Transaxle -- smoking gun or not?

 With the transaxle completely disassembled, David set about to check all the parts to tray and find the smoking gun for my 3->2 downshift problem. While there was nothing obviously wrong, he did find a few things that didn't help the issue.

"There was non-typical wear with the 2/3 synchro cluster. Specifically, the 2nd gear synchro 'cocks' on the gear. As both parts are (supposed to be) conical, this is an oddity. This is a critical dimension for the synchro to operate correctly. When I swap the second and third gear synchros, the fit (on second gear) is markedly better. The force to engage (lock up) the syncho is very low. Although the blocker springs are intact, they will be replaced. The pins that push the blockers into the synchro sliders show considerable wear. Those too will be replaced. The slider, which locks the gear to the shaft has seen a rough life"

Hopefully, after some new parts, my shifting will be smooth.

New pistons

New pistons are here! These were made by JE Pistons, forged and 10.5:1 compression ratio. I think stock pistons were around 8.5:1 so this should give a small boost in power. According to David, the 308 engine is not very prone to detonation and I should still be able to run on pump gas without a problem. The odd thing here is that the piston skirts were supposed to be hard coated so these are getting sent back for that.

 

 

Transaxle disassembly

 Here are some photos of the transaxle disassembly

 

Everything went smoothly with the exception of a seized shaft nut that needed to be cutoff

 

Cha-ching...the number keeps going up

 When I found out engine bottom end needed toe be rebuilt. I knew it was going to be expensive. After all, it's not like rebuilding a small block Chevy where you can basically do it for $1000, which includes replacing the pistons.

We need to bore the liners to the first overisize. That means replacing the pistons -- ouch.

The connecting rods need to be reconditioned and according to both David and the machine shop, it makes more sense to get new rods -- double ouch

David recently had these connecting rods rods made for a 330 engine and this is where I would get mine.