Dang, that's four out of four.

You'd think I'd have at least one fun car to play with, considering I've got four of them. But with the 308 in the shop, the MGB in pieces, an the TR3 having serious differential problems, my Spitfire was the only car left running at the moment. I went to change the gearbox oil today and this is what came with it (looks like the remains of the input shaft needle bearing). So... now I've got to drop the tranny and send it off to be rebuilt. I'm officially toy-less.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Don't know yet. It makes a heck of a whine when above 10mph or so and not on the throttle. It's actually my mother's car, even though I steal it when I've got nothing else to drive. I bought it for her a few years ago, and I'm the go-to guy when there's trouble. When she complained about the noise and I took a look, the diff was completely out of oil. So I'm thinking it's either bearings if I'm lucky, or the gears themselves if I'm not.

I can get this gearbox completely rebuilt for about $600-$700 (the Triumph world has some advantages over the Ferrari one ). I then have something I have confidence in, rather than a used one that might or might not be ok. I could obviously save time and exchange this one with another rebuilt, but it's always nice to keep the original gearbox with the car.

Here's the weird part though! The car still drives fine. No scary noises from the tranny, no grinding of the gears, nothing. Worst I hear is a very, very faint whirring when the tranny is in neutral. Still, with what came out, I'm afraid of sudden catastrophic failure if I try and drive it any futher.

 

Neither did I, till yesterday. At least the A4 is still working, for the moment

P.S. Sorry I'm going to miss the festivities today. See you next time!