Clunking noise from gear change mechanism

[ex-Chinese Dave]

As you may know I’ve been chasing every noise on this car since I got it. There is this strange clunking noise that I hear went on and off the throttle very very gently at different speeds, and also when I am changing gear. The gearbox has been refreshed by Mark so I know the internals are fine. However, I have looked under the car and there is nothing loose that I can see apart from the gear change mechanism. Obviously this has to have movement but just look at this video and see if this is normal, which I suspect it is, and also if there is anything I can do to reduce the amount of play if it is not. The clunking noise also happens when I am about to stop the car but I don’t dip the clutch as normal. The vibration from the engine almost stalling makes the noise happen quite loud. As the mechanism is the only loose thing under the car, I’m sure it has to be this. If this is not normal then is there a way to reduce the amount of vibration, movement here? It also had the new brass bush fitted to the selector when the gearbox was re-fitted.
This is one of those irritating noises that I would not be able to put into a video as you just wouldn’t hear it. If someone was sat in the car with me, they would obviously hear it. Or maybe this car just is making me paranoid.😱

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

I tried to see if there was anything I could do to dampen the movement and hopefully get some kind of result to point me in the right direction. There is nothing I can do that won’t restrict the movement of the mechanism. I did notice that the spring, near to where my hand is, is possibly weak. There is a shaft that goes into the gearbox and I think that when you put it into reverse gear, the shaft moves up and down. The spring that is there seems to offer only a little resistance, meaning it’s very easy for my hand to push the gear change mechanism upwards. Is this spring something that can be upgraded? If so, I guess that that would hold that shaft in the down position for changing gear but would still allow the movement to put it into reverse. Am I making any sense here? Or should I just go back to bed?

 

[Krarl]

That selector noise is normal

They do clunky into gears. The only place they would have play is at the red bushings under the shifter tower. But if they had that much play you'd be struggling to get gears consistently

I would look at balljoints/lower arms/rack bushes personally. That's going to be the most likely cause if you've replaced all of your engine mounts

The spring on the selector is purely just to keep tension on the selector arm so it doesn't just slop around and the shift feels more direct

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

The ball joints, track rod ends and ARB are all new. We didn’t replace the two bushes in each wishbone due to time but there is no suspension knock from anywhere so I doubt it’s them. They look in good condition.

Is there anything under the gearstick itself that can be replaced or adjusted?

 

[Darren S]

Did it does those noises before all the work was done?

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

When I first bought the car it felt pretty tight but the more miles I put on it the looser it got. It had only done 1.5k in about 11 years so time caught up with it pretty fast (hence all the new bits). I'm fairly sure this noise was always there but I couldn't distinguish it from all the others. Take that squeak for example. You could not hear that until the suspension was refreshed and after it drove me mad. Turned out it was a worn top engine mount and even fitting a decent used one solved that. Drive over speed bumps and uneven roads and you don't hear this clunk, but curl your toes on and off the gas pedal at 35 and you can hear it.

 

[Darren S]

It's frustrating that it will be something and nothing. The last noise that annoyed me turned out to be a worn top engine mount.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

It's frustrating that it will be something and nothing. The last noise that annoyed me turned out to be a worn top engine mount.

Was it a squeaking noise, when you were going over speed bumps etc?