70 dart with 318. Car was converted to 4 speed with new centerforce clutch, flywheel, and TO bearing. There is a loud grinding noise very time every time you first move it in the morning then it doesn't do it the rest of the day. Start car clutch in , no noise. Car in neutral clutch in or out, no noise. Vary rpm , no noise. Put car in reverse or first gear with clutch in, no noise. Start release clutch to get car moving forward or backward and there is a loud grinding noise. Push clutch in noise goes away. This will happen the first few feet then it goes away.

thanks

I'm not going to say that the TO bearing couldn't cause this, but usually if a TO bearing is going out, you are going to get noise any time the clutch is in. Seems strange to me that a TO bearing would only make noise when you first let the clutch out at the start of the day, and is fine after. Sounds to me more like you have something going bad in the tranny (like a bearing?), and once everything rotates a few revolutions inside the tranny, it gets lubricated and the grinding stops. But, that's just a guess. Or maybe something is rubbing (clutch