Been back on here lurking lately looking at suspension stuff and figured I’d ask since this forum has/had some knowledgeable performance oriented members. Long story short, was handed over a car that my dad, older brother, and I did as kind of a father/son thing back when I was probably 13 or 14 (36 now). Everyone lost interest in it over the years and moved on to different projects but my dad never sold this one. 1979 Malibu wagon with a factory 4 speed. I’ve changed some things out over the last year and bought new wheels and tires for it. 26x9 MT ET streets in the rear. From what I understand the saginaw transmissions won’t handle a ton of abuse so I’m kind of second guessing the sticky tires. I don’t intend to drag race the car every weekend, just more curious to see what it’ll run a time or two and just take it out for cruise nights. Pretty basic mullet build from the late 90’s-early 00’s not a 500hp LS swapped street car by any means. Anyone on here ever abuse an older saginaw 4 speed in their youth and have any tips to share or are they just a boat anchor and I shouldn’t take my chances?
Anyone ever drag raced with an older saginaw 4 speed transmission?
- Thread starter GMC-ya!
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It might handle the hp, not the shifting. Buddy blew one up in short order in his Camaro / mild 350. If you drive it with some sanity I'm sure it'll handle some cruise nights
clutch dumps and no lift shifts or bang shifting will kill it in short order. drive like Pure said and she will last ya good while. also, burnouts on sticky tires and holding it to the floor till they catch traction will kill it too.
Yep that’s about what I’m gathering. Those older 4 speeds are before my time. A family friend gave me Muncie m21 but it’s well worn and super t10 which I would like to use but the shifters on the saginaws and all the levers are a lot different so it’s not a drop in replacement. From my understanding the 4 speed wagons are very rare so I don’t want to cut another hole in the floor for say a t56 or something, plus I don’t know how I would shift it with the bench seat. Maybe I’ll check around for a spare saginaw or two just to have on hand. It ran low 14’s with the stock open (3.08 I believe) rearend back in probably 2001. Then a ford 9 inch went in with 4.56’s and we had to put a bigger solid lifter cam in it, changed the intake, and got rid of the 600cfm demon carb for a 670 Holley and never raced it again set up like that. When I broke it back out recently the first thing I did was pulled the 4.56 out and put a 3.89 in its place. I used to love riding in that thing wound out to 4500rpm in 4th gear doing about 45 mph but after a half hour shake down drive of that made me realize my hearing might have gone down hill some since I was a teenager. I’d love to see if I can get it into the 13’s which is laughable now days but don’t really care about going fast anymore.
It’s basically a concoction of different Muncie parts from what I was told. Parts of the case are m21, other parts ???? Like I said I don’t know much about these older 4 speeds. I took the cover off of the side that all the levers connect to to inspect the gears and a couple of the cover bolts were stripped. The gears themselves looked ok though. The handful of people that I asked suggested using the super t10 anyways over the muncie. It’s got a 1975 date code on it. I’ve tried searching some of the numbers on the case of the muncie but didn’t find much.
I vote for having the Muncie gone through and you will get to make some passes and will last a long time on the street. I have a 21 in a 70 Nova SS that my oldest brother bought new and stood up to three pretty rough teenage brothers, several passes at the dragstrip behind a decent 350 with a cross ram with two 600 Holleys. It presently has stood up to a nasty 400 small block. There has never been a seal replaced. I guess I need to jerk it out and send it to the Smithsonian for a display.
I’m going to start looking for someone in central Ohio that can go over the muncie and/or the super t10. I like older muscle cars and have always heard of the muncies being in the GM cars with the beefier small blocks and big blocks but a lot of people are telling me to go with the t10. Either way, neither transmission is a drop in replacement and some parts will have to be made to get them to work. I’ll probably Just get it running and cruise this summer and attend some local car shows. Racing can wait
I’ll grab some pictures of it and post them if that will help. Like I said, these things are older than me and the muncie is a mixture of parts (or so I’m told) but everything seems to be intact inside of it. Coshocton is only about a hour or hour and a half away
He said the course input shaft is wide ratio, and suggests putting it in the car and shifting it to get a feel unless you think something is wrong. Also suggests running the Super T10 unless you need a Muncie for nostalgic purposes, sell the Muncie to someone doing an OG resto on a GM car. And I quote "Super T10 is A LOT stronger, you can tear up a Muncie with a small block if you try"
Yep, that’s what I’ve been hearing. Everyone recommends the super t10. I’m just going to get it driving and start gathering up all the different parts I’ll need and see what all has to be fabricated to get it to work in the car. Maybe I’ll never need it but it’d be more reassuring to have it in the car.