VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 31 Clutch question

I recently went with a buddy to test drive a 31 Coupe he was interested in. Not being used to driving an old car, he was a little put off with the clutch engaging near the top of the pedal. I told him it probably needed adjusting. Where can one buy a replacement clutch if needed, and what do they generally run price wise? (I'm a 50's Chevy guy so I know bupkis about these cars.)
Also, it took some getting used to the transmission. Do you have to double clutch to get all the gears? I noticed we were grinding it a bit in all gears and was wondering if this tranny needed work or this is normal as I believe these had no sychronizers??

I feel bad for the seller--we were scaring the hell out of him!!LOL

Thanks
Ignorant in VT.

Check the Filling Station on line catalog at www.fillingstation.com

Yes! The first year for a synchromesh transmission was 1932 so prior to that you must double clutch when shifting gears.

From your description, it sounds to me like the clutch is working the way it is supposed to.

Actually you don't need to double clutch when up shifting. All you have to do is hesitate for a second or two between gears. That gives time for the gears to attain the proper meshing speed. High viscosity tranny oil helps keep from grinding the gears. If you find that you need to shift faster then double clutching might be quicker. That is if you are an accomplished double shifter. Down shifting requires double clutching to get the lower gears moving fast enough.

Once you get a bit of practice it becomes second nature.

Thanks Andy, Junk, and Chipper. I'm now a little less ignorant.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!

(Going through old car withdrawl up here in the Frozen North. Had to peek under the car cover today!!

Cheers.

When you are shiftilng from 3rd to 2nd (and even 2nd to 1st), you need to double clutch, and give it some gas when you get to the nutral position to allign the gears befor moving to the lower gear. It wo't grind that way.

So the question is ................... Is your buddy adding the '31 to his fleet? If not, are you adding it to your fleet? If so, double clutching lessons could be given!!!????

Oh Jeez.... now he wants us to teach him how to drive LOL

my '32 requires double clutching. It could just be worn out. Or maybe it's another 1931 part snuck into the '32 like so many other parts. Did '31 have free wheeling? This transmission has free wheeling.

thanks, Mark

'32 was first year for freewheeling, and I undersatand it was a dud improvement phased out in short order.

Hey Mark!

You could be worn out and maybe not. It sounds like you have a 32 trans. But two things, you can't shift fast like you can in a modern car. Also what type of oil are you using? I found using the 600 wt oil makes the car shift much better then 90-145 that you can buy at NAPA. Also I found when it get a little low it starts to crash more then when full. Sounds like I should make a day trip up to see you and talk 32's.

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

Yes, we should get together! I might make the trek to Beaverton this summer (with the family, not in the '32) also.

Tonight at long last I have the gas tank back in (unplugged, cleaned, sealed, new sending unit). Will start another thread for a question on that.

While I was working on the gas tank, I changed out the transmission oil to 600 wt. I was worried about damage to the free wheeling gears from this summer's trouble, but didn't find any pieces of metal in the oil. I had a suspicion that the gear oil put in is not as heavy as this stuff, but it was pretty thick. I bought one of those napa hand pumps for the oil, it was so thick you can't suck it in. I floated the oil bottle in hot water for a half hour to thin it out, then poured the oil into pump which worked pushing it out. Can't wait to take it for a spin, but complications abound may be another week. I'm hoping for more than a trip around the block this time.

Mark

I had the Green Hornet out last weekend and it ran quite well. It was rough and had hard time idling last winter so maybe it's the warmer weather.

Over the winter, I'd replaced the transmission oil with the thick-like-honey oil. I had to put the bottles in hot water to get it thin enough to pour into an oil pump (too thick to pull in).

Anyways, I found that the synchromesh works when the transmission is cold but as the gear oil heats up, them gears a-grind.

Two conclusions: 1) the 82 year old transmission is worn and 2) previous mechanic didn't put in 300 weight oil.

Mark

The 300 weight oil is probably to thick for a 31 Chevy. I u se a modern transmission oil and it works well. You still have to double clutch a 31 and it wont grind.

The correct weight oil to use is 600W. It is available from the Filling Station.

It's the appropriate gear oil from FS, must be remembering the weight wrong. I bought one of those hand pumps from Napa, tried to suction the oil out of the bottle at 50F but was too thick. Put the bottles into a bucket filled with hot water, still too thick. Then unscrewed the lid for the pump and poured the oil in, that worked at last. Man, that stuff is like honey.

To clarify, the 600W product used in these transmissions/rearends etc was a specific oil type, not a reference to the oil's weight, i.e. it is not 600 Weight oil. Esso (Exxon) sells it locally by the 5 gallon pail for about $100, they refer to it as 600W and call it Cylinder Oil, and indicated to me it is equivalent to about 260Weight. FYI

Yep, 600W is the correct oil for the 31 transmission.

No,600 is not the correct weight for a 31 transmission, even though it says that in the old books. That was an old number used in the 30's and isn't relevant today. Today's transmission oils are much better than back in the 30's. Get some regular transmassion oil used in today's standard transmisions. I did try the 600 weight and shifting was difficult. My 31 is a daily driver and I use regular transmission oil without any problems. Besides, you can change the oil at any of your local quick oil change shops.

Define "regular". Do you mean "regular" 90W gear oil?

Yes...600W is the correct oil "type" to use in the 1931 transmission. It was correct in 1931 and it is correct today. However, the actual viscosity rating of the modern 600W oil is different today than it was back in 1931.