Saginaw 4sd information
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My best friend now sadly gone bought his first new car a 1966 chevelle 275 or 300 hp 327 can't remember how it came from the factory Saginaw 4 speed exploded the trans at least 3 times in the first year swapped in a Muncie & didn't have enough power to break & it ran pretty decent after adding a L79 cam not a fan of Saginaw 4 speeds unless you want to lite foot it all the time.
I used to get about 2500 miles to the Saginaw in my 75 Camaro in the 70s, I did the same swap with same results.,
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The sag is an excellent low dollar four speed as long as you are not abusing it. It’s as simple as that. They are at least as strong as, if not stronger then, the stock three speed transmission. They are inexpensive to purchase, easy to rebuild at home, and have been successfully used in trifive cars for decades.
I purchased one in 2014 for 250 and I have seen them on eBay recently for 400-450. A decent rebuild kit is $100 and if you need forks, probably another 120 or so. Paint, degreaser, hardware, you have a four speed for 650. You think you can do that with a Muncie or T-10? No way. So if you have to be conservative with your funds, the sag can be a good choice.
On the other hand, if you have big giant horse power, big meats, want to do hole shots and other similar acts and abuse, the sag is not for you.
I purchased one in 2014 for 250 and I have seen them on eBay recently for 400-450. A decent rebuild kit is $100 and if you need forks, probably another 120 or so. Paint, degreaser, hardware, you have a four speed for 650. You think you can do that with a Muncie or T-10? No way. So if you have to be conservative with your funds, the sag can be a good choice.
On the other hand, if you have big giant horse power, big meats, want to do hole shots and other similar acts and abuse, the sag is not for you.
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When doing a rebuild, replace the open main bearings with Japan or USA made Sealed Bearings - (metal seal). The original open bearings allowed minute metal particles and chips to enter the bearings, with bad results. Also replace the wavy Thrust Washer with a Torrington bearing. Doing this will make the Saginaw much stronger. There are books out by Paul Cangialosi that go into great detail about how to modify and upgrade Muncie and Borg Warner 4 speeds. 99% of what he describes you can also do with the Sag 4 speed. Every concievable part is still available from numerous sources.
Like most things in these Vintage Car Forums, the vast majotiy of nay-sayers have never owned nor driven the object that they are trashing. They hear it somewhere, and repeat it thinking it makes them sound worldly.
It's a decent trans, excellent budget trans for street use, but maybe not for a 800+ HP dragster.😃
I've had them before in back of 327s of about 300 HP and they held up. My Mechanic says they are good transmissions for drivers who enjoy a manual and don't think every drive is a competition to prove something. Mine is a fresh rebuild with a hurst shifter and was very smooth shifting. It would not hold up with the 355 and the way I'll drive at times. I was hoping for wisdom to come with old age but I still drive like 17 at times. I think it's a little late for wisdom at this point, so I need stronger components
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Likely a LOT more profit margin as well.
"After 73" there were almost NO American made cars with over 300HP. If they were, it was a very special, very limited edition, offer. The time after 1973 was the period of choking smog regulated cars, after the demise of Muncie.
Advertising and Marketing play a huge role in pushing more expensive items on unwary customers ("...you'll need the paint protection option!"). Granted, maybe the standard issue Sag 4 speed wasn't the best transmission around, but it could certainly handle any so-called "high performance" wheezing 225 HP cars of the late 70's and the 80's. Of course, if you abused it, it would break, then you'd need a muncie. That said, I can;t imagine a late 70's or 80's car being powerful enough to blow any transmission, unless brutally abused.
Once again, it depends on your driving style, and what you use the car for. Even a 800+ HP car that is only slowly driven to the local Cruise Night lot once or twice a month, and then slowly back home to it's conditioned, dehumidified garage doesn't need 90% of what has been done to it. Folks can do whatever they please with their cars, but shouldn't look down on fellow enthusiasts in an effort to raise themselves higher.
We used to call it: "Run what ya' brung". Those were the good old days.
Choose wisely grasshopper.
I think they used them in low option Nova/Chevelles, I pulled one from a Buick Apollo of all things many years ago.
A buddy of mine grew up in a Chevy dealership in the 60/70s started working there in high school for his dad who owned the place and is still in the business says he has seen a lot of strange combos in his day but never an inline 6 Chevy car with a factory 4 speed. A low option car would be a Saginaw 3 speed for sure.
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back in the "day" you could special order almost everything on your new chevy...I have no doubt that a few 4 speed saggies were special ordered on a some cars that would have otherwise got a 3 speed.......as a kid my neighbors owned a 68 or 69 Nova SS.....of all things they ordered it with a 250 6 cylinder...it was dark blue with a black vinyl roof.....one night a drunk driver plowed into it and it was a done deal.....it had buckets and a horseshoe shifter on the floor with gauges in the console.....not sure if it was a power glide or not???
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I am not sure it was a special order. A 67-69 camaro could be ordered with a 230 (L26 Turbo Thrift ) or 250 (L22 Turbo Thrift) motor and a three speed (standard) or four speed (optional). For the lower powered motors (230, 250, 307, 327) the optional four speed Sag was used. The 3:11 first gear version for the 230 and 250 motors, the 2:54 first gear for the V8 motors. Muncie four speeds were also available but were an extra cost upgrade to the sag on the camaro line.
The four speed cars are sort of rare rare. There was an article about one a few years ago in one of the magazines, I can see the article in my mind but darn if I remember where I saw it.
The four speed cars are sort of rare rare. There was an article about one a few years ago in one of the magazines, I can see the article in my mind but darn if I remember where I saw it.
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