Gretings Fellow Brickowners,

In the continuing saga of '80 242 w/ manual 4spd, no OD: at cruise speed the dern thing still makes a rattling/clinging noise like something big is about to happen. Don't feel any vibrations and don't have any other symptoms (except that I have been grinding 1st gear a little lately). Incidentally, I had the clutch changed three months ago (at 260K) along with pilot bearing. The noise didn't change any.

I've camped out underneath the car the last few weekends and tried everything posted to try to find source. Cat shield, exhaust system all check out. Replaced center carrier bearing (hadn't been done in many, many moons) and, even though the rubber donut looked pretty ratty and the bearing was covered w/ rust, there was no change.

Beginning to think it may actually be internal to the tran. Question is: what thoughts on trying gear oil in place of Type F to see if noise dampens ? A few years back the genius at the local fast lube actually did this to me and it wasn't until winter that I figured it out (car tried to go forward in neutral). So I'm thinking it can't be too catastrophic. I will bow to your expert opinions.

Thanks for your past & future suggestions.
Chuck