Hurst shifter bracket fit on a Saginaw

[Howler73]

Good Evening,

Many years ago I scored a Hurst Competition Plus shifter (391 7875) and installation kit (373 8619) from hurstshiftersonline.com, but as usual life, work, and racing got in the way. Now that I'm retired I'm trying to tackle Monza projects while I'm waiting to get my race motor back together and helping to build my daughters new house, fixing the yard and way to many other things. I finally got the old shifter out and I've decide to pull the transmission out to service it with new gear oil and shaft seals (got those from Clyde many years ago. Thanks Clyde!). Before I pulled it out I decided to hold the big bracket up to the side of the trans and discovered that the rear hole that it screws into (a threaded hole in the transmission) is not there. A boss is there but it's not drilled. The installation instructions show it just behind the speedometer hold down bolt. Has anyone had this issue. This is on a 75 Monza, original 262ci V8 car with a 4 speed. It currently has a 350 crate motor and what I think is the original Saginaw. The bellhousing looks original as does all the brackets on the transmission and the crossmember.

Also does anyone have a picture of this shifter on their transmission outside of the car?

Thanks,
Ken

[Smiley]

Do you mean the hole under the #14 spacer ?
You could make a small trianglular plate from that hole down to the front 2 bolts on the torque arm mount.

[Howler73]

Yep, that’s the one. I could make plate or drill and tap a hole. But knowing my luck I’d drill too deep and go into the case. A plate would be safer. Good idea.

I still wonder why that hole isn’t there? Makes me wonder if that transmission is original or even a Monza transmission. My 76 Monza I bought new didn’t cause me this much grief. I know that on Clyde’s 75 the pictures of his transmission show that drilled and tapped hole.

Ken

[cjbiagi]

Not sure why the hole is not tapped. Not sure what your instillation kit is, my notes show the original kit is 373-8610 so not sure what the difference is. DO you have the rods on already? Besides the main bracket there is a secondary brace that goes from the top right trans bolt and it curves around to support the rear of the main bracket. I think if you do some careful measuring you could drill and tap it. Even if you do end up drilling into the trans that hole should be well above the oil line so leakage shouldn't be a issue, just use a little rtv on the threads to seal it. If you do drill through use grease on the tap to catch any shavings. Also, and this is just a general statement when filling these with gear oil, do not fill it all the way to the bottom of the fill hole. Leave it about a half inch below or it will leak through the shift shaft seals. The bottom of the shift shafts are about even or just below the bottom of the fill hole. These seals are not designed to hold back that much oil, if the oil level is kept just below the fill hole it will not fill the shift shafts with oil, they will still get oil once the trans is spinning.

[Howler73]

Clyde,

The trans is still in the car so nothing has been installed yet. The install kit does come with that secondary bracket. I was going to pull the trans out to clean it up, replace the shaft seals and oil and now most likely drill and tap that hole. And if anything is wrong inside I’ll search around locally ( the Pacific Northwest ) to find someone to rebuild it.

Oh and thanks for the parts I got from you over the years.

Ken

[cjbiagi]

No problem Ken, fyi I used Brad Penn "classic" GL-4 transmission gear oil as some of the modern ones now are GL-5. Some people claim that GL-5 is not good to use in older transmissions as it can affect the brass syncro rings. GL-4 has become harder to find, so I just ordered it from Summit racing. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/bpo-77296/ A Saginaw trans takes 3 pints.......

[Howler73]

So I have another Saginaw transmission that I was going to put into another 75 that I have and it does have the hole for the bracket drilled and tapped. This is really confusing but I guess I'll just drill and tap the hole myself.

Ken

[Smiley]

NAPA used to carry GL-4 in 1 gallon containers.