alexandervdr

I hear a (slight) whining noise somewhere around the clutch when the gearbox is in neutral and the clutch is engaged. It disappears when the clutch is disengaged. Any idea what this could be? (Pilot bearing?)

Mike67nv

My first guess would be the throw-out bearing - only making noise when rotating (engaged).

Frankie the Fink

Throw out bearing is a good assumption; however, I would also say that if you aren't familiar with these cars, especially coupes, the drivetrain sounds can be disconcerting but are actually normal.

Try driving a midyear coupe around without that carpeted jackboard cover in place to get an exaggerated example of what I mean

plaidside

The throw out bearing would make noise when the clutch is disengaged, pedal depressed.
When the clutch is engaged the input shaft bearing, input shaft, cluster gear, 1st, 2nd and 3rd is rotating.
So the 'whine' could be an input bearing going bad or one of the gears in the transmission.

The OP stated the trans was in neutral so I assume the car is not moving.
Joe

Frankie the Fink

I thought that's what he meant until I reread it.

I just thought he might be over-sensitive to the sounds in a manual transmission mid-year...and everything could be just fine

GTOguy

In most cases with these transmissions, slight whine when the mainshaft is turning is normal...if excessively noisy, a new set of bearings will quiet it down. I'll be it's noisier when it's hot and the gear lube has thinned out.....if so, bearings are getting tired. I've driven transmissions that sounded like meat grinders until you pushed the clutch in....worn out bearings, but still worked fine.

alexandervdr

thanks guys, I may be overly sensitive, just checking on my car after a full body restore. I have taken the car out for some short drives to 'debug' it, and fix before I go into the wide open ;-)
I will let this one the way it is and hopefully it's just the way it is

Pilot Dan

Have you checked for the proper free play adjustment? You could be hearing the throw out bearing slightly engaged. Pilot Dan

SWCDuke

It's normal, but I would describe it more like a muted growl. If it gets louder, it could be a spalled the front transmission bearing... happened to my SWC back in the sixties. In fact the transmission will be louder in all the intermediate gears.

Duke

Plasticman

Just to clarify, when in neutral and the clutch is engaged, the pilot bearing is seeing no rotational differential between itself and the input shaft. In other words, it would not be the cause.

It would not hurt to:

A. Verify the clutch Throwout bearing free play, as other posters have stated.

B. Verify the trans has the correct amount of the correct lube.

Plasticman

63split63

About 10 years ago I bought a 63 coupe . The car was advertised with a rebuilt drive train . Long story short it made a lot of noise while idling in neutral with the clutch out .
I pulled the transmission and there was no pilot bushing in the end of the crank , not worn - missing .
Bill

alexandervdr

It's actually a Keissler 400 5 speed transmission. Pilot bearing has been aligned carefully, and the noise is when in neutral and the foot off the clutch (excluding the problem is in the bearing) . I actually have too much free play in the pedal so that should not be it neither. Moreover, it is not consistent, sometimes the noise is there, sometimes it's not.

DansYellow66

I would ignore it for now and get a few miles on the car. Almost any rebuilt car is going to develop a few issue that require a step or two back. Might as well find out where most of them are before tearing things apart as you may end up duplicating effort or some initial slight issues may just resolve themselves.