removing the slack in drivetrain?

heh all, had my clipper for almost a decade now and apart from chasing the intermittant cutting out problem about 8 years ago (and as always tracking it down to rust in the tank blocking the fuel pick up tube) the car has been awesome and I love it.

However, there is quite a bit of slack  in the drivetrain between accelerating and then foot of the gas.. it's feels like the engine and gearbox have two much travel between them and they catch each other up to engage.

Is it engine mounts or something or is it something internal?

thanks for any info or suggestions.



 

Most probably engine mounts. Best way to check is put it in gear, handbrake off and rock car back and forth by hand whilst looking at the engine. If it's rocks excessively than one or more of the mounts are knackered.

Do you get a clunking noise? Mine is doing this and have traced the noise to the diff backlash, I'm due a gearbox refresh over winter me thinks 

But yeah agree with above if no nasty noises like I'm getting would check engine & gearbox mounts

Excessive vibration is another feature of deceased engine /motor mounts.

A hint

On the front mount (radiator) under the Cup that holds the mount to the tranny.  Between the Cup holder and the valance beam place a couple of thick washers between the Cup and the Valance, this will force the rubber mount tighter on to the cup, and cause less torque loss from engine twist.  It also helps keep the Drivers side mount from early demise,  as well as slicing a chunk out of the old mount (drivers side) and placing it in-between the rubber and the steel mount top that way in the future when the mount goes south, the engine won't drop significantly and  screw up the shifting.



I would suspect the rear and front tranny mount first.

that's great tips and advice chaps… really appreciate the feedback.. does anyone recommend a certain polyurethane replacement mounts.. or just go with OEM replacements?

Some of the aftermarket mounts are very stiff giving you more vibrations in the car.
A good way of beefing up the standard rubber mounts is to fill in the gaps with a strong mastic or pack it out with similar density rubber. This way they will last longer, be a little bit stiffer but wont shake your car to pieces !
Some of the poly mounts are almost solid which is good for performance but if it gets a bit tiresome after a while. A bit like rock hard coilovers, good idea at first untill you have a bad back and your teeth have fallen out lol !!

Jake Snelling said

Some of the aftermarket mounts are very stiff giving you more vibrations in the car.
A good way of beefing up the standard rubber mounts is to fill in the gaps with a strong mastic or pack it out with similar density rubber. This way they will last longer, be a little bit stiffer but wont shake your car to pieces !
Some of the poly mounts are almost solid which is good for performance but if it gets a bit tiresome after a while. A bit like rock hard coilovers, good idea at first untill you have a bad back and your teeth have fallen out lol !!

nice info… i think i'll go with stock… i need my teeth at my age and my back is ruined already!

cheers fella!