you know, after I changed out my master & slave cylinders, that was the FIRST thing I checked when it was still crunchy! haha

I probably wasn't clear enough in my symptoms. 1st and Reverse are crunchy/grindy, and everything else requires a little finesse. I can ease them in with speed matching if that makes sense? rev up a little bit? you know what I mean? it's the 1st & Reverse I need to jam a bit, though I find that going into 1st first, then to Reverse helps.

the local source has agreed to my $50 offer for the old transmission. should hear back from the shop guys tomorrow letting me know what they'll do the inspection and build for me for.

Snow -- yeah, not saying I'm gonna skimp out or skip out on the items with potential for failure. I imagine we'll prob. do bearings and synchros. I was thinking more along the lines of the actual gears, though, heheh, looking at that kit above, there really doesn't seem to be much else, does there? heheh