Well, to be honest some of upgrades are needed and some wanted:
During my last transmission oil change I found several tiny hollow metal squares stuck to the magnetic drain plug. At first we couldn't make rhyme or reason of what these were or where they came from. But then realization set in: The early 915 main shafts has 8 teeth that hold the gear stack in place and the pieces looked exactly like these. It's strange they are hollow inside. We found five or six of these. I wonder where the rest are:
Apparently these came off sometimes during the 40,000 "gentle miles" of this 915 being mated to the 3.6. The later main shafts have a solid piece here for added strength. Makes sense:
This might also explain the high-pitch grinding noise when I shift into second and push the shift lever too much towards 2nd in the process. If this is true it must have happened quite some time ago. At first I though this was a dry pilot bearing. I probably did more than 10k miles with these pieces snapped off. And I did another 2k after the oil change as this is my daily driver. I am curious what we find when we open up the 915 tonight. Probably a loose gear stack? I'll snap some pictures. In the meantime I went on a little shopping spree and here is what is going to go into the 915 today and tomorrow. Not pictured are the beefier hubs and sliders for 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th.
