1966 Barracuda, Commando 4bbl, 4 speed restoration

3/31/2025 Update

1. Car is still in media blasting. No movement on the 8.75 rebuild until the housing and case are back.
2. Heard back on the 273 Commando rebuild front. The cam has been chosen, after I put my engine guy in touch with the Jim at Racer Brown and I will share the full specs once I get the delivery, but we are going a bit hotter than stock, but will still have great drivability. Will retain the stock push rods and the cam, lifter and spring set price shocked my engine guy in how reasonable it was, but then he, having not rebuilt a 273 before, was pushing a hydraulic roller cam which is pricy. The block and heads are in the machine shop and we MAY be able to get away with 0.010 over on the bore, and certainly would if there had not been a rusted cylinder. That rust may push us to 0.020 over, but even then, for a 4 speed Commando 273 that had 235K miles on it I think that is not too bad. Should know shortly on the magnafluxing and whether the crank will need any under sizing on any journals to clean up the surfaces.
3. Tore down the A833 tonight to the major parts. The input shaft looks like this
   
   which looks ok, but then the 4th gear does not have much wear usually. The counter shaft gear surfaces looked good, but will degrease and do a full, tooth by tooth inspection to make sure.
   
   Until i disassemble the output shaft i can't tell the details of the synchro assemblies there, but cursory review of the gears found no unusual wear or damage. Further update on that once disassembly is done.
   
   The 3-4 shift fork was unremarkable. The 1-2 shift fork did have some odd wear, but was having no shifting issues when last driven.
   
   
   
   No issues with disassembly, until I got to the reverse shaft. The Passon C clamp trick did not work as my 8 inch clamp was too short. So i made due with a long reach pipe clamp. I used a 7/16 socket on the driving end inside the case (held in by a dab of grease) and a 1 1/4 inch socket to catch the shaft and it came out easy. Here is the set up on the case (the shaft presses UP out of the case) and laid out with the case removed to see the order of things. Don't forget the woodruff key!
   
   
   
   
   
   That is all for now.