[Rich in Tucson]

A few years ago I bought a set of new gears and shafts, all were from Mark Auto (USA). The sliding gears would not fit the shaft. I spent a few hours stroking the shaft with 400 paper (yes, it was very painful; I probably still have the warts, but I did not name them to differentiate them from the background of warts) however I was able to obtain the sliding fit described by Ford.

The resulting transmission, with all new bearings and in a NOS case, is still very noisy in second after a few thousand miles and has a weird resonance noise in third at certain speeds that probably is due to a bearing. New pilot bearing in flywheel and flywheel and clutch housing dialed in for runouts.

It is very tight and unforgiving in shifting (rebuilt shift tower too) unlike an all-original with old worn gears (I am using Shell Omala 680 gear lube) and I wonder whether the new gears are anything close to originals in regard to dimensions and hardness. Perhaps in a few more thousand miles it will shift easier without the notchiness but I am always collecting good old gears and shafts...