Thread: Saginaw trans

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Guys,

I found a saginaw 4-speed trans out of an old chevelle at the yard yesterday. The car was trash but the trans and motor look good. Is this trans worth using for tooling around the city with ? Also, how strong is it. I have heard it is a close cousin to the Muncies.

The Saginaw was used in low horsepower spec applications. They're not the most durable of the four speeds, but are OK if you don't ask more of them than was intended. Just tooling around town? I wouldn't hesitate to use one. As for being a close cousin to the Muncie? Not really. The Saginaw four speed was developed from the three speed version by narrowing the internals and cramming in the fourth gear. The Muncie was designed from the ground up as a four speed, and unlike the Saginaw, has reverse in the tailshaft to leave lots of room in the maincase for gear width.

Bob

Thanks Bob.

Jase

I've had no problems with the Saginaw that ended up in my Camaro. There's some more opinions on Saginaws in this old thread.

Saginaw has better ratios than the M21/22 Muncies, but as Bob said, they're not nearly as strong; you won't get very far with one if you go banging around smoking tires and shifting it hard, but just cruisin' "elegant", you're good.

Thanks for the help guys. Sounds it will be just fine for what I am planing. Again, thanks fro the responses