[robinlawrie]

Hi everyone. my first post here and i really hope someone can help. bit of a long story but if you cant be bothered to read, the main question is the title.

i became the owner of a rhd 1968 1750 veloce last year (round tail) and having purchased in the UK, i drove with my italian girlfriend down to puglia, where im staying for the forseeable future.. (european insurance expires in september so i have to decide wether to a) get it registered here and keep it, b) get it registered here and sell it or c) drive it back to the uk and sell it.)

i love the car but its swallowing money in a way i cant quite handle, and im not so sure its a very suitable only car for us. (my gf is scared to drive it..)

anyway.. i rather naively thought that it would be much cheaper and easier to get parts for it here than in the uk.. wrong it seems!

the differential had the wrong oil put in by a very helpful mechanic, and became extremely noisy. after getting some money together i asked around, and was advised to get a complete rear axle rather than restoring.

mechanic i was with at the time told me he could get an LSD rear axle with 30k on it for 1000 euros. i wanted the LSD as an upgrade, but the price shocked me. so i asked around further. forget the internet here its all about "someone who knows somebody" etc.

at the same time the mechanic told me i needed a new gearbox because it was making a noise and wasnt safe to drive.

now thats a hell of a shopping list so i went to another highly recommended mechanic for a second opinion.

at the same time i found a guy who had a non LSD axle and a gearbox, both in good condition.. we negotiated down to 650 euros for both. which is an excellent price.

my (new) mechanic knows his mechanic, and they spoke. his mechanic vouched for the parts, as he had tested them before.

bearing in mind all this is through my girlfriend as my italian is pretty useless so far.

my new mechanic removed my diff and fitted the new one.

its knackered.


whines a bit less than he old one. but at very low speed it "ticks" and when its warm, at a very specific low speed (1 - 2 kph) it makes the whole car shudder. my mechanic assured me (not having experienced the shudder) that its just a noise so its ok until an alternative is found.

he also replaced the rubber skirt on the gear lever and the gearbox noise went away.



yesterday on a long drive i slowed to a stop in traffic. when i tried to pull away the whole car shook violently up to about 5 kph, so i pulled over. got towed back to my garage.

so now i have 2 broken differentials and a gearbox i dont need (condition unknown)


the guy who sold me the stuff is "away on business" and his mechanic seems quite confused as he still swears the parts were fine, but agrees having driven in my car that the diff is knackered.

all i have is the (very slim) hope that when the guy returns next week ( supposedly) he will give me a refund.


which leaves my car without a rear end.

now as far as i know, the LSD one for 1000 euros is still available, but im really scared to get burned again, and if i dont get a refund on the last, this is unaffordable anyway.

so im asking about restoration prices. oh dear.

only place i found that will do it, is Afra, in Milan. they asked 1600 euros to restore my differential !?!?!?

anyone "knows anyone who knows someone"?! im going crazy here.

 

[alfaparticle]

yesterday on a long drive i slowed to a stop in traffic. when i tried to pull away the whole car shook violently up to about 5 kph,

Sounds like a driveshaft problem - either a U-joint or the surround for the center bearing. It is a DIY job for an average home mechanic. Used Spider axles often sell for about $200 in the USA.
You need some mechanical aptitude if you are going to drive an old car and avoid garage bills.

 

[robinlawrie]

thanks a lot for the advice.

i have a little mechanical aptitude and some tools, and ive done all the electrical work myself, but unfortunately faced with a diagnosed differential problem where every mechanic ive spoken to tells me they wont touch it and simply to replace the rear axle, suggests im a bit out of my depth.

strangely youre the third person ive spoken to in the rest of the world who tells me it sounds like a prop shaft issue.

conversely this is the third mechanic here who has told me its the differential. (only one has been under the car) its possible that the whine at speed comes from the differential ( initial problem) and the ticking at low speed that grew rapidly to this seeming total failure is the u -joint or bearing, meaning i have 2 problems to deal with.

after the first advice to check the propshaft i suggested this to my mechanic, who simply said.. no.. its the differential.

this was before the ticking/ vibrating issue though.

is it possible the whine was also caused by this?

in more detail, i get a whine starting at about 60 mph and growing in volume and pitch as i go faster. as the car warms up the speed at which the whine occurs drops.

i also get an intermittent groan when going over about 80.

since replacing the diff, i also get a different, louder intermittent grindy whine when i hit the gas lightly which goes away if i floor it, or if im not accelerating.

when the car is warm i also get a quieter, graunchy whine even with the clutch in when going at above say 30 mph.

with the diff replaced, the loud whine at speed is much reduced, and actually dies down over about 80 mph. but i get a lot more intermittent whines and grumbling.

would be amazing if i could fix it without having to get messy accusing someone of selling me bad parts and forking out 1k plus to have it fixed.

 

[alfaparticle]

Whine from a differential is unlikely to go away above a certain speed. If it is the diff then the noise will most likely change as you get on and off the gas. Some whines occur only under load. I had one that was only noisy when I was lightly on the accelerator. Your mechanic had to disconnect the driveshaft to replace the axle. Maybe he failed to tighten something or mis-aligned something. Differential whine is not fatal. If you really have a differential whine then it will slowly get louder. I put up with mine for about 2 years before I replaced it. Filling it with good oil may help. Many people in the USA believe that Redline 75W90NS is the best oil for this application (and your gearbox).

I would crawl under the car and inspect the drive shaft. You can detect looseness in the U-joints easily. But a tight U-joint is worse than a loose one and is difficult to diagnose without disconnecting the driveshaft. Check the rubber roll surround on the center bearing housing. Check the condition of the rubber bushing in the gearbox tail housing. Look for anything that is loose. Look for missing bolts and nuts. It may be something obvious.

Where in Puglia are you? I had a vacation there a few years ago. I enjoyed Bari, Lecce and that whole region. Great food and Primitivo.

 

[robinlawrie]

hmm ive just checked over my documentiation and i actually had the front donut, centre mount and bearing,and both uj's replaced before i left london. thats about 4000 k m ago.

guess its probably the diff after all.. ill ask the mechanic to check again (or if i can, at his place.. but im guessing those parts should last longer than that eh?)

thanks again, Robin.

ahh p.s. im close to Bari. yes the food and wine are truly wonderful.. one of my big pleasures of being here

 

[roland]

When rebuild ?

My 1969 Spider rear end whines above 50mph pretty loudly... and the rear end gets very very hot after highway driving (cant touch it too long as it really burns)... Is that norm,al ? What should I do ?
What is rubbing so much that it builds a lot of heat ?

 

[alfarobert]

You indicated that work was done 4000KM ago, did the vibration start after this work?

If so, is it possible the driveshaft balancing is off, what I mean here is if while they were doing the work they disassembled the driveshaft did they reassemble it exactly the same was. Unbalanced driveshafts really cause vubration issues.

Bob

 

[robinlawrie]

no the driveline was fine until relatively recently. i drove all the way from the uk to here without problems, apart from a high speed whine from (ive been told numerous times by different mechanics) the differential.

the vibration stated as a quiet ticking, barely audible, when travelling below about 5 kph, which is since i had the new (old) diff. fitted. (a week or so ago.)

that rapidly grew to this vibrating crappy mess im in now.

 

[robinlawrie]

and when i say vibration, i really mean its like someone hitting the underside of the car with a big hammer several times a second.