<VV> 1963(4) Spyder 4 speed (transmission?)

[Craig Nicol]

Kerry wrote:
Well the car died today. bad.

I need help verifying the problem b/4 turning a wrench if possible. 
Please bear with me when I attempt to describe whats happened it started 
out..well weird.

Initially the first symptom was that at a traffic light, when letting 
out the clutch to rock the car a bit (bad habit I know..) when the car 
would move forward it would suddenly feel the the brakes came on, the 
car would stop, then roll backwards, even on a flat surface. That was 
minor though but it happened from time to time. The last two weeks the 
car has been harder and harder to shift, to 2nd and 4th mostly but also 
3rd. At times it is (was) hard to get it out of a gear. Had to double or 
even triple clutch to get it into gear. Other times it was fine. Always 
went into reverse ok.

Today it got to the point where I had a lot of trouble getting into gear 
2,3,4) and even grinding somewhat. My first thought was that the clutch 
was not releasing making the car hard to shift though if left in gear at 
a light the car never 'creeped' at all. I parked the car, did my errands 
and came out, put the car into gear.  hard to do and the car rolled but 
made the most god awful noise I have ever heard.  and it felt like a 
gear was slipping. First thought was differential, BUT, when I put the 
car into neutral, it STILL makes the grinding sound when I let the 
clutch out! _AND the car tries to move_! The car can only be pushed if 
it's in neutral AND I hold the clutch in, otherwise something locks up.

So there you have it, my sad (very sad) story. What does the group 
think?  My thinking is something in the transmission has gone badly 
wrong/broken. Does anyone have as clue, if it IS the transmission, what 
went bad?


Kerry Borgne Spyder convertible

Craig Replies:
It sounds like you have toasted bearings between the input (clutch) gear and
the main shaft. No big, early 4-speed transmissions are fairly common. Note
that they come in several flavors. 12-spline (61-3) and 14-spline (64-5).
The 61-3 version has a lower first gear (3.65:1).  Make sure to get a car
version (has backup lamp switch). It's not too hard to replace.
Craig