Hey Muller: After reading (and reading) about the tribulations of
transmission removal you seem to have forgotten to enlighten your readers on
the cause of the chattering; or is there part two to this saga. I wonder if
the transmission mount is the culprit? Tune in folks.
Bob Roberts
TR$$ 35411CT
----- Original Message -----
From "Jim Muller" <jimmuller at pop.mail.rcn.net>
To: <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2004 9:30 PM
Subject: unasked-for progress report
> Fellow Triumphisti (Fellow Triumvirates?),
>
> Nobody asked for this but I just completed a task that was quite
> odious, or at least difficult. Now that I am finished (or should
> that be it is finished) for now, I am pleased enough to want to share
> it. And to complain a bit too.
>
> For some months the Spitfire's gearbox has been making a strange
> intermittent clicking/knocking sound while (or should that be whilst)
> in 1st gear. The knocks are occasionally accompanied by feelable
> jolts to the shifter, and about once a month or so it actually jumps
> our of gear. Not good. No other gear does this and the OD has been
> working perfectly. Since the GT6 is now running very well (knock on
> wood) and I haven't been driving the Spitfire much lately anyway I
> figured it was time to pull the Spitfire's gearbox and fix whatever
> the trouble was. Or more likely, let Quantum Mechanics fix it. Or
> maybe at least open it up and see if I can see the trouble before
> committing dollars for someone else to do it.
>
> The big accomplishment was actually getting the gearbox out of the
> car. It took me two days (though not full days, I admit). I've
> pulled the gearbox from the Spitfire before but it was two decades
> ago when I was much younger. I've done the GT6 several times
> recently and gotetn good at it. Neither the GT6 nor my previous
> experience with the Spitfire involved an OD gearbox though. With OD
> that sucker is HEAVY! Plus, there are a bunch of little things that
> made the Spitfire a pain in the butt. F'rinstance, the starter motor
> can't be removed easily because the steering column is in the way.
> At least I could free it from the bell housing. The cardboard splash
> guards on the engine compartment make access impossible, but removing
> them means undoing screws rusted into thingys mounted on the
> cardboard. (I may choose not to re-install the splash guards; am
> open to advice on that issue.) The cable between bell housing and
> frame that keeps the engine from flying forward in the event of hard
> braking or an accident is so danged stiff that you (or at least I)
> couldn't get it out of the hole in the bell housing, so I had to
> crawl underneath and remove it at its frame attachment first. I had
> to pull one wheel off just to improve accessibility to underneath.
> (Okay, so my garage is too small and too cluttered.) More than one
> of the bolts seemed to be positioned so as to be unreachable. Hell,
> even my Fiats were easier to work on than that, or so I remember.
> Ah, don't mind me. I'm just glad to have it pulled, like it was a
> bad tooth. The real fun will begin when I try to put it back in...
>
>
> --
> Jim Muller
> jimmuller@pop.rcn.com
> '80 Spitfire, '70 GT6+
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