Grinding noise

For what its worth, I bought mine from NAPA. It was a stamdard Ford part.

With regard to the throw-out bearing ... My experience has been:

Idle the car in neutral. Listen to noise from the bell housing. If you hear rattling, or a knocking or marbles knocking about sound (like a detomnating engine) then it is almost sure it is your throw-out bearing.

Cheers.

B.G.

Thanks, I searched through all the old tranny postings and for sure, this is the throw out bearing. Guess I'm going to find out what's involved in pulling the tranny.
Doug M

Doug,

There are 2 ways to pull the tranny.

1) The tranny only - leaving the engine in place.
2) The tranny and the engine together.

After pulling my engine/transaxle assembly myself ... I would recommend you go this route. Pick up all the tools you need at Princess Auto. There are 2 stores in Calgary.

B.G.

B.G. ,

I'm assuming that the two bolts inside the bell housing are in place so I will pull the tranny/bell housing together but leave the engine in. I have access to a pro quality engine hoist, so I'm ok there. Can I do this without taking off the rear deck lid?? The only tool I don't have would be for lining up the clutch if it needs a new one. Not being familiar with this car, working on it makes me nervous. I'm always afraid I'm going to break something. Thanks for the help.
Doug M

Doug,

Don't be nervous. The components you'll be working on are very durable pieces. It's easier to remove the tranny on the Pantera than it would be on a front engined car. You don't have to remove the exhaust or crossmembers and wrestle with a heavy tranny over your head while laying on your back with fluid dripping all over you that tastes nasty! (Been there.)

I'm not sure if you can get it out without removing the decklid, but I would think it would be EXTREMELY difficult with it on. Why risk damaging it? You can easily remove the decklid without disrupting it's alignment by driving the pins out of the hinges. Of course, you'll need an extra set of hands to help you move it.

I'm pretty sure the clutch alignment tool is a standard Ford deal and can be bought at any auto parts store.

Go for it. You'll feel real good that you did it yourself!

Michael

Thanks Michael,
Being able to knock the hinge pins out will make this much easier. I also won't miss all that dirt and grime that falls in my eyes after the safety glasses fog up and I throw them on the floor.
Doug M

This is how I did it including replacing the ZF seals http://www.panteraplace.com/page10.htm

Mike

I finally got a break from work and took advantage. Pulled the tranny yesterday and had a friend help me put it all back together today. The throw-out bearing was, as I had suspected, toast. Installed the P.I. billet hub with new bearing (nice piece!) Wow!, what a difference. Smooth and quiet. The rest of the clutch components were in great shape and stayed. This is a bit of a job, but not near as bad as what I had feared. The information and people on these forums gave me the confidence to tackle this myself and I'm glad I did.
Thanks everybody!!
Doug M

Make sure the adjustment is correct on the clutch slave. There is very little play and if out of adjustment the throw out bearing will prematurely fail.

Mine wasn't noisy, then i pulled the gerabox out and refitted it and now it is noisy
I will see how long I can live with it !