Yes, another one of my no-cost, post-apocalyptic-mode fixes - now utilizing every backyard mechanic's favorite component: baling wire.
My '65 Sprint GT had the backing-up clutch judder in spades. When reversing up a hill - and I live in SF - the grab/release oscillation felt like it was going to rip the car in two. The threaded end of the bolts on the front driveshaft, at the Guibo, have actually started to scrape the trans. housing - that made for an interesting, gates-of-h*ll-now-opening noise! Part of the problem was the NLA status for the original, stiffer, trans. mount for the 105/1600 cars, back when I did the clutch. The proper trans. mount is now available from Centerline.
First - here's the real way to fix this: http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/sedan-1963-1974/35521-super-clutch-judder-fix.html
I was about to begin the hood-stop solution described above, when.. my evil, lazy, identical twin brother theorized that a hard rubber block of the right size - held in place with ..something.. - could solve this with minimum effort. Intrigued, I estimated the clearance between the support frame and the trans. housing with a bolt stuck through the hole and my fingernail on the first exposed thread. So.. off to the bag of past projects' rubber matériel, where a small, used, dense rubber donut, of the following dimensions, revealed itself -
42mm dia., 17.5mm height:
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MBZ part #: 115 326 1668 - europartsdirect.com says "front shock rubber stop - $4.08". My long-gone '72 250C had a small shock absorber from the frame to the side of the engine block to subdue rocking motions - those crazy Germans.
The piece appeared properly sized to fill the support frame to trans. housing gap, so I gave it a try. The rubber donut slid between the frame and housing just tightly enough to keep it in place and even centered itself so the holes lined up on the first try. I poked baling wire(!) into the frame's rearward facing hole, through the donut, then fed it upward, since there is slight clearance at the housing (ie: the trans. casting doesn't block the donut's inward facing hole completely). Grabbing the far end with long needle nose pliers, I pulled the wire rearward, over the top of the frame, trimmed the ends and twisted them tight to fasten the donut in place.
Total elapsed time: 5 mins.
(Just in case you're suspecting I'm making this up:
)
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TGTBT? Within another few minutes, I was backing up the substantial hill outside, and parallel parked in front of my house for the first time since I bought the car, without the driveshaft attempting to break through the floorboard tunnel. No noticeable increase in vibrations at idle. This may not qualify as a permanent fix, but it certainly diagnosed which problem the car had. And my trans. casing is thanking me profusely.
I will need to check, when everything is really hot, and the rubber is softer, that this feature has truly been eliminated.
Gotta go. My evil twin says it's Miller time.
Motor on
My '65 Sprint GT had the backing-up clutch judder in spades. When reversing up a hill - and I live in SF - the grab/release oscillation felt like it was going to rip the car in two. The threaded end of the bolts on the front driveshaft, at the Guibo, have actually started to scrape the trans. housing - that made for an interesting, gates-of-h*ll-now-opening noise! Part of the problem was the NLA status for the original, stiffer, trans. mount for the 105/1600 cars, back when I did the clutch. The proper trans. mount is now available from Centerline.
First - here's the real way to fix this: http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/sedan-1963-1974/35521-super-clutch-judder-fix.html
I was about to begin the hood-stop solution described above, when.. my evil, lazy, identical twin brother theorized that a hard rubber block of the right size - held in place with ..something.. - could solve this with minimum effort. Intrigued, I estimated the clearance between the support frame and the trans. housing with a bolt stuck through the hole and my fingernail on the first exposed thread. So.. off to the bag of past projects' rubber matériel, where a small, used, dense rubber donut, of the following dimensions, revealed itself -
42mm dia., 17.5mm height:
MBZ part #: 115 326 1668 - europartsdirect.com says "front shock rubber stop - $4.08". My long-gone '72 250C had a small shock absorber from the frame to the side of the engine block to subdue rocking motions - those crazy Germans.
The piece appeared properly sized to fill the support frame to trans. housing gap, so I gave it a try. The rubber donut slid between the frame and housing just tightly enough to keep it in place and even centered itself so the holes lined up on the first try. I poked baling wire(!) into the frame's rearward facing hole, through the donut, then fed it upward, since there is slight clearance at the housing (ie: the trans. casting doesn't block the donut's inward facing hole completely). Grabbing the far end with long needle nose pliers, I pulled the wire rearward, over the top of the frame, trimmed the ends and twisted them tight to fasten the donut in place.
Total elapsed time: 5 mins.
(Just in case you're suspecting I'm making this up:
)
TGTBT? Within another few minutes, I was backing up the substantial hill outside, and parallel parked in front of my house for the first time since I bought the car, without the driveshaft attempting to break through the floorboard tunnel. No noticeable increase in vibrations at idle. This may not qualify as a permanent fix, but it certainly diagnosed which problem the car had. And my trans. casing is thanking me profusely.
I will need to check, when everything is really hot, and the rubber is softer, that this feature has truly been eliminated.
Gotta go. My evil twin says it's Miller time.
Motor on
