Reproduction Parts for 1916-1964 Chevrolet Passenger Cars & 1918-1987 Chevrolet & GMC Trucks


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#97605 03/18/07 10:56 AM
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Oil Can Mechanic
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1947 Stylemaster, Factory 216, Factory Trans, Original everything. 37,000 original miles. Car started shuttering when starting out in first gear. It started after a nice summer drive, when a huge thunderstorm arose, and I drove it through the storm back home. Doesn't do it between 1&2 or 2&3. I did have a leaky rearmain seal, no surprises there, but I replaced it, and I did spray down the clutch with brake cleaner to remove any splashed oil or grease from the mainseal. I pulled the inspection pan, and looked at the assembly, it was nice and clean. No broken fingers or springs either. Maybe warped it from splashed cold rain water? Any Ideas? It is embarrasing.


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Take a look at the rear motor mounts. They are prone to split and it is not easily noticed. (Split: rubber comes loose from the metal part).

Agrin devil


RAY


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Possible causes-
Broken motor mounts loose rear spring mounts or U bolts.
Transmission low on gear oil (use 140 or 85W-140) to reduce clutch chatter or gear rattle.
Set hand brake and place in high gear and slip the clutch to burn off any foriegn depostis-see if it changes problem.
Warped flywheel or pressure plate.
These had a little clutch chatter when starting in first or reverse when they were new.


Gene Schneider
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My '48 chatters, too. And sometimes this helps. Set the parking brake and slip the clutch like you might be starting out on a steep hill. The "oldtimers" called this "burning in". But, don't go as far as to smell the lining. Ease into it a bit at a time. I was in the first driver training high school class in town and we had two brand new '48 sedans. And I was among the first to drive one of them since I already knew how to drive. It chattered lightly when starting from a standstill. Later during the parallel parking test, the car chattered about the same in low and reverse as my first drive. .

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Its interesting to me, all of these responses, I appreciate all of them. Its worse when I reverse, by far. There are a set of links from the rearend up to the frame, this past year when it started, that was the first thing I looked at, and they were both off, as there is no nut or bolt to hold them on that rod, so I decided not to be original, and unthreaded that little rod, and put in a set of grade 8 bolts and nuts, with brass bushings, it did help, but not entirely. After the comments about the motor mounts, I am thinking that may have something to do with it, being they are 60 years old. Is it possible to change the front mounts without removing the timing cover? The car is about 5 miles away right now, so I can't look right at it. This past year I did drill and tap those 2 bolts hidden in the oil pan for the timing cover, took me 2 days to figure that one out. And is the rearmount easily changed? I like to think about my next steps thoroghly before I get started. Thanks again.

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The rear mounts are fairly easy to exchange. Some people may call them transmission mounts.

The front mount can be changed without removing the pan or timing cover.

Agrin devil


RAY


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1925 Superior K Roadster
1928 Convertible, Sport, Cabriolet
1933 Eagle, Coupe
1941 Master Deluxe 5-Passenger Coupe
1950 Styleline Deluxe 4-Door Sedan
1950 Styleline Deluxe Convertible
2002 Pontiac, Montana, Passenger Van
2014 Impala, 4-Door Sedan, White Diamond, LTZ
2017 Silverado, Double Cab, Z71, 4X4, White, Standard Bed, LTZ

If you need a shoulder to cry on, pull off to the side of the road.
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The rods you mentioned are "aanti-chatter rods"...they were an aftermarket product sold to reduce clutch chatter.If the mounts are good there is no reason to have them.The mounts on the 1947''s usually lasted about 5 years so you are well past due.Probably were changed back in about 1952.The front mounts can be changed by just jacking up the engine.The lower bolts are accessed from below the crossmember-upper from above.Its a little tight but not too bad.Side mounts are easy.Transmission mount not too bad.Follow the "engine mountings" instructions in the shop manual.The proper fore and aft adjustment of the transmount is important to controll clutch chatter.
Car probably has more than 37,000 miles.In the '50's it was legal in Wisconsin to zero a speedometer on a used car and most dealers did if it had high milage....either that or they cheated a little.
Note that there are two styles of side motor mounts available for 1947.The original were the retangular mounts.They tend to break quite easily.In 1948 they came with the new Z shapped mount.They last longer and are a shear type mount.This made the engine smoother when pulling at low speeds....either will fit OK.They would be my choice.


Gene Schneider
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Thats a lot of good info. I had no Idea about the speedo/odo zeroing. Thats very interesting. The Body of the car has no rust at all, the undercarriage has minimal. The interior is decent minus the rips around the window cranks, I think they came that way from the factory, cause I think everyone I have seen shows that rip. The motor... I milled my head .010 and when I had it off, there was the faintest sign of cross hatching, so I checked the bore, and it is still the factory diameter within like .0075 or so. None the less, that doesn't mean somebody couldn't have hooked up the drill and ran it backwards for 20 thousand or so miles. Anyways, thanks everybody.

