Vinnievega

Hey guys, I was just wondering what every ones take on the Muncie is. I have an M20 in my '70 Chevelle SS now. It's BB car with a 3:73 rear, and I love the wide gear set for this car. Its not exactly highway friendly but I'm expecting my 350/350 vette to be a little bit better cruising around with the 3:31 rear that is in it now. I'm getting ready to do a complete frame off. I have my motor built and ready to go in but before I can drop that in I'm gonna need to rebuild the original trans (or possibly pick up a new rebuild and keep my original in the attic) The car has an M21, and I am going for an all original theme here but with the chevelle I was told to go with the M20 and do not look back, as it's considered the straight line performer. I'm not sure if that's what I'm looking for in the vette, and i'd like some opinions on which gear set I should use. I'm also curious to how annoying the M22 straight cut gear set really is, and is it worth the extra money to hear it whine. I'm making probably right around 400HP with the motor that's going into it, and it should make a fair bit of torque as well, I don't think ill be able to break any of them but I really am after a bullet proof set up so I don't have to worry if I want to beat it up a little bit.

TheSkunkWorks

Someday, money permitting, I may eventually do a 5-speed, but I've had a Muncie M20 for some time and prefer it over the close ratio boxes on the street. However, given my 3.55:1 rear, if I were to buy a replacement gearset for it today I'd likely choose one of the new slightly wider ratio M22 sets. FWIW, I'm gunshy of those gearsets that convert 3rd to OD, not that their steps between ratios likely work very well in the first place.

If the whine isn't music to your ears you may want to just stick with an M20, tho M22 type gears will take more punishment. There are plenty of clips on YouTube where you can listen to rockcrushers being put thru their paces. Me, I'd pay extra for the strength and consider the whine as a bonus.

Vinnievega

Oh its music alright, but with side pipes I'm already going to have a noisy little monster. I'll check out youtube.

Your gonna have to show me where to get different gear ratios in M22 style. If they have a gear set that's in between M20 and M21 that would be perfect.

TheSkunkWorks

IIRC 5speeds / Paul (CF member and manual trans guru) can get the M22W "wide" and M22Z "extra wide" gearsets with ratios as follows:

M21/22 - 2.20 - 1.64 - 1.28 - 1.00
M20 - 2.52 - 1.88 - 1.47 - 1.00
M22W - 2.56 - 1.75 - 1.37 - 1.00
M22Z - 2.98 - 2.04 - 1.47 - 1.00

Heck, I'd visit http://www.5speeds.com/index.html every once in a while just to see what Gear Rhonda might say next.