[Ben Stevens]

I thought I’d start a thread here to capture some of the things we’ve done to try and find the cause of the strange rattling noise that’s started on my P1.  It sounds a bit like a small screwdriver being wiggled in the neck of a glass jam jar.

I first noticed it a few weeks ago and thought it might be pinking.  Not having any high pitched hearing though I wasn’t 100% certain so decided to check the timing to eliminate that (after emptying the dash and looking for loose nuts & bolts etc).

I took it to a friendly classic garage (Tim Whelock at http://www.vintageandsportscarservices.co.uk) where they had a digital timing gun and Tim confirmed I had 10 degrees at idle, rising to about 26 at 3000 rpm.  But… the odd thing was that the curve wasn’t a curve – it was a step that suddenly jumped.

This was confirmed at Wiscombe Park when Jon (Langley) & Mark (Brett) checked it again.  At around 1800 rpm it suddenly jumped, peaking at around 30 degrees.

We then noticed that the mark we’d made previously with a sharpie on the distributor sleeve before adjusting anything had moved – the sleeve was loose and had spun around!

Jon also concluded that the TDC mark must be incorrect because at idle and his timing gun set to 10 degrees you could not see the mark.  At this stage we gave up and Jon just set it up completely by ear so I could do my last timed run, and I decided to take it back down to Jim Turnbull to fit a replacement dizzy and see if that solved it.  Jim is also going to check the TDC mark and confirm that’s in the right place.

Oh and we already tried gently pushing on the clutch when driving to take up the pressure on the bearings and eliminate the throwout bearing.

If anyone has experience of a timing curve not being a curve though I’d love to hear

[Ben Stevens]

Another update…quite a big one too.

Last week I changed the oil in my gearbox.  Here’s what it SHOULD look like, vs what it DID look like when I drained it; clearly (excuse the pun) something wrong.

So I changed the oil.  Twice.

Now the clicking noise has stopped, but I don’t know whether it’s just me listening extra carefully or actually a symptom of there being water in the oil, but it definitely sounds noisier.  I will drive it for a bit and see if it settles, then update some more on here.

Any suggestions as to how the water might have got into a brand new gearbox though would be very welcome.

Here is the spec of the gearbox in case anyone is interested:

Tremec / BorgWarner T5 Serial: 1352 251 17757 (Ford 1993-prior Mustang 5.0 V8 World Class)
Case marking is 1352 065 922 M but probably irrelevant.
The rear section of the box has a plated stamped with MDL (Modern DriveLine) and marking: MD-510-1000
Gear ratios: 2.76, 2.95, 1.94, 1.34, 1.00, 0.63

[Geoff Pinch]

Hi Ben, Is there an update on your gearbox?

[Ben Stevens]

No update really, except to say that I’m driving up to London today to see a T5 expert and for him to have a listen.  He is a retired engineer and rebuilds several T5 boxes per week (takes him less than a day per box apparently) so am hoping he will confirm there’s no obvious damage.  If he says it’s too noisy then I will probably need to change the needle bearings.  If this happens I may take the opportunity to lower the gearing slightly to make 2nd more useful when exiting hairpins during hill climbs, and also lower 5th gear so it’s of some use when travelling less than 80 mph.

[Geoff Pinch]

Ben, What’s the T5 gearbox experts name and does he have a phone number and/or website? Be good info to share. Hope your trip went well and too noisy….

 

 

 

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