I recently acquired a '74 Spider and have been having fun sorting through lots of prior neglect, aided tremendously by the treasure trove that is Alfabb.
This past week, the clutch started making a delightful 'whirring' noise when the pedal was depressed and the gears started getting tougher to engage. The clutch master and slave both looked suspect and it felt like the clutch was dragging.
So, off to my friends at Centerline ('tis a privilege to live in Colorado) and in went a new clutch master and slave (can you say fun with circlips?)...with no real improvement.
Since I was working alone I decided to video the action of the slave to see if maybe I hadn't gotten it bled sufficiently. It took me a couple of viewings to realize that the transmission is actually separating from the bell housing when I depress the clutch pedal!
I'm assuming that I have a few screws loose (between the transmission and the bell housing, in addition to the 'nut behind the wheel'...) anyone have any other insights??
regardless of the "noise" the movement of the slave seems short, which may be a product of the loose bellhousing/engine connection. That would make the shifting / release a problem because clutch isn`t completely releasing.
Typically a bad TO bearing will make a whiring noise with just foot pressure on the petal without pushing in down. If it takes pushing it down to get noise, then the dragging clutch disk could be the noise source.
What happens after tightening the 2 lower bolts/studs on each side of the bell housing? (FYI; I leave out the top 2 bolts. They offer no real support and are a ***** to get in/out). All the load and support are on the lower studs/bolts.
Thanks guys. I agree, while the throwout bearing might have gotten hosed up due to the loose transmission/engine connection it's likely not the cause of the shifting issue. Hope to put it back up on jackstands this afternoon and will report back.
if I might make a suggestion... if I were in your position , I would figure out a way to kluge the thing tight together now ... c clamps or something ... anything at all that will allow you to drive it a few miles as if it were correctly assembled in the first place and at least confirm , in absolute terms whether you have a gbox issue or not. the last thing you want is to take it all apart , go thru all the rest of the work and then have to take it apart a second time to fix something else. also... I can't remember whether that has a bearing or bushing in the back of the crank where the input shat goes in but if that gbox has been moving and hanging then whatever is there has taken a beating and I would have a new one on hand to change out when you had the thing apart one way or the other.
I've had the car for about 6 weeks. Up until a few days ago it shifted fine, in fact the 2nd gear synchros are the best of any Alfa I've driven. So, maybe, the DPO snapped off a stud or two and reinstalled with just two good ones and then in the course of me driving it I snapped the third, who knows.
I did in fact clamp it together with a c-clamp and it drives fine, no noise when the pedal is depressed and shift action is good. Don't think I'll drive it outside the neighborhood like that though!
I think I will, at a minimum, replace the throw out bearing and the pilot bushing and take a good hard look at the clutch to see what kind of shape it's in.
If I can't save the threads on the bellhousing when I drill the studs out I may just run a bolt through there and clamp it that way, I'm assuming the Alfa gods will find this preferable to attaching a tranny with only one stud...
Alfar 7 had suggested welding a nut to what's left of the stud, which I am going to attempt. My welding experience is very limited but since this is not about 'pretty' I'm hoping I can pull it off.
Two questions:
1) The stud is an M8, what size nut should I use?
2) Do I ground the welder to the block or to the nut? I'm nervous about running the welding current through the block but maybe that's not a legitimate concern?
Thanks much for any insight
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