mike,
They are a bit noisy and even a fresah rebuild has some "sound" - not
noise, it is music of gear whine.
HOWEVER, this is not something that should be heard above the motor! A
simple test will detect the nastiest, and most comon today, problem which
is layshaft wear.
Warm the car up. Turn off everything like fan, radio, etc while in
neutral. Then put the clutch in. If, all of a sudden, a "whirring noise"
goes away, you have "severe" bearing wear. Then, drain the tranny and
check for a grey" paste" stuck to the drain plug. If so, get the
chequebook out, the $350 gear is shot.
What happens is the laygear (lower stack of gears) is suspended on little
needle roller bearings that are poorly lubricated. Old gear oil makes
things worse, and you KNOW how the DPO treated the car.
The first thing that happens is the needle bearings wear and get rough.
They start to wear a groove on the shaft on which they ride. This shaft
holds the lower stack exactly parallell to the main stack. Once worn,
this is not the case.
The needles on the back end transmit the 1st gear torque and wear first.
Thus, noise is worst in 1st, less in 2nd, almost non existant in 3rd. In
4th, no torque goes through the lower stack and any noise you hear is
"general" bearing wear. The "grey paste" referred to is actually
disintegrated bearing needles. Unfortunately, if it gets that bad you need
to replace the laygear and the layshaft as well as the "normal" rebuild.
This adds several hundred dollars.
A tranny job is a rewarding one to do if you are mechanically inclined,
have lots of patience, and skill at fitting things with close tolerances.
It is NOT rocket science but it is exacting. A rebuilt box for the
uninitiated is likely a better bet, especially during a winter parts sale.
Do the clutch at the same time (don't ask me why I know this!) as well as
the driveshaft universals. You will then have no reason to disassemble the
interior for a good long time
Good luck and happy holidays
Dave Terrick
a Green Winnipeg, 1st since 1939
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