Disengagement (Part 1)

Except for temporary transportation units, I have never owned a vehicle with an automatic transmission. I was determined not to build one.

I talked to Darrell Shepher at 4 Speeds by Darrell about building an M-22. Because new gears, especially second gear, were getting rare, the cost would be $2,475 (In 1997!). I could save $1000 by using Italian gears. I asked what the difference was and Darrell said the Italian gears were not as strong. What is the sense of a rock crusher with weak gears? You might as well use a Super T-10. I ordered the transmission with GM gears. Darrell said he had a Doug Nash cast iron case for an M-22. The purists didn’t want it because it wasn’t original. He would use the cast iron case for the same price. Sold!

We used TCI under floor pedals with a ¾” bore clutch master cylinder and a remote reservoir for the clutch master. Quartermaster supplied a hydraulic throwout bearing. The clutch is a Centerforce Dual Friction unit for a 427 Corvette.

It took a long time to bleed the clutch the first time. The master cylinder began to leak after a few cycles.

A new ¾” master cylinder was ordered from TCI and installed. It also leaked.

A 1” master cylinder was ordered from TCI and installed. It bled much faster than the ¾” cylinders. Due to the lack of a pedal stop, the increased fluid flow blew out the seals in the throwout bearing.

The engine and transmission were removed from the car and separated. The throwout bearing was rebuilt with new seals and reinstalled. The engine and transmission were put back in the car. We went back to a ¾” master cylinder. The throwout bearing still leaked.

The engine and trans were removed again. The throwout bearing was disassembled. The O-rings looked good and there was no apparent damage to the metal parts. The Quartermaster distributor supplied a new throwout bearing which was bench tested and worked OK.

The engine and trans were reinstalled. The clutch system bled well but started to leak after a couple of cycles. The engine and transmission were removed for the third time. The outer O-ring was broken clear through at the top. The throwout bearing was rebuilt with new seals and reinstalled. After engine installation, the system was bled and cycled. No leaks appeared. An adjustable pedal stop was installed.

We reused the Hurst shifter which was on the old transmission. Shifting without the engine running, the linkage felt “crunchy” in first and second gear and “rubbery” in third and fourth.
With the engine running, the transmission would only shift into fourth gear. Several tries at adjustment finally resulted in the ability to shift into all gears, but it was well short of shifting well. The car moved under its own power on June 29, 1999.

Rustic replaced the shift tower with another that they had. There was a slight improvement, but the shifter was still tight. Did I want to buy a new shifter? No, I wanted them to try the old one again. It worked and seemed to shift OK.