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I have a '52 Fleetline and have the same clutch chatter problem as stylemaster47 and PDXjoe -- just when starting off from a dead start either in first or reverse, etc. and so on. On the flats, I can modulate how severe it is by not giving it little or no throttle until the clutch is fully engaged (thank God for the low-end torque of a Chevy six!) but it still chatters slightly. It's most severe when backing up on a grade, where it is necessary to give it more gas and slip it a bit more. I've checked the mounts, spring shackles, U-bolts, etc. -- everything is tight and, anyway, all of these parts are new within the last ten years when the whole engine and drive train was rebuilt from water pump to rear spring shackles, so it's not a case of dealing with oil-and-grease softened or dry-rotted rubber mounts.

There are two things I'm suspicious of in my case. First, in spite of spraying the heck out of the clutch with solvent afterwards, I may have oil contamination of the clutch disc that may be left over from when I first put the car back on the road; the rear main is okay, but I stupidly filled the transmission up to the level of the fill plug when cold. The first time everything got good and hot, the gear oil expanded enough for some to get forced out past the input shaft bearing retainer and into the clutch housing -- I have since kept the level just below the plug when hot and haven't had another leak up front. The other suspicious thing, at least to me, is the clutch assembly itself, as it was a remanufacture pressure plate and disc, rather than a brand new one.

Right now, because I can't find anything else that seems to be causing the problem, I'm considering replacing the pressure plate and disc and getting the flywheel checked for problems. Does anybody have a suggestion regarding where or who to purchase a clutch assembly from? I'd really rather not take a chance with another rebuilt unit if at all possible. I remember someone mentioning newly-manufacture clutch assemblies being available from one of the better-known OEM suppliers, but I can't seem to find that thread! If anyone has a suggestion, or a brand/supplier/source they've been happy with, please let me know.

Thanks,


Scott Andrews
Dacula, GA
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Scott, as long as I have been driving and repairing these old Chevys. My first one was a 34 pickup, the next one was a 52 belair with a 3 speed that had been changed over from a powerglide. That one is the only 3 speed manual that didn't have some chatter in reverse and 1st gear, I don't have it all figured out yet. I replaced the clutch, measured the runout of the bell housing, the runout of the flywheel, the face of the new clutch plate, the pressure plate and replaced the pilot bushing replaced the U-joint with a new style , and put a 54 transmission in my 53 Belair 2 door sedan, which has the 11 inch clutch and a 54 truck motor in it. The change helped some but not entirely. I had a bit ot noise in first geat and that disapeared with the rebuilt 54 transmission. I did see an aftermarket kit on e-Bay that is supposed to do away with clutch chatter, I never saw one before and don't know if it works or not. Here is a picture, the bidding has ended for the kit. sold for $27.99

[Linked Image from i21.ebayimg.com]

The rods bolt to the bellhousing and the middle crosmember and you are supposed to tighten the nuts on the rods until the chatter stops. that is what the seller posted with the item.

P.S. I also pulled the middle crossmember and the rear transmission mount, and replaced the rear transmission mount and the bracket it fits in on top of the crossmember, replaced all the bolts with grade 8 bolts. The front motor mounts were new and I checked them for torque.

Last edited by MrMack; 03/26/07 10:31 PM.

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MrMack,

Thanks for the reply. I've driven a fair number of 39 through 54 Chevys, and most of them did have a slight bit of chatter, though at with least some of them, it was more a rattling sound that was heard more than it was felt, while the others weren't much worse than a slight vibration; a few were a bit worse, though, and my present '52 is one of them that every once in a while can be brutal. Once or twice it was bad enough that I seriously thought it had a broken mount, or at the very least, a bolt had dropped out. (Years ago, the "boss's" '83 Z28 lost the left front mount, and it felt exactly the same!)

Oddly enough, my very first car was a '52 Fleetline, bought used from a great uncle who had purchase the car new; that clutch was the smoothest one I had ever driven, bar none. A VCCA friend of mine also had a '54 BelAir hardtop that was nearly as smooth, as was his '55 1st series 1/2-ton (don't know if the light trucks were ever prone to this problem), so I know that a decently performing clutch in a torque tube Chevy is not a total impossibility. I'm hoping that the worst of my problems is residual oil fouling of the disc or weak and/or warped parts in the pressure plate assembly, hence my reluctance to go with another remanufactured clutch. This car's a real pleasure to drive in every other respect, but at this rate, it's liable to find itself getting a "transplant" to an open driveline! Hopefully, someone has some suggestions about a supplier for a new clutch assembly, or better yet, first-hand experience; I see NAPA lists one, but I don't know what their quality is like these days.

Thanks,


Scott Andrews
Dacula, GA
#J25833

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