30 replies to this topic

[jaydee]

It can happen that you cant feel the play grabbing them but they can make a whirring noise.
Jack up one wheel with the other on the ground, third gear on, accelerate for a second, you'll be able to identify the side to strip down and inspect.

[The Otter]

Okay, the drivers side pot joint moves in and out and up and down relative to the casing. The driveshafts don't move side to side at all, just a little up and down which I'm guessing is part of normal in/out travel.

So, the diff is shagged I'm guessing?

[jaydee]

Yeah that side to side movement is very suspicious

[xrocketengineer]

Mine had the in-out play on the pot joint and the "clunk" on acceleration/deceleration and since I did not realize that with 45000 miles the differential could go, it went! Resulting in this:



Since the casing had some damage, I got a new gearbox from Guess-works.

[The Otter]

Right, I'm thinking now then that I should avoid driving the car any more than possible, and get the engine out and find out exactly what's wrong, and if necessary source a new diff to put in before it goes bang and I need a whole new gearbox or worse...

This shall be my plan of action unless anyone thinks there's anything else worth checking first?

The clutch is properly knackered as well, so it would give me an excuse to change that over whilst I've got the engine out.

[jaydee]

Start by stripping down driver side hub, bearings and CVs. Clean thouroughly and carefully inspect the parts. If everythings fine, get the engine out although it is possible to remove the diff covers for inspection with engine in situ.

[The Otter]

In case anyone was wondering, it was a diff issue. I think it's the thrust washer (?) between the casing and the sun (?) gear on the driver's side that's disintegrated and caused excessive wear elsewhere in the diff, as the whole gear/pot joint can move in and out by a good few mm and there is definitely nothing there between the gear and the casing, whereas there is on my replacement gearbox. The diff pin also moves up and down relative to the planet (?) gears when the pots are wiggled to check for play. Doing reverse dougnuts in the snow a few weeks ago probably wasn't the best idea, I can't imagine it did the diff any favours...

[Guess-Works.com]

Get a x-pin, and forget about it.

[tiger99]

You can change the diff without lifting the engine, if you have the patience. It is slightly quicker than taking the whole lot out, but very fiddly, and you have to do the shimming under the car. In the early 1960s, rally teams used to have to do it quite regularly.

[The Otter]

Too late for me Tiger



I'm just swapping boxes for now a decent second hand one, a proper strip/re-build will happen in the summer.

[oltonlad]

ooohh, a white italian job next to yours..................

[The Otter]

ooohh, a white italian job next to yours..................

Yeah it reminded me of you mate! It only has one skinny white minilite on it, the other three wheels are satin black 13x7 superlites, hence the big arches! Original bodywork apart from that though, and the interior is beautiful and original, and obviously from it's stance you can see the engine has been taken out.

[oltonlad]

ooohh, a white italian job next to yours..................

Yeah it reminded me of you mate! It only has one skinny white minilite on it, the other three wheels are satin black 13x7 superlites, hence the big arches! Original bodywork apart from that though, and the interior is beautiful and original, and obviously from it's stance you can see the engine has been taken out.

is it in for work on the engine then?

[The Otter]

ooohh, a white italian job next to yours..................

Yeah it reminded me of you mate! It only has one skinny white minilite on it, the other three wheels are satin black 13x7 superlites, hence the big arches! Original bodywork apart from that though, and the interior is beautiful and original, and obviously from it's stance you can see the engine has been taken out.

is it in for work on the engine then?

I'm not sure to be honest, I haven't asked! I don't know if the garage owner has bought it for parts/restoration or whether it's a customers car... I'll try and remember to find out for you on Monday why it's there. Not interested in parts off it are you?

[jakejakejake1]

but now that knocking noise can be done on command. Every time you accelerate and every time you get off the power it knocks, from the drivers side I think. I know you'd all suggest engine steadies for this but the engine is completely solid, the bushes are fine and you can rock the whole car by grabbing the engine and it doesn't budge.

I had the same problem, after many a week scratching my head I replaced the few months old rubber bushes on the engine steady and now magically the knocking is fixed. There was virtually no movement in the engine, and I was trying to pinpoint the issue, so I disconnected the engine steady and rocked by hand and there was no knocking. So I put it back together (with the old bushes) and i still got knocking, so replaced the bushes and now all is well. The rubbers I replaced were one piece ones I got with my engine steady. The must have only done a few hundred miles at the most before starting to knock.