Hello everyone new guy from central ohio. Back around 1998 or so my dad bought a 79 Malibu wagon factory 4 speed car. Bench seat, air, crank windows, power steering, radio delete car. I was probably 12 or 13 and my brother was 15 or 16 and it was just a father son project. Put a run of the mill 350 in it and an after market clutch and ran it for a year or two. Then came a 9inch with 4.56 gears and 31 spline mosers. Tore into the motor for a meatier solid lifter cam, victor junior intake, and Holley 650 carb but never raced it again. As a matter of fact, everyone lost interest in it. My dad moved on to Harley’s, then old mopars which’s he’s still tinkering with today. I was the only one that wanted him to keep the car and about 5 years ago he handed the keys over to me. The tags on it expired in 2003. So here I’m am at 36 tearing back into it. I ditched the 456 right away for a set of 3.89’s. My brother now runs his own shop and I have access to a lift. I’ve got quite a bit of work to do on the car as I’m seeing missing screws all over the place for interior pieces and the bumper just about fell off when I racked it up from a missing body mount bolt that I replaced. I found this sight doing some searching because I bought a cobbled together muncie 4 speed and a super t10 from a friend of my dads a couple of years ago hoping to put one in the car. I’ve read about the saginaw and how weak they are and I’d like to preserve it. I want to use the super t10. I’ve got it all opened up and everything looks good inside but my brother said he would help me rebuild it so I have to find a rebuild kit. Now, im not familiar with these older 4 speeds but i glanced through all 30 or so pages of the transmission section on this forum and if a lot of the members are still around they could probably help me out. I know it’s not a direct bolt in replacement. My dad and brother explained how the shifters were mounted in different places and the differences in levers. Took me a minute to catch on with the “lever” talk due to there being levers on the trans and levers on the shifter. I’ve got one thread on here saved by a member named doober that looks pretty informative. I just want the car back together so I can take it to a car show here in there during the warmer months mostly but I would like to see what it would run in the 1/4 mile. The only reason I’d like to swap the super t10 in is because I bought new wheels and tires for it. 26x9 Mickey Thompson et streets. I was worried about the traction breaking something in the saginaw. I have to get a new driveshaft made already so I know I’ll need a 32 spline yolk for the ST10. Anyways, hopefully there’s some members around that might be able to help clarify some things I’ll need for the swap. Glad to be here
New guy 79 factory 4 speed wagon.
- Thread starter Mighty
- Start date
I guess I also should have stated that I want to keep my bench seat and use the original hole in the floor.
Thank you. I just pulled the electric fuel pump off of it last night and installed a new mechanical pump. Put new wheel studs at all 4 corners for the new wheels, bought a new gas tank that’s going in. Luckily the original sensing unit is still in good shape since I hear they’re just about impossible to find. Back in the late 90’s shortly after my dad bought the car someone broke the passenger window out and tried to steal the car. My dad or brother put a new window in and never put the door panel back on. I took both pieces out of the back and looked them over for a while and finally figured out how to get them back on after a while. Sadly, a bunch of junk had gotten thrown on top of them over the last 20 years and the plastic was all bent/warped but luckily none of them had broken. I even managed to get the little circular plastic push tabs out of the door and only broke one. A lot of the panels in that car say made in Canada on them and I think I read some where that a lot of the stick shift cars were built up there. I hope to get the super t10 in before long and I’d almost like to put power steering back on. I learned to drive stick in that car when it was all original before I even had my license. When my dad handed it over to me a few years ago I got it started it took it out on a 3-4 mile cruise and that was all it took for me to ditch the 4.56 in the rear. I’m hoping there’s still some guys on here that can chime in about a super t10 swap in place of the factory saginaw
Very nice wagon. Three pedals is the best thing for these cars.
It won't be easy to have the shifter come out of the same hole as the Saginaw. The Saginaw shifter is a long way forward. The T10 has the reverse lever in the way of where the shifter would need to be.
I imagine your Saginaw has a 2.85 first gear, which is the strongest gear set for the Saginaw. I broke several Saginaws in my wagons with 3.11 and 3.50 first gears. I never had the chance to try a 2.85 gear set.
