C2 - Correlation between cluch and tach?

[Brian Monticello]

Usually when I ask these questions I am overlooking something fairly obvious but here goes anyway.....

Car is a 1965 327/300 with a 68 Muncie

My tachometer is noisy - when I drive it makes a slight ticking that kind of sound like valve noise. When the car isn't moving and I'm not in gear it makes a very quiet sqeek in addition to the ticking.

Here's what I can't figure out... if I have the clutch pushed in (even about 1/8") the noise goes away. The slightest pressure on the clutch pedal - probably one pound stops the squeaking and noise.

What is the connection between the clutch and the tachometer?

confused,
brian

[Wayne K.]

Re: C2 - Correlation between cluch and tach?

Brian,

The first noise could be coming from your tach but I think the second noise might be coming from your clutch throw-out bearing. You may want to check the free play adjustment. Your throw-out bearing may be going bad. You should probably remove the tach drive cable and if it looks o.k. clean up the housing and the cable and put fresh lube on the cable before installing. If that doesn't take care of it it is probably in the tach drive head which would require a rebuild or replacement.

[John H.]

Re: C2 - Correlation between cluch and tach?

Brian -

No connection - sounds like a dying throwout bearing to me.

[Brian Monticello]

Re: C2 - Correlation between cluch and tach?

Wayne,
I'll pay extra attention next time I fire it up. Thats the one draw-back of side pipes in my opinion - the sound masks potential probalems and makes trouble shooting more difficult.

I think I was thrown for a loop because the noise (and slight bounce) in the tach was synchronized with the slight squeeking I have. This now makes sense because everything is sychronized with each engine revolution.

Thanks for the advice,
Brian

[Ed S.]

Re: C2 - Something Else to Check

I agree that the problem was likely correctly diagnosed by the earlier posts, but here's an unusual one (with a cheap fix) that you want to check.

When I acquired my '66 with sidepipes, it too had what seemed to be a RPM-related noise coming from the tachometer area. The tach cable was obviously new, so I assumed the prior owner had replaced the cable and was unsuccessful at eliminating the noise. I pulled the dash cluster, expecting a tach head rebuild to be in order....however, with the cluster out of the car, I noticed one of the tach-to-cluster fasteners was just slightly loose, and I could replicate the noise by pushing and releasing on the rear of the tack head.

I surmise that the torque of the revolving tach cable was moving the head just enough to cause the noise. Tightened the tach head-to-cluster fastener, and the noise was eliminated!

Good luck,
Ed

[Ralph E.]

Re: C2 - Something Else to Check

Did you try disconnecting the Tach and listen to hear if the sounds persist/ My $.02