A friend of mine gave me a Saginaw 4-speed for my 72 Nova. I have seen some articles that say these are not as good as a Muncie or Borg.
You're thoughts?


Also, if I use it, is there anything that I should know about different tail shaft veriations?

Snaggle tooth's are good for Corvairs; but that is only because there isn't a Muncie or Borg-Warner T-10 option for the transaxles.


Big Dave

The Saginaw 4 speed will handle low to moderate horsepower engines. Not a good unit for high performance type driving but a very nice tranny just for a street car. There are several models some stronger than others. There are grooves cut into the input shaft perpendicular to the splines (see photo below). Post the number of grooves if any and I can tell you which model you have. Since the the dimensions are the same as Muncie and T 10 and ST 10 it can be swapped out later with only minor changes depending on the input/output splines.
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/64elcamino/inputrings.jpg

if you are careful you will get a lot of use out of a Saginaw. they are iron case so heavier. reverse gear is inside the main case not the tailshaft housing so rebuilds are a bit easier. i know i built many of them in my beginning hot rodding years in the 60s.

If you are easy on it or dont have more than 350hp id say do it, but otherwise its not a great idea from what i understand. I've got a 450hp motor and i have been advised by everyone not to even think about it, even if i was easy on it, something about it not lasting as long as it would take to put in......