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Old 01-27-2011, 04:23 PM
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DRTRCR22
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 267
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Hey Bill,
The Berts and Brinns and Falcons are all very similar in that they use a drive spud bolted to the crank (sandwiching the flexplate ringgear on), and an input shaft directly into the tranny. A Falcon and a Brinn are the same length as a standard Muncie, Saginaw or Powerglide, but a Bert is a couple inches shorter, thus a longer driveshaft may be needed when converting.
All three use a hydraulic clutch line to engage the mini motorcycle wet-type clutch within, lubed in synthetic racing tranny fluid.
To move, you shift into low or reverse, then push the clutch pedal to engage clutch to get rolling.
From low, once you get rolling, you let off the clutch pedal and match the tranny speed and engine speed to jamb the shift lever into high, which locks up high gear one-to-one direct drive. The first couple times can be quite tricky until you learn where the rpms match. You are then only turning the one main shafts locked together, and no other guts turn, the lightest rotating assembly of all transmissions. The Falcon only weighs 43 lbs, and the other two are only a couple pounds heavier.
If you need to slow down or stop you must kick it out of high gear or you will stall the engine, just like forgetting to push in a clutch pedal. To get going again you got to start all over with the roll and sync process.
The lighetened Muncie or Saginaws however still turn many parts inside, as well as being much heavier, and having a heavy clutch setup to deal with. Falcon, Bert and Brinn = no clutch in bellhousing.
You will not be disappointed with your Bert... they are great!
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