I took the Camaro into a shop this week. I’m planning on taking it on it’s first real cruise this weekend, to Evansville. A friend is working on quilts for me that are made from dad’s clothes. We need to catch up, and talk about this, make sure it’s going as originally planned. Then I will make a stop at Taco John’s – which is a requirement. We miss our Taco John’s.
I came out of the shop with more questions than answers. I took it there for two specific reasons, to install new struts in the front and to change the speedometer gears in the transmission.
There were no issues with the strut installation. The car rides much better now, having new shocks and struts all around has made a world of difference.
Those gears however? The mystery just seems to deepen like the story my stepmother told me.
My buddy Dave works at the shop, and sent me the photo above. He and the mechanic were a little confused. I sure was too. These gears are different, I had never seen such mention of them, and all of the literature I had read on the subject stated Camaro’s didn’t get VSS (vehicle speed sensor) gearing until 1990, this is a 1988. From the color coded way these gears are, this tells me that is a 44 tooth gear.
The other gear they replaced goes on the tail shaft of the transmission. The one in the car is red. I had them place a grey one in it. The red has 17 teeth, the grey one, 15 teeth.
According to every calculator and forum post I can find, the car should have had a 39 tooth driven, 18 tooth drive speedometer gears from the factory. I’m currently trying to wrap my head around why it had a 44, and 17 instead. When doing the calculations for the changed final drive ratio, all signs point to 1 of two options, 38, 15 or 43, 17. Each option provides the same results.
After typing that out, the pattern is clear. They tried to go the 2nd route when the ring and pinion gears were replaced.
This is where the issue lies, with the information I have now. Those preferred gear combinations are not available for this particular variety of 700R-4 installation. The driven gear can only be purchased new in 37 or 44 tooth varieties.
This means I will continuously reading a wrong MPH and the odometer will be wrong unless I find a way to convert the driven gear system/setup.
I got lucky and found an auction on eBay that has a single used one. So I bought it. Before I install, I am going to see if there is any way I can replicate it through my friends who have 3D printers.
When and if I get it, I’m going to give it to my amazing friend who has a 3D printer. He’s an outright genius in my book. A lot of people call me smart, I call him smart. If we can successfully 3D print it, I want to make sure I have enough backups to last a lifetime or more.