Transmission tunnel/propshaft clearance

[bxbodger]

I'vebeen tracking down a weird vibration problem which only occurs when there's a passanger in the car...............it appears to be that some heavy haded half-wit :B while doing battle with a stuck handbrake pivot bent the tunnel slightly where the handbrake handle sits- this caused it to make gentle contact with the propshaft when someone's sat in the passanger seat, only a slight amount of normal body flex-enough to cause a horrendous vibe however.

I've pushed it back by judicious use of a jack, but there still isn't much clearance......vibes have stopped I don't suppose there is meant to be much of a gap anyway, but I'd like to know if there's not meant to be much and it's now right or was right before the oaf :B and his hammer got busy.

Does anyone know how much of a gap there should be between the handbrake housing and the propshaft on an O/D equipped Vitesse? Thanks!

[Nick Jones]

On my car in its various forms and previously on my Herald with single rail/J-type clearance has always been very very tight here.  In fact the Herald used to 'graunch' when going over rough surfaces with a weighty passenger until I modifed the mounting arrangements to lower it.

On the Vitesse with J-type I had to lower the back of the box as far as I could to avoid this problem but I was never really sure how it was 'meant' to be as this is obviously a non-standard installation!  With the Toyota W58 its's now a good as it has ever been partly because the shape of that box helps clearnace at the rear and allows me to sit it low and partly because I was determined to reduce the propshaft angle as much as possible.  There is still less than 10mm clearance unladen though.  May be worth using a well placed block between floor and chassis to prevent excess sag?

Cheers

Nick

[Steve AKA vitessesteve]

The gap is very tight.  My Vitesse used to complain if I pushed it very hard into corners, accelerated quickly as well as when carrying a heavy passenger.

Was fixed by Mike Papworth a while back.  It was the strenghtening for the handbrake touching on the prop.

Make sure your engine and gearbox mounts are in good nick and not allowing too much movement.

[mk2vitesses]

Much the same story, when I went from "D" type to "J" type it made a horrible noise! I had to sit the rear LOW, I put the "T" shaped bracket under the chassis rails, then shimmed it up till it was optimal.
Like you Nick I have fitted the W58 as low as possible.

Simon

[bxbodger]

Cheers chaps-it appears that it is meant to be that tight then! My car left the factory without an O/D, and the J type was fitted sometime in the 80's, but it was only after I walloped the handbrake pivot that contact was made, must have been really close before that though!

A bit of jacking under the floor seems to have done the trick.

[mk2vitesses]

The simple solutions are always the best!

[bxbodger]

it was a weird thing to track down- it sounded for all the world like a dodgy u/j, but weight sensitive and with vibes running through the tunnel! Diagnosed by pulling the 'box cover off and poking a stick down the tunnel to see if anything was caught up in there.....followed by a squint with a mirror and torch.