Fox body clutch question
 

Hey everyone, my name's Aaron and I'm new here. I have a 79 mustang hatchback that I acquired as a means of transportation and project car. It's been worked on before, and it has a 4 bbl carb on an aftermarket intake, 302 engine with stock exhaust, MSD ignition, electric fan and bare essentials. I haven't touched it mechanically yet, aside from an oil change and new battery. The interior dash is replaced with custom gauges (which never work right) and switches (which i don't know what they're for), and set up for nitrous (which it doesn't have.)

There is a stock 4-speed SROD tranny and a clutch that's going out. The synchros in the tranny are almost shot, and I'm looking for a new t5 (unless you have suggestions, feel free to let me know) Goals for this car are to build a street/strip car with tons of HP/TQ on pump gas.

Before I replace the clutch in it, I was hoping to find out why it's screeching so loudly. When I open the hood to find where the noise is coming from at idle, the screech is so unbelievably loud its hard to pinpoint. I narrowed it down to inside the bellhousing (I think), and when the car is driving under load (very low rpms in gear) the sound goes away. When it picks up speed and rpms, the screech gradually gets louder till I have to press in the clutch to shift, and when I press the clutch it gets even louder. Then it quiets down again for the low rpms of the next gear and so on. Any ideas?

Aaron United

As I said in the welcome post, sounds like the throwout bearing for the clutch :). Are you just going to replace the clutch and keep the SROD? If the synchros are shot, then it's like just throwing money away because that clutch won't work with the T5.

Keep in mind that since your engine is a pre-1982 your engine has a 28oz balance, so to get a later model 86-93 clutch you will have to find a 28oz internal balance 10.5" flywheel or you will have severe vibration issues. The 82+ 5.0 engines have a 50oz balance, so that might present a small problem. This only applies for the T5 swap though. Or you could swap in an 87-93 long block with a carb on top, then you will have a huge increase in power right out of the box as there would be included better heads, cam, and internals than what your 79 engine should have.

Personally, I'd just save up for all the right parts to do a T5 conversion. If you're resourceful you could find them fairly cheap.
SS

Thanks for your advice, it will come in handy! I'll keep in mind the balance oz when I do the conversion. When I have the money I'm going to get a t5 and performance dual plate clutch. I want an 8.8" rear end with some moderate gear ratios after that, and I already have a mostly complete motor from a '91 outside of it. I wanted a fuel injected motor but when I purchased this mustang it was carbed, so I'm dealing with it till I fix up the other motor and swap them when I'm done.

UOAF