Is this the way transmissions usually look inside?

[kmoses]

I just got around to draining the transmission and removing the bottom cover plate. I was surprised to find everything so clean! Is this the way the manual transmissions usually look when you open them up? When I purchased the car it could not be driven so the last thing to do was check out the transmission. There was no steel in the bottom but there was some very fine brass. Would you go ahead and tear it down or close it up and install it?

[BEEK]

looks to me like the transmission was run low on oil, 4th gear on the layshaft has gotten very hot

[So Cal Mark]

at a minimum I would see how much play the forks have in the slider grooves

[kmoses]

Can I check it with a feeler gauge in the case? If so what is the normal range? The gear that meshes with the "dark" gear looks new and the teeth show very little wear. If it was run low on oil, would both gears be dark?

[wizard124]

It appears that there is a crack in one of the teeth.

I would continue the tear down and inspect.

[GeorgeT]

The brass filings are most likely from worn synchros. Since you've gone this far you should finish the job by replacing them as well.

[kmoses]

I went back and looked at the "crack" on the dark gear tooth, it is a thread from a shop rag. I was wiping that side of the gear trying to clean the teeth and see how rough the edge is. It looks like the very corners of the teeth on the inside were damaged but the faces are smooth with no galling. I'm thinking that this gear box has had one or two gears replaced. It looks like I will need to take it apart after all.

[Frog2Spider]

There was a thread here recently about 'reliability'. This serves as a perfect example.

You could put the trans back in, the way it is. It could last 100 miles, a 1,000 miles, or whatever. But it will NEVER be reliable! And the worst part is that Murphy's Law dictates that it will fail at the most unoportune time!

Good choice to rebuild it and make it reliable.

[BEEK]

to further my observation. The layshaft gear which meshes with 4th gear has been extremely hot. By looking at the unit i can assume that someone has been into the transmission and replaced the 4th gear but not the layshaft. better pictures will let me determine the shift fork condition. but unless you are able to tear the box down there is no way to assess the condition of the syncro's. How did you come by this transmission? again i can only assume it did not come out of your car. i have rebuilt 100's and yes i said 100's fiat 124 transmissions.

[kmoses]

This is the transmission that was installed in the car when I purchased it in May 2015. The couple I purchased it from owned it for 9 months and never had it licensed. It would start but not idle and if you pressed on the brake pedal, the car would shut off. They bought it off an Ebay auction and had it shipped from California to North Carolina. They decided to sell it and cut their losses rather than spend more money on it.

[djape1977]

shutting down when you press brake - needs a new brake servo

[kmoses]

I checked the clearance between the shifting forks and sleeves; First/Second Sleeve and shift fork = .016" and Third/Fourth Sleeve and shift fork = .021" . The shop manual says to "check the shift forks for wear", does anyone know what the min./max. gap should be between ths shift forks and the sleeve groove?

Also, there are no wear marks at all on the input shaft gear or first gear faces. All of the gear teeth faces on the Countershaft/Layshaft show wear as do second and Third gear.