F8L GT

Hey everyone, I know its a Ford but I thought I would share. About mid way through the 2010 season, I got the natorious 3rd gear synchronizer problem in my TR-3650. With starting a new family I did not have the funds to buy the upgrade kit for the 3650. After talking to my dad, we decided to face plate my transmission. All of the work was done my me, on manual mills and lathes with the exception of the tig welding. That was done by my father.

Started out by blue printing the dog rings to get a rough idea of where to start milling

Dog rings were made out of 8620 raw stock

The gear side in process




The Slider side for engaging 2nd gear



Turning down the gears to remove the synchronizing teeth and for the shrink fit of the dog rings

F8L GT

Once the correct tolerances were made for the shrink fit, the dog rings were put in the oven and gears put in the freezer. After a while they parts were mated together



After the were cooled down, they were put back on the lathe to be faced to proper size




For the 3rd-4th slider, we made a whole new slider. we turned the sides down of the stock on so just a hub and splines remaind and then mated the 2 and tig welded them together

F8L GT

during some test fitting, we ran across some clearance issues that were easily addressed





once the clearance issues were fixed, the rings were welded to the gears instead of just relying on the shrink fit



All the parts ready to install


Re-assembly

F8L GT

The trans was put together with the stock shift forks. We new they would not last but we were not sure for how long. I had been messing with a clutch stop to only engage it enough to make the quick shift. It however gave me issues with 3rd gear. This, i think weakend the shift fork and on July 8th of 2011, it decided to let go.




It took out 4th gear with it. After analyizing 4th gear, we decided it was not strong enough so we started over.

Machined off old dog ring


Machined down 4th gear to make a thicker hub



Machining new dog ring






once the dog ring was done, the input and ring were mated and faced down


Ring welded to input


Getting ring up to 1500 for oil quench heat treat

F8L GT

after oil quench, the input was placed in an oven at 500* for 3 hours for the . This is the input after it came out



By comparing the old and new inputs, you can tell how much beefier this new one is

old:


new:

F8L GT

Took the car out for a ride a while back, first time this transmission has seen actual street use other than trial runs down our dead end road. Well, the slider we modified for 1-2 did not hold up real well. I down shifted a little too early to make a corner and it never felt right after that. I dicided to try a WOT shift from 1-2 and this is what happened



Busted all the lugs of the slider clean off. So we dicided to go back to the drawing board and do the same thing we did for the slider for 3-4. Only this time we were just going to have the center splined to match rather than mating the splines of the factory slider to the new piece, but no one would get back to use about it and I got tired of waiting.

Machined factory slider


Machining new slider




New slider and old splines mated together


As you can see, we also decided to upgrade from 4 lugs to 8 and also made them thicker since 2nd gear takes more abuse as far as load with down shifting and also starting the burnouts in 2nd

F8L GT

The trans does have to come out this winter. The slider we made for the 1-2 didnt have enough clearance and doesnt allow me to do a WOT shift into 2nd. So it will be getting a little machining done to open it up a little

fex77k

iTrader: (2)

Nice job, how many times have you had that trans out?

F8L GT

Once after it first went out. We converted it to a crash box but the teeth failed, then another beginning this process, then when the fork and last time when the slurred broke so 4 times

F8L GT

Lets just say that I have taken it out enough where when I broke the slider, I drove it home skipping 2nd gear, put it on the lift, and had it out and tore apart less than an hour later

bigbegum

iTrader: (4)

very cool, keep at it, I am sure you will get it worked out..

F8L GT

Thanks. I thought about giving up and putting stock gears back in. After sitting back and realizing all the work that has been done already, I figured I have come to far to just give up. After fixing the slider Im sure it will be fine

Vexzer

iTrader: (1)

I thought this was only for drag racing. Do you road race it?
Interesting thought processes. Thanks for posting, I did not know what faceplating meant before this.

F8L GT

No, I drive it on the street also.

HioSSilver

iTrader: (8)

Good job F8!

HioSSilver

iTrader: (8)

Naahhh....I have about 30,000 miles on my fp'd t-56.

F8L GT

Thanks. Its been a long couple years getting it worked out