2007 March 11: :
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Updated:
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Thinking the situation over whilst tossing and turning Saturday night, I decide to use the original shaft since the scoring was barely noticeable anyway. Well at least now I know the condition and vintage of those two boxes (only three more to go!) :-) . Back in with the original shim set and on with the back cover. Spins freely, shifts well, neutral light works - good. Put the speedo drive, spacer and nut on the layshaft and tighten - now only get 1st and 2nd well, 3rd and 4th with much effort and it drags/binds in 2nd! Damn, I just can't get a break! Take the nut, spacer and speedo drive back off and it works better, but still not too well. Push the layshaft forward/inward and suddenly it's back to shifting like it should. Pull the box back apart for a thorough look-see. As far as I can tell, either the factory doesn't seat the back end layshaft bearing fully (instead leaving it flush with the machined surface of the back cover) or the width of my replacement bearing is different. In any case, the plan is to place an 0.031 inch shim (determined by measuring the distance from the transmission case gasket surface to the thick layshaft washer, plus the amount the layshaft bearing is recessed into the back cover) on the layshaft between the thick washer and bearing before installing the back cover. Then when the rest of the bits are installed and the nut tightened, the layshaft won't be pulled rearwards/outwards, binding the shift forks. We'll see how theory holds up in practice when the shim assortment arrives from McMaster-Carr...