early small synchro source, or modification to use later syn

[shepherd]

I'm pretty new at transmissions, and have just finished my first swing axle trans rebuild. I have a few other core transmissions to rebuild eventually, for other projects. It seems that the small first gear synchronizer ring is no longer available, or very hard to find. I bought a kit from Long Enterprises, which had it, but it was very expensive for what it was. Of course he doesn't offer the part individually. Is there another source, even overseas? I'm also aware there may be two styles of early synchro, how do I tell the difference? Are they specific to the cone on the gear, the slider, or both? Alternatively, a local VW trans guy mentioned that he modifies the 1-2 from an IRS to use the larger cheaper, available synchro. He's also got a reputation for being kind of crazy and a bit of a hack, so I don't know what to make of it. I have a lathe and could probably manage simple modifications, if someone could help steer me in the right direction. I'd rather learn to do these myself, as shipping them to get fixed has gotten too expensive. Thanks is you can help. SD

[Bruce2]

The early 1st gear synchro is 113 311 247A. I'll defer to Marc to tell us exactly when they changed to the later 269A synchro.

The modification is to use the 1st gear idler from a late trans. Then you can use the late synchro.
Edit: To use the late 1st gear idler, you also need to use the later 1-2 slider hub.