Around 10-15,000km's ago, i replaced the majority of the driveline in my NA6. This consisted of the following main parts:
Reconditioned NA 5 Speed (Early 1.6 Model)
New Exedy Clutch Kit
OEM Machined Flywheel
NB Torsen 2 (Completely Reconditioned)
New bearings etc for clutch.
When i first drove the car after getting it off the hoist, i noticed a light whine that was never there before while going through the gears. It would increase ever so slightly in volume when i put my foot further to the floor on the throttle. It was not really a bother and didn't seem to affect performance so we left it.
A few thousand k's on, it started to make a new noise. When i would start the car for the first time each day, stone cold, i would depress the clutch to put the car into gear. As soon as the pedal was depressed, it would get a metallic squealing noise from the front of the car, toward the bell housing. The noise would go away as soon as i released the clutch pedal. The whine still remained.
As time has gone on, it no longer makes that awful squeal, however, every time i drive it cold and move the car in gear for the first time, it makes a lower pitched squeal/groan, albeit very briefly then it doesn't happen again till i drive the car cold or leave it parked for a while.
If it were just noise that this was making i wouldn't be bothered, but i have noticed that it is becoming increasingly harder to select gears smoothly. The gearbox seems to be very notchy and can sometimes lightly crunch into certain gears if I'm not paying close attention. Down shifting and rev matching is also nowhere near as easy as it should be.
There doesn't seem to be any issues with the clutch as it still grabs hard when racing between gears, however, when the throttle is flat to the floor, i have noticed the appearance of a new noise. It's as if there is a couple of loose metal bits flying around in the bell housing, which i don't think there are, but it sounds like it. Its the same kind of noise when you put a front wheel drive car under heavy load at low rpm.
Sorry for the essay, but it's a weird issue and i couldn't really think of any other way to describe. I'm hoping someone knows a cause or solution
My guess is seized pilot bearing.
Thanks everyone,
Cheyne
