more 308 gt4 troubles

The car is running fine after the gas hydrolock situation. I don't think I bent anything, and I'm certainly not going to take the engine apart. It was just rebuilt- it has less than 200 miles on it. I'm so annoyed that this crap happens all the time with weber carbs. It's happened to my Porsche 911 and to my Lamborghini Urraco. The 308 gt4's carbs were rebuilt 200 miles ago - with new needle valves!

I still haven't figured out the shimmy problem. The steering rack is new- but was installed by the idiot previous owner - a "mechanic" so I'm sceptical. The tie rod ends seem new too, and I don't detect any play in balljoints or bearings.

My latest problem is the transmission. I have a 1981 mondial transmission in my car. It was a low mileage transmission and when I bought it - I had it checked out on the bench at the local Ferrari dealer - to the tune of $1000! They ran it through the gears on a test bench, checked the synchros etc. and it supposedly is a good transmission.

The problem is it won't always stay in 2nd gear. It tends to pop out of 2nd when I'm decelerating and usually when I'm turning- for some reason it seems to happen more when I turn right! It doesn't pop out of gear when accelerating, only when decelerating.

When I put the engine back in the car, I just bolted the trans up to the linkage- this is a different transmission than the original, and I'm hoping the issue is just a linkage issue because I didn't adjust anything for the new transmission.
Perhaps that's wishful thinking!

Any thoughts on the problem? Is it something I can just live with? I'll just have to learn to keep my hand on the gear shift when in 2nd and decelerating. Does it do any damage to the synchro gear teeth when it pops out of gear if it's not under any load?

 

It's pretty well centered in the gate for 2nd and 3rd gear- equal distance from the end of the gate.

I just put the engine in the car not too long ago- I'll be sure to recheck the motor mount bolts. When I put the engine/trans in the car, I didn't know that mondial motor mounts were different than 308 gt4 mounts (stupid, I know) and I had to change all four mounts on the transmission with the engine already in the car- that was not easy. I had to support the engine on a jack and with the hoist while I changed the mounts. Maybe something isn't lining up right as a result.

If it's a weak detent ball/spring- can I just live with that? When I was rounding a turn the other day it popped out of 2nd and I heard a (relatively quiet) mechanical click when that happened. Will it damage the trans if that happens- e.g. will the teeth on the 2nd gear synchro get chewed up if it pops out of gear with the clutch out, but no load on the transmission (e.g. when decelerating)
The way I see it, it's as if I pulled it out of gear without using the clutch- I never intentionally do that, but how bad is it?