G260 refresh/rebuild/synchro questions

[Maybe Magpie]

Hi all, I am likely 5-speed swapping in the moderate-term future and was getting my ducks aligned ahead of time. I'm not sure I'll need to replace my synchros as the transmission I pulled ran and drove before the demise of its donor car (cabin fire that did not reach under the car or into the engine bay) and it goes into gear, but I wanted to figure this out:

In the RealOEM diagram for the transmission as appropriate for my car the same synchro part - 23231228097 - is listed three times under diagram 138, and also under once under 145. I have found a machine shop in Australia making new brass G260 synchros (gearbox-parts-australia on ebay - I'm not Aussie but still far cheaper than OEM and they look to be well-made and well-finished), albeit for -8097. They don't appear to make ones of 23231228096 at the moment, which is listed once each in those diagrams for a total of two. If I am properly understanding the diagrams, would I need four of -8097 and two of -8096 to have a complete set of synchros, or am I being a dummy and misreading them somehow? If I tore down the transmission to replace them is there anything else I should address? No matter what I'm replacing all the exterior seals and every bushing even if I end up not doing a full rebuild, but I'm a relative novice so I don't want to ruin a functional G260. Thing is I might not have the scratch for a full professional rebuild right now given how pricey some stuff is, but I was hoping for some advice on best practices as I accumulate parts for the swap. I have found some excellent videos and articles on G260 service on youtube but understanding the theory and execution can often have a gap for me, to be frank. Think I could get away with seals and shoving in the swap or am I really, really best served by shelling out for a rebuild first?

If it may benefit anyone in the future with a similar question, here's some stuff I found:

https://www.youtube.com/@85garage

https://eeuroparts.com/blog/getrag-260-synchro-replacement-part-1-teardown/

https://eeuroparts.com/blog/getrag-260-synchro-replacement-part-2-gear-train/

https://eeuroparts.com/blog/getrag-260-synchro-replacement-part-3-reassembly/

[82eye]

i would have left it alone unless it had known issues. my cousin builds transmissions, and his advice is always leave it alone until you are certain there is a problem. you can cause more trouble than any preventative maintenance is worth. the only seals are input and output.

[TobyB]

...and shifter, but yes, run it first, THEN fix what's wrong with it.

t

[e30davie]

Who is the company in Australia you reference?

[Maybe Magpie]

i would have left it alone unless it had known issues. my cousin builds transmissions, and his advice is always leave it alone until you are certain there is a problem. you can cause more trouble than any preventative maintenance is worth. the only seals are input and output.

...and shifter, but yes, run it first, THEN fix what's wrong with it.

t

The selector shaft itself has a seal too that reportedly is prone to leaks, but yeah, input/output and crank/rear main are my biggest concerns there. As I'll also be doing driveshaft I am probably going to do my diff input seal too. I will say a concern is that the donor car was an E34 that had a fire - while the engine compartment and undercarriage and trunk inside were all relatively unscathed, the interior was cooked and the shifter itself above the carrier arm is extra crispy - when we pulled the trans at the yard we noted a bunch of coolant spilled out from the bellhousing that presumably got in there when we disconnected the hoses, so it seems the bellhousing was letting stuff in - presumably including firehose spray and stuff from how filthy the bellhousing inside is, though most of the trans is in fairly decent exterior shape otherwise. It did go into gear and the car ran and drove pre-fire though, reportedly.

For the shifter I have a Garagistic kit on the way - OEM length and I'll be getting an OEM mushroom vintage-type knob and retrofitting the insert with illumination like the later MT2 knobs myself. DSSR too - cheaper than the Z3 SSK these days, I managed to snag a sale.

Who is the company in Australia you reference?

As said, gearbox-parts-australia on ebay. They have a 260 synchro listing up for -8097 (but not the other one, -8096).

Regardless, thanks for the advice everybody! I just didn't want to have to pull the bastard again if it gets touchy but I'll just send it beyond seals for the time being, once it's in there.