual so I was forced to buy a brand new one here in Miami. Got a brand new tranny (on a pallet from Sweden- Volvo) for $4,000 plus labor. Good luck

 

[gdill2]

So my transmission, I believe, is at the end of it's life, or at least the linkage.

I have an M400, I think, four-speed with no overdrive.
At the moment, the shift lever will only go in the first and second position, and when releasing the clutch, they give the impression of being third and fourth gear. the transition for the third and fourth gears in the shift pattern isn't detectable at all so I assume at least a shift fork is trashed.

Anyways, I'd like to rebuild it, but I figure some of you might know a little bit about it.

Are the parts available? Are they going to cost so much it would be stupid?
Financially am I better off going with a used transmission crap shoot?
I'm not even sure what my options are at the moment, enlighten me, if you'd be so kind.

Is this for your '71 164?

Please confirm the trans model - look for a tag on the tranny.

Thanks.

George Dill

 

[twistedtree]

It could well be nothing more than something broken in the shift linkages. Was the transmission otherwise OK? Smooth, no noises, synchro's OK? If the internals are OK, then pulling linkage parts from a doner box should an easy fix, assuming that's what's wrong. And of course you won't know until you get the box out and have a look.

 

[crass]

Sooo I finally found time to limp the old girl to work. Yanked the tranny this evening and by golly it's actually red. I scrubbed off some of it and these are the identifiers I found:

http://imgur.com/a

 

[Walrus3]

The actual identifier is a brass tag that will be on the bottom of the tranny (so you can see it when installed)
It looks like an M400. If the bolts that hold the transmission to the bellhousing are inside the bellhousing that pretty much makes it certain
If it was mine I would clean it well and THEN remove the shifter top. I am pretty sure all the problems are in the shifter top and they should be pretty easy to fix.
PLEASE give model and year of car. The early shifters were not as robust as later ones.

 

[crass]

washed it off a bit during lunch but neglected to clean the bottom entirely before time was up.

http://imgur.com/a

popping the top off, the shafts and gears themselves do indeed seem to be in okay shape. The transmission easily bench shifted by hand. The shift-linkage however is a bit confounding. The spring loaded ball bearing used as a check for reverse ( I think) is monstrously stiff but workable, the spring on the right seems to want to pull the lever itself over to one side which is just bizarre. Everything seems too chunky to bend without breaking and nothing looks horribly worn, it simply just doesn't work. cleaning and lubing tomorrow, perhaps as well as a photo of my ID plate. 71 164 is as much as I know.

I suspect the shift lever might have jumped out of the cage it rests in at the rear end of the linkage somehow.

 

[Walrus3]

If the threaded ring that holds the shift handle in was loose, that was probably your problem. In the future that would be the first thing to check.
The apparent stiffness of the springs and balls has to do with the mechanical advantage due to the length of the shift handle and the fact that they don't want you to accidentally shift into reverse, for example when going for first.

 

[crass]

I dunno, I assembled it again today and it just looks like there's no way it could've slipped out. I had to spin the threaded cap with a screwdriver and hammer to get it off so it definetly wasn't loose. might just order a clutch and slap it in while I'm here, clean and lube everything and hope for the best