[Hatman]

I know it's been discussed before about how loose the shifter is but how loose is it . I've never used a muncie shifter before, all I've used is Hurst, but I would like to use the muncie shifter thats on a car I've got now . Is the only detent on the reverse gate or is this shifter missing something ?

 

[wiskeesour]

Muncie shifters should be pretty tight. meaning should be able to move it around and 'feel' exactly where you are in the pattern. However, i have seen MANY ppl just weld the shifter on instead of doing the work to swap the entire assembly. Had your boot off to check? There are numerous sources for replacement pins and bushings for your shifter. I prefer www.Summitracing.com for replacement stuff. Altho recently I have learned that a stock Saginaw shifter with some minor brazing is actually a shorter throw than the muncie....jmo.

 

[jaguareats]

in neutral position it should have resistence to the left as for reverse and as you push it to the right it should go back to 1/2 position not as much resistence as reverse tho.

 

[JOE58]

It should have a spring loaded feel to it in neutral because it should have a spring in the gate. One of the problems with the Munice shifter is that this spring will pop out. It is only held in on one side with a little hat shaped retainer. I see the spring missing on a lot of shifters.

Reverse has a seperate spring detent plunger that has 6 balls (like in bearings) with a ring shaped spring and a plastic cup to hold the mess together.
The Muncie shifter can be made to work ok but it can't take much hard shifting.

 

[wiskeesour]

It should have a spring loaded feel to it in neutral because it should have a spring in the gate. One of the problems with the Munice shifter is that this spring will pop out. It is only held in on one side with a little hat shaped retainer. I see the spring missing on a lot of shifters.

Reverse has a seperate spring detent plunger that has 6 balls (like in bearings) with a ring shaped spring and a plastic cup to hold the mess together.
The Muncie shifter can be made to work ok but it can't take much hard shifting.

OOPS I forgot to mention the spring being gone on alot of muncies....thanks for that JOE58. And the hard shifting is another reason I like the Sag shifter...

 

[Hatman]

Yes I have the trans out of the car after powerwashing 20 lbs of grease & dirt I can see the shifter. I can only see one detent on the reverse gate I don't see a second spring . Who else carries rebuild kits for this shifter?

 

[Hatman]

I need the spring and cup for the shifter . Where could I get these parts.

 

[Daral]

Will - I also have this problem with my 4 speed Muncie shifter. I do not have it apart yet, but I suspect I will need some of the same parts. I looked at the more common Camaro parts catalogs where I only found replacement shifters. This site looks like they have parts http://muncietrans.com/ And there are some shops that will rebuild them for you.

Try a seach on this forum. I found a couple threads where they talk about tightening up these shifters.

 

[Farm Boy]

 

[JOE58]

I don't know where you can get parts.
I rebuilt a bunch of these Muncie shifters over the last 20 years. I bought many shifters at swap meets for $10-$20 (years ago) and used them for parts or cut off the Muncie stick to use on a Hurst shifter and saved the small parts.
I also made some of my own parts when I used to work for a company that had a great tool&die room and machine shop including a spring making machine.

Today a rusty Muncie shifter at a swap meet or ebay, missing the hard to find parts, goes over $100 so you can't really buy many shifters for parts anymore.

Some parts are the same on 3 speed shifters.
A 3 speed Muncie shifter has the gate spring and hat retainer but not the reverse plunger.

 

[Daral]

Joe58 - Which parts typically needed replaced?

 

[Hatman]

That is a good picture and need the shifter spring.

 

[JOE58]

Joe58 - Which parts typically needed replaced?

Common problems I have seen are missing gate spring and hat shaped retainer and problem with reverse detent plunger.

If it was an early take off shifter, the rest of the shifter may be in good shape needing just a good cleaning and grease.

here is a picture of the gate spring and hat shaped retainer and parts of the reverse detent plunger with 6 balls and a ring shaped spring. The plastic dust cover for the reverse detent is missing in this picture

The Muncie shifter just was not designed for banging gears like a Super Stock National Champion. I think the gate springs would just pop out under hard use.

The reverse detent plunger would fail from dirt and lack of lubrication.