[Rocky Rotella]

I'm trying to determine at what point the M22 was first called "rock crusher" and who coined the term?

I know the M22 first came out in 1965 and its popularity really picked up around 1968. I have a suspicion that rock crusher may have first been used in a late-1960s auto magazine test drive, but was hoping the historians in this group might be able to narrow it down.

Anyone?

[GOAT WHORE]

Good question, I bet you get conflicting stories on this one.

[Ram4king]

The funny thing is all I remember in the 70's when I first started working on cars is that people called a rock crusher trans a M23.

[starlightblack]

In th earliest complete history of the Corvette (the car for which the M22 was designed), "Corvette: America's star-spangled Sports car" written by Karl Ludvigsen his quote is: '...checking RPO M22 brought a special four-speed gearbox with a magnetic drain plug and reduced helix angles on the gear teeth that gave it more torque capacity but made it so noisy the engineers named it the "rock crusher" '

This book was quite an exhaustive tome, written in 1973, that's within a year of the M22's demise as an RPO. Some still refer to it as the ultimate early history of the Corvette.

Gib Hufstaeder who designed the L88 Corvette's dual-disc clutch (later used in W30 442s) is still alive and probably would be able to back-up (or discount) that the name came from within GM.

[carcrazy]

I seem to remember hearing it called a rock crusher around 1970.

[Formulabruce]

Back in the 60s there was still plenty of Coal crushing going on to feed the cast iron and metal working facilities, and homes for heat, so the sound of "Rock crushing" was very familiar to many. May seem odd now, but Very reasonable back then.

[Held for Ransom]

Contact Alan...
http://alancolvin.com/the-1965-m22-r...-transmission/

[Rocky Rotella]

Thanks for the link!

[sleddog]

I love the comments after the article, especially the part about the last sighting of the car was it "going North on the Hwy with an outboard motor clamped to the roll bar" LOL

The things that happened to these awesome cars back in the day, who knew what they would be worth?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by starlightblack

In th earliest complete history of the Corvette (the car for which the M22 was designed), "Corvette: America's star-spangled Sports car" written by Karl Ludvigsen his quote is: '...checking RPO M22 brought a special four-speed gearbox with a magnetic drain plug and reduced helix angles on the gear teeth that gave it more torque capacity but made it so noisy the engineers named it the "rock crusher" '

This book was quite an exhaustive tome, written in 1973, that's within a year of the M22's demise as an RPO. Some still refer to it as the ultimate early history of the Corvette.

Gib Hufstaeder who designed the L88 Corvette's dual-disc clutch (later used in W30 442s) is still alive and probably would be able to back-up (or discount) that the name came from within GM.

As a young engineer just starting out at the Milford Proving Ground one of my first assignments was to fix gear whine in a manual transmission (truck trans).

The elder engineer took me for a ride and said "Hear that? You gotta fix it".

"Fix it?" I said. "I LIKE it!"



I probably wasn't the best noise & vibration guy because of my predisposition towards gear noise and exhaust/induction noise.

K

[Rocky Rotella]

That's great, Keith! I wonder of Pontiac had many/any complaints on the noise on the M22?!

For that matter, after 1972, did any GM Division use the M22?

[sdbob]

I remember,imagine that,the wine of m22 back in late 60s. Still not sure why of calling it rock crusher.I don't remember if it was available in a Pontiac. When I rebuilt a few muncies I always drilled and taped case for a drain plug.

[goatman65]

I read somewhere that it was used in the 1965 Z-16 Chevelle. I have a 1971 M-22 in my GTO, bought the M22 in 1980 for $175 with a brand new Hurst shifter on it. I bought it solely for the sound.

In 1970 my uncle received a brand new Chevelle SS 454 with an M22. I was 9 yrs old then but I always remembered that sound and my dad telling me it was the transmission,an M22 rockcrusher.

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by sdbob

I remember,imagine that,the wine of m22 back in late 60s. Still not sure why of calling it rock crusher.I don't remember if it was available in a Pontiac. When I rebuilt a few muncies I always drilled and taped case for a drain plug.

First and only Pontiac M22s were available in the 1971 and 1972 model years. A & F body applications with the L78 400 4V and LS5 455HOs. It was the only stick trans available on the 1972 455HOs.

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by Rocky Rotella

after 1972, did any GM Division use the M22?

Not that I'm aware of, Rocky.

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by Lloyd-TX

First and only Pontiac M22s were available in the 1971 and 1972 model years. A & F body applications with the L78 400 4V and LS5 455HOs. It was the only stick trans available on the 1972 455HOs.

You can hear it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlYJYY01kdE

[60man]

I recall that Pontiac released a set of gears for the early 4 speed (60 & up) that had just a small increase in size & nickel(?) content with less helical angle for Pontiac's and called it a "gear package". Big increase in strength. Held up much better that original gears.
Am I nuts? 🙄

[Jack Peters]

I had no complaints about the noise here from mine when new.

[rexs73gto]

I have an M-22 in my 73 GTO. I had 2 M-21's in it before & each one of them after going out & street racing both of them after about 4-5 months they would start to pop out os 2nd gear under pressure when trying to race. I went to the M-22 in 1978 & loved it. The noise in mine seems to be less since I put the syn. gear lube in it But I still put it through the paces & it holds up just great. Mine came out of a 1970 corvette. I paid $ 150.00 for it in 78 & have never had it apart but i keep the shifter in good tune & adjustment so it goes in & out of the gears very nicely.

[PB]

I remember attending one of John Sawruk's presentations at a convention where he described how the engineers would take the M22's out and see just how much they could withstand. I don't specifically recall if he made the correlation to terming the coin rock crusher from his presentation, but the inference was there. I'm sure many have heard the story, but he he stated they would go out and perform power shifts without engaging the clutch. They would run the engines up to max RPM's and perform the shift.

I miss Mr. Sawruk's presentations.