Mr Grippy Posted March 20, 2015 Posted March 20, 2015 Hi all, Just became a member as I felt a bit of a fraud, bought my first westy April last year and been driving around with a WSCC sticker on the rear (was there when I bought car), so I thought I would do the right thing. It all started last year when my son showed me a you tube clip of a very quick westy, so I found one that was for sale locally and went to have a look, the car was not the one for me but the chap to me out for a spin (red top 2.0 on bike carbs). MAN i had to get one of those! what a ride. Anyway to cut a long story short and after 3 months of looking I found the one for me, 2.0 zetec on webber 45's. Had a great time and a lot of fun during the summer months and even the wife can't get enough of it. During the winter I decided to put together my own engine build. So with my limited experience and i do mean limited,(last time I tinkered with an engine it was a mark 3 cortina around 1988). Armed with my mondeo haynes manual and bags of enthusiasm I sourced the parts required and managed to put together the engine I wanted. Transplanted into car, worked a treat, then came the small but annoying problem. It seems that the clutch release bearing is rattling around and creating a knocking sound that is resonating through the bell housing and makes the engine sound like a bag of spanners when idleing. If I depress the clutch pedal about half way the sound goes, I have spent hours adjusting clutch cable but to no avail. I used the bearing from the old engine as I found the Westfield receipt and it was only fitted in 2012 so should be ok. It seems like it needs and additional spacer to stop it knocking. Would appriciate any advice as i don't really want to remove engine and if i do i want to make sure i solve the problem before putting it back. Cheers. Quote
SootySport Posted March 20, 2015 Posted March 20, 2015 Oh well, you joined up eventually that's the main thing. The release arm rattle is quite common (same on mine) , now't to worry about as I assume you have had it all apart, checked and renewed as necessary. The design is still '70's '80's so it's not surprising. Quite a few on this forum have converted to an hydraulic system, a job for you next winter perhaps. Quote
Stuart Posted March 20, 2015 Posted March 20, 2015 Release bearing rattles on hydraulic clutch too.... Quote
wackydo Posted March 20, 2015 Posted March 20, 2015 Welcome, you're just down the road in Swindon. There's a few other members local to you I understand. Quote
Tim Reid Posted March 20, 2015 Posted March 20, 2015 Welcome. My clutch release bearing rattles too. I even fitted a new one when fitting a new engine (that Westfield weld a spacer too) but it still rattles. You get used to taking the slack out of the cable by gently pressing the pedal Quote
SootySport Posted March 21, 2015 Posted March 21, 2015 Welcome. My clutch release bearing rattles too. I even fitted a new one when fitting a new engine (that Westfield weld a spacer too) but it still rattles. You get used to taking the slack out of the cable by gently pressing the pedal It's more to do with the arm, it's not exactly precision engineering as it just has one point of contact on the fulcrun pin. The rattle seems to be caused by the release bearing rattling on the square cut hole of the arm, I tried copper greasing around the square hole and on the input shaft but doesn't stop the rattle. I'll also not bother converting to hydraulic now Stuart says it makes no difference. Quote
AdamR Posted March 21, 2015 Posted March 21, 2015 As above, get under the car and give it a waggle, you'll see / hear the non-issue! Quote
Kit Car Electronics and Essex AO Posted March 21, 2015 Posted March 21, 2015 Just to check, you did fit a spigot bearing in the crank end, right? Quote
SootySport Posted March 21, 2015 Posted March 21, 2015 Just to check, you did fit a spigot bearing in the crank end, right? Mine has, yes Mike. I wonder if some sort of spring arrangement will help although I can't imagine where to fit it. Quote
Mr Grippy Posted March 22, 2015 Author Posted March 22, 2015 Thanks for all the replies, I checked and double checked all parts before i mated the transmission/engine so by the sound of it i think its something i'm going to have to live with. Thanks all. Quote
SootySport Posted March 22, 2015 Posted March 22, 2015 Seems that way, I can't be asked to mess around with it anymore. Quote
Dommo Posted March 22, 2015 Posted March 22, 2015 No experience of Zetecs I'm afraid, but as you're local thought I'd say welcome! There's a fair few of us around here now. At least 6 in Swindon itself then a few more within a few miles radius Quote
Andy Banks Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 Mine rattles too. Tends to reduce when nice and warm though. Quote
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