Uh-oh.....

[littlepippin]

Sometimes idling just in neutral, the car now is wobbling/shaking/vibrating.....

Depress the clutch pedal and release (without touching anything else) wobbling and shaking gone !!

It's been making a rattling sound as I let the clutch out for some time now, so something is on the way out big time, but no slipping of the clutch when pulling away, or under load going uphill for example, and when driving along the car is good as gold.

As I have zero money at the moment due to jacking the job in, I am wondering if I can just nurse this issue along without the whole clutch going bang. My friend says his Spitfire does exactly the same thing, and always has.

Does anybody know what is going on in the bell housing of mystery....?

[busheytrader]

Hi,

When the engine's idling in neutral, I've always been able to hear the lay shaft bearings rotating in my LT77 box. This became a lot louder when the rubber gearbox mount was changed for a rock hard replacement. Then again, every gear sounded like it wanted to burst out of the gearbox once on the move. Replacing the gearbox mount with a compliant Volvo item has brought the noise down to previous levels. Hopefully the mount will be a viable replacement.

I'm not an engineer or mechanic, but my thoughts are,

Have you changed anything around the gearbox recently, gearbox oil, gearbox mounting, engine mounts etc.

Has the gearstick gone floppy? The original remote housing bushes disintegrate allowing the housing to move around and touch the rotating prop-shaft and the transmission tunnel. If you push down on the gearstick and hear a grinding noise, they are on the way out or gone. They are fairly cheap to replace and poly items are available. It's fiddly, I lost most of the skin off my knuckles as there's not much space, even with disconnecting the propshaft.

Adam

[Cobber]

Another possibility is the clutch bearing throw-out fork is on the way out, the pivot ball wears through the pivot point on the fork, it can get a bit rattly when it is half way through the fork as the bearing can intermittently contact the clutch.

That's what mine did shortly before the fork failed altogether.

[busheytrader]

I wish mine had given some sort of a warning before it let go........