Hi,

I am pretty sure that the awful noise that my car is making is from the throughout bearing. It goes away when I press the clutch in, and is very present when I have the cluth out and the tranny (M41) is not in gear and the car is idleing. The sound is not comming from the engine. I was pretty freaked out when I first heard it and used a cut garden hose as a stethascope to make sure.

The throughout bearing is one that came in an aftermarket clutch kit that I installed when I rebuilt the engine in '97. As I remember it is looks kind of funky compaired to an original Volvo throughout bearing. The original Volvo bearing is one piece and all steel. The aftermarket one is made of metal and plastic held together by "?" with some sort of wire spring around it.

My first question is: Does anybody know if the original Volvo type bearing is still available, and if so, is there any advantage to going with this original part?

My second question is: If the clutch looks okay, can I get away with just replacing the bearing? I really don't feel like spending the $$ and also dealing with having the flywheel resurfaced.

Its kind of funny that My P1800ES is making this noise as well, but unlike my beloved 144GL [got it in '83 for $250.00 and have been driving it (for the most part) ever since], the transmission bearings and gears are still good.

Oh yeah, the clutches in both cars do not seem to be slipping.

Thanks

Ted Ryder
Sleepy Hollow CA
'74 144GL
'73 P1800ES