New Syncro Rings

So my Novak T14 rebuild kit just came in. I was looking at the parts, and noticed these brass rings look a bit off. On all three, the teeth are discolored a bit, but the one ring has a lot of discoloration and the surface is not as smooth as the other two. Do I need to send them back?

 

What I have notice about the Novak rebuild kits is that they are the same thing you get from any supply house, but with an added nice part. In the D18 kit, that would be the nice hardened shaft. Basically you pay for that and the support from them which is excellent. As far the synchro rings go, If they are better than what you have now, use them. You probably won't find better, but I might be mistaken.

 

if you can return the one , that would be good . but the outside isn't that important . the blocking ring works from the inside surface . have to look at spares I have . don't remember those slots on inside of first one

 

I think the dark staining is just cosmetic and will not affect performance. The main surface that counts is the inner tapered portion, and those look bright and clean. Make sure to trial fit the syncros on the cones on the gears where they go to see they have a good margin and don't "bottom" out.
I have gotten syncros for my vintage British cars that, brand new, are totally "worn out". The company apparently sent a totally worn example to China to have them reproduced, and they copied it exactly. I don't think this will be the case with Novak, but its a good idea to measure before you assemble.
-Donny

 

Any update on this ?

 

Yes, actually I was just about to post. Novak assured me not to worry about the synchro ring. However, I just got it all back together and it shifts as poorly as ever. 2nd and 3rd don't go in smoothly even when shifting slowly, and first will only go in at a stop. I'm not sure if my rebuild or the parts are to blame.

Since I'm on a limited schedule, I probably won't be able to tear it back apart. I can live with the poor shifting, as long as it remains reliable. However, I noticed a noise while shifting through the gears with the tcase in neutral. In third gear, there is light grinding noise. I didn't notice it while driving because of all the road noise, but its clear when sitting still. I think the cause is the 2-3 shift collar making contact with the cluster gear. I noticed that it could make contact while the transmission was on the bench, but I thought (hoped) that the shift fork would not move it close enough for that to happen. I also checked my spare T14, and it too can make contact in the same place (that is, when the top is removed and the collar moved by hand). Thoughts?

 

It might be different but when I just rebuilt my t90. I ordered new synchro rings and installed them onto my old synchro hub and it would not shift good At all. So I ordered another new set of blocking rings and it was the same. Still terrible shifting. All while the t90 was still on the bench so I ordered a NOS synchro hub inner and outer all preassembled with new marked USA blocking rings and even on the bench it was shifting amazingly. Now installed I have zero complaints whatsoever driving is perfect. Again this was my t90 but I was never happy until I replaced the whole synchro hub assembly with NOS from Peter debella