First Gear "Chatter"

In the "string" on this forum titled "2110" the conversation turns to lightened flywheels and engine "chatter" and vibrating caused by fast starts in first gear.

This is a common problem when one puts a performance engine in Bugs or sand buggies. A light car and a relatively powerful engine create an experience similar to having a bit of oil on your clutch. I'm not sure if a larger competition clutch plate with heavier springs solves the problem, but one fix that can alleviate much of the "chatter" is a transmission mounting strap. This strap fits around the transmission and anchors to the engined horns on the frame adding a bit more rigidity to the transmisson and engine mounting system.

These straps are available from most VW performance parts vendors and can be found on the mail order ad pages in Hot VW's. They are reasonably priced. And,I think they add life to the other mounts by reducing stress on them.

Weight of the flywheel shouldn't make any difference.

Weight of the flywheel shouldn't make any difference.

Maby it's the clutch gable. If the part A in pic is missing and you don't have the curve in cable (B) it causes shake.

A very common first gear chatter problem is that the flywheel has not been surfaced correctly and/or the pressure plate is not mating evenly with the flywheel.

I realize our car is an oddball with the porsche 6, but friction is friction. We had the flywheel surfaced when we built the engine. The clutch is the lightweight "S" version and was brand new in the original box. The chatter was absolutely vicious. No amount of adjustment would correct the problem.

We pulled the transaxle and examined the pressure plate. It was readily obvious that one area of the plate was taking the load and the rest was not. We surfaced the pressure plate and reassembled it. Same problem. Then we dismantled again and took the flywheel and plate down to the same shop that originally turned the flywheel. They insisted that the flywheel was perfect but at our request turned it again. We reassembled a 3rd time and have had zero problems since.

The fault was the flywheel all along.
angela

Replace trans nose mount and 2 rear engine mounts with the highest quality you can get. Remove trans strap(they transfer quite a bit of engine vibration to the rest of the car). Install a Gene Berg trans mount, part# GB 643.

Good Luck, Have Fun
Joel

Small correction to my message:
It's actually the cable tube from floorpan to part A thats often missing. Without the tube there's no curve in the cable and clutch shakes.

I had big time chatter with starting in first gear. Soon after the chatter got bad, the clutch tube seperated from the pan, rendering the clutch useless. I took it to a mechanic, and he fixed the problem, and now the first gear starts are chatter free!