Hello all,
I was working on my car a little over the weekend, and a few things came up:
First, I had jacked up the back a couple of feet so I could fix up the
muffler mounting. When I was finished, I found that the clutch had gotten
all chattery. There was also a small puddle of transmission oil under the
car. It looks like I had tipped the car enough to allow the tranny oil to
leak past the front seal, down the input shaft, and onto the clutch disk.
Then I remembered that my transmission (the older 3-rail type on the Mk IV)
does not have a real rubber oil seal, but something the parts book calls a
"scroll-type" seal. Is this a part that can wear out? It really doesn't
seem to be a seal at all. Is something wrong with my tranny, or is this
leakage to be expected with this model tranny? I have never had a problem
with my cluch since I changed it several years ago. Fortunately, after I
sort of smoked the clutch a little, it got pretty much back to normal...
Then, I decided to replace the disintegrated rubber boot on the hand
brake lever. To remove it, I had to remove the carpet. To remove the
carpet, you naturally have to remove the seats and setbelts. Once I got
everything out, I noticed that the floorpan sheet metal around the each of
the driver's seat mounting points had started to crack. There was no
rust; it looks like it was caused by the flexing of the metal over the years.
Has anyone seen this problem before? Would welding be sufficient to fix
it, or would I have to replace that entire floorpan area?
Finally, after all this, I noticed that the cardboard piece that holds the
hand brake lever boot is pretty tattered. Has anyone ever made up a
replacement? I was thinking of making a copy in sheet metal, or covering the
old one with fiberglass or something. Oddly, you can easily get a
replacement rubber boot, but nobody seems to sell the cardboard piece...
Thanks,
Doug Braun
'72 Spit
|