I recently acquired a clutch kit for a M46 transmission (86 240 to be exact). Will the m46 clutch kits work with the M45 transmission? They are basically the same tranny besides the overdrive correct? The m45 is in a 1980 242 with a b230+t out of an 88 240. Thanks.

 

While I can't answer the cross over directly,I can recommend checking the disc diameter,hub diameter,number of splines,and input shaft diameter.Then compare to the flywheel and transmission input shaft on your car.

 

+1 for the above.

I'll look through my greenbooks and see what I can figure out. Offhand, the flywheel is going to be just as important as the tranny. I have an M46 on my car, but they used tow different flywheel sizes on the engine. Either worked fine on the M46, but it mattered on the flywheel side. Anyway, i'll post again after i've looked through the greenbooks...

 

M45 is a lot like M46, I think just the OD switch is different but as far as clutch etc. interchangeability, hard to be sure. If you have the parts, look up the manufacturers applications by the numbers and that should tell you.

 

Okay. Here's what I have:

The greenbooks tell you to be aware that there is a 22-spline version of the m45 and a 10-spline version. The thing is, I think it is for both the m45 and m46. But the book seems to say that 1979 is the transition year. 22-spline is the later version, and most likely what you have.

Then we go to flywheel issues... they used a 9" and 8.5" flywheel, and the greenbooks aren't super helpful at differentiating between them. Acording to their parts listing, the "heavy" flywheel was used for the m47s (which would have come on an '88 240) and the "Light" one was used on the m45s. Now, which corresponds to which size, I'm not sure. I had to figure this out when I did my tranny swap... so i discuss it a bit here in the first entry.

Hope this helps.