Since you want to keep the bench seat, and I don't blame you, you may need to use a shifter for a 1955-1957 Chevy, with the odd-shaped handle, to get around the bench seat.
You won't need to change the entire driveshaft to use the T10; you just need to change the yoke on the front. The T10 is slightly longer than the Saginaw, but the Super T10/TH400-style yoke is shaped to make up for the length difference.
Keep us updated on your progress.
It won't be easy to have the shifter come out of the same hole as the Saginaw. The Saginaw shifter is a long way forward. The T10 has the reverse lever in the way of where the shifter would need to be.
I imagine your Saginaw has a 2.85 first gear, which is the strongest gear set for the Saginaw. I broke several Saginaws in my wagons with 3.11 and 3.50 first gears. I never had the chance to try a 2.85 gear set.
Since you want to keep the bench seat, and I don't blame you, you may need to use a shifter for a 1955-1957 Chevy, with the odd-shaped handle, to get around the bench seat.
You won't need to change the entire driveshaft to use the T10; you just need to change the yoke on the front. The T10 is slightly longer than the Saginaw, but the Super T10/TH400-style yoke is shaped to make up for the length difference.
Keep us updated on your progress.
I actually had to cut the driveshaft in half to get it out last week. I’ve been reading a thread on a gbody forum about a guy who successfully swapped a super t10 in place of a saginaw and kept everything in place but had to make a couple brackets. I’ve got some aluminum to make brackets but I’m still having issues determining what levers I need. He said he made a reverse lever and used some 74-81 F body shift levers. Again, this transmission is older than I am and manuals were well on their way out when I was younger and getting into cars but I’m definitely keeping it. I looked through all 30 pages in the transmission section on this forum over a couple days before I signed up and there’s some great reading. My older brother has been a mechanic his whole life and he said he would help me rebuild the super t10 if I can find a rebuild kit for it. It was supposed to have been rebuilt years ago before I bought it but I’d feel better doing it again and it would be an interesting experience.I have to pin down exactly what I need as far as shift levers first. I thought I just needed f body levers until my brother said “are those the ones that connect to the trans or the actual shifter?” So I’ve still got some studying to do. I could always put the Saginaw back in but I’d hate to break it down the road with stickier tires
Do you know what gear set is in your T10? They came with several. They can be identified by the number of rings cut into the input shaft. The different gearsets will have different torque capacities. The 3.45 gearset will be weakest and came behind the last years of the 2nd gen F body. The 2.42 gearset will be the strongest. You will have to weigh capacity against your differential ratio. With 3.89, you should be able to manage a 2.42:1 first gear.
Paul Cangiolosi is a great resource for manual transmission rebuilding. He also sells parts if you have trouble finding a rebuild kit or other replacement parts. There are other places to buy parts/kits.
Paul Cangiolosi is a great resource for manual transmission rebuilding. He also sells parts if you have trouble finding a rebuild kit or other replacement parts. There are other places to buy parts/kits.
The input shaft of both my super t10 and saginaw has 2 splines. I believe the date code on my t10 is from 1975 and it has an aluminum case. The car isn’t going to be a drag racer, I just want to see what it’ll run a handful of times. I took the side plate off of the super t10 and spun everything slowly looking at all the gears and nothing was broke/cracked and no metal shavings anywhere but my brother said it wouldn’t hurt to rebuild it just for piece of mind. Plus I don’t know how to tell if the synchronizers are bad or the 2 big sets of bearings.
A Super T10 with 2 grooves in the input shaft is 2:43:1, so a good strong transmission:
The clutch teeth on the gear should be sharp, or the gear should be replaced. You can probably count on replacing 2nd and 3rd gear since they get the most use/abuse.
I suggest buying a complete rebuild kit that includes all bearings, syncro rings, and small parts/seals.
The clutch teeth on the gear should be sharp, or the gear should be replaced. You can probably count on replacing 2nd and 3rd gear since they get the most use/abuse.
I suggest buying a complete rebuild kit that includes all bearings, syncro rings, and small parts/seals.
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