Synchro in 1st gear? Options

[Gatornapper]

Please forgive me in advance for asking a stupid question:

Did the new/original 914 tranny have synchro in 1st gear? Got mine with 60k original miles and it did not, nor have I ever driven one that did have a synchro 1st.

But somewhere I read something that said synchro in 1st went out quickly - and then synchro in 2nd would go out.

I have no synchro in 1st, but if it existed originally, that alone wouid be worth my rebuilding the tranny. Maybe Dr. Evil will do another one of his rebuild sessions at Scotty Burnett's?

Synchro in 2nd has a mind of its own. 1st to 2nd - it works 60% of the time fine. 30%, I get a tiny crunch. 10%, I get a bad crunch. Tried everything - nothing I do seems to affect whether it will crunch or not.

Downshifts into 2nd are another thing. 60% of the time, downshifts are perfect. Like a new tranny. 40% of the time, they are a horrible crunch. No idea why. Yes - clutch pressed all the way down.

No problems with any other synchros, tho 3rd, coming from 2nd, takes some additional physical effort to get into gear for some reason.

TIA,

GN

[flyer86d]

When we had our 71 914, we eventually lost 1st gear. The dog teeth were shot and it wouldn’t stay in gear. I yanked the trans and my friend in the business repaired 1st, freshened up 2nd and changed the rest to MSX ratios as well as the bearings. The following weekend, we had a track event and time trial at Pocono. The trans shifted slick as could be mad the gearing was great. During the time trial coming off of the tri-oval into the infield, a 4th to 3rd shift was required. Sue was driving the car and at that shift point, she pulled the box into 1st as slick as could be by mistake. We were running slicks and needless to say, zinged the engine. We didn’t know how badly we hurt it and drove it home!!! I replaced the bottom end as we ran a rod bearing, scored the crank, etc.

Can’t you repair first gear by removing the tail cover leaving the trans in the car?

Charlie

[Gatornapper]

Charlie -

Please quit reading my mind. I was thinking the same question, only I need to redo the synchro for 2nd gear too, and probably dog teeth for both. Decades since I've worked on manual trannies, and don't remember much, and no experience with Porsche trannies of any kind.

I'm sure the brain-trust here can answer you question about 1st - and 2nd.

I have zero problems with any other gears.....well, 3rd is always hard to get into gear, but never crunches.

And as I said - 1st to 2nd is rarely a problem on upshifts. And only occasionally a problem on downshifts from 3rd.

GN

When we had our 71 914, we eventually lost 1st gear. The dog teeth were shot and it wouldn’t stay in gear. I yanked the trans and my friend in the business repaired 1st, freshened up 2nd and changed the rest to MSX ratios as well as the bearings. The following weekend, we had a track event and time trial at Pocono. The trans shifted slick as could be mad the gearing was great. During the time trial coming off of the tri-oval into the infield, a 4th to 3rd shift was required. Sue was driving the car and at that shift point, she pulled the box into 1st as slick as could be by mistake. We were running slicks and needless to say, zinged the engine. We didn’t know how badly we hurt it and drove it home!!! I replaced the bottom end as we ran a rod bearing, scored the crank, etc.

Can’t you repair first gear by removing the tail cover leaving the trans in the car?

Charlie