Hello, just joined the forum. I bought the Special DeLuxe from Streetside Classics 2 years ago and had it shipped to Czech Republic.
It looked great, but was probably standing in fresh air for some time (had water ingress marks on the dash and roof lining and some paint damage (mild) from water pooling on the front wing.
There was vibration from the drive train on idle, getting worse with increasing revs and getting worse over time. After some 50 miles she developed terrifying clutch chatter when moving off from standing. The flywheel was found warped and there appeared to be damage to rivets on tje clutch disc (possibly original with no springs). A re-surfaced flywheel was bought from Tom Langdon of Langdon Stowebolt, together with clutch kit. The vibration got much better, but after driving some 10 miles, the terrifying clutch chatter when moving off from standing started happening again. Any ideas, please?
Also, she has the carburettor pre-heater valve stuck solid in half-open position. Does it matter much?
Welcome to the Chatter, Jiri. I am sorry to see that you are having issues with your car, and I hope you get it sorted out soon so that you can enjoy it.
First the disclaimer- I am far from an expert on this but I can tell you what worked for me on my 51, 216. First I would check that all the motor/transmission mounts are in good shape. From my research here and other places it seems that clutch chatter was quite common on closed drive train cars. So common, in fact, that there was a product sold called an "anti clutch chatter kit". I have seen several for sale on eBay. I bid on one and didn't get it so I made one myself from the pictures. What it does is firmly hold the engine back against its tendency to move slightly forward on initial acceleration. This may not work for you but it did seem to solve my issue. Others may chime in (please do) and say this is voodoo auto mechanics. Just my 2 cents. Jeff
When we got our 1937 Master coupe it had an “anti- chatter” kit on it. I removed it because it was it was in the way to work on the parking brake as well as replace the badly deteriorated side motor mounts. The front mounts were completely oil soaked. The transmission mount rubber had separated from the metal plates.
I installed all new front and side motor mounts as well as a new transmission mount. I started driving the car without the kit just to determine if it was needed. I never installed the kit because there was no uncontrolled engine movement during the 5 years and 6500 miles I drove the car.
I would free up the heat flap in the manifold, preheating the engine is the main purpose for the exhaust flap. I recently freed an exhaust manifold heat valve up by soaking the pivots in penetrene, and very carefully tapping backwards and forwards, and then more penetrene. Some recommend acetone and automatic transmission fluid mix, You might find it easier to remove the manifolds and work on the bench.
There is a rear engine mounting improvement that uses a new shaped mount that takes the torque loads at 45degrees , and are better than the original flat biscuit type rear engine mounts,
I replaced all the mounts on my 51 with NOS original GM parts that I found easily on eBay. The price was not outrageous and I wanted real GM parts not repro parts made who knows where. Jeff
What exactly were the clutch parts that were in the clutch kit , and was it a rigid solid clutch disc with no springs ??? Did it have a pilot bearing or bushing of any type that was replaced ? Sold clutches here in Tampa , Florida for over 30 years , would like to assist you .
OOOps sent reply to wrong guy !! Second try here. What were the parts in the clutch kit that you folks installed . Was the clutch disc rigid , no springs ??? And did the disc have any cushion between the clutch linings themselves ? Was there a pilot bushing or pilot bearing in the crankshaft ? Any wear on the input shaft that you could see on inspection? Clutch chatter can be a real killer to locate but start with the basics . Sold clutches for over 29 years so I would like to help . Any pictures of the pressure plate and disc that came out ???
1958belairj, If you are asking what was in the anti chatter kit, there was nothing that was in the clutch. It consisted of 2 threaded rods and 4 brackets. The brackets hooked around the front engine mount brackets and the frame crossmember. Nuts were tightened to reduce the length of the threaded rods, holding the front of the engine rearward toward the transmission. All of this is external to the engine/clutch/transmission and can easily be removed for access to other parts. Like I said earlier, this may be voodoo mechanics but it seemed to work for me. Jeff
I am interested in trying to get the info on what parts on the clutch came out of the car and what parts were put in , regarding the flywheel , pressure plate , clutch driven disc , pilot bushing , and throw out bearing . Motor mounts are critical on solving clutch chatter on take off from a stop . Thanks and good luck to all. Any photos???
Thanks, Tiny for the info regarding engine mounts. Hello 1958 abelairjoe nd Jeff. Thanks for offering help. The original flywheel was found warped by the guy who was balancing it and he suggested to get a replacement, which I got, resurfaced, form Tom Langdon of LangdonStowebolt. The original disc was one without springs, with barrels damaged as if they were getting in contact with something, or something was knocking on them. We did not replace the bush or check its run out. It looked OK. The replacement parts came from Chevrolet 1940-41 LukRepSet. I would like to attach photos, but don't know how. It is interesting to hear that even the mounts of the rear axle can contribute to clutch chatter. There are some knocking sounds coming from the back when driving over bumps in the road. Thanks for the kind comment, ChevNut and Chatmaster - any advice, please on how to attach pictures? I'll try your recipe to release the pre-heat flap, Jack39Rdstr. Jiri
When you either start a thread or click on the Use Full Editor button, below the text box will be the Attachment Manager link. Click on that and follow the instructions to attach pictures. There are size limits so if your pictures are too large you'll need to size them down.
VCCA Member 43216 Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet. 1938 HB Business Coupe 1953 210 Sedan
The flywheel is a later 6 bolt type so I suspect the car has a later model engine. This has no effect on the clutch as clutch parts were the same from 1940 to 1953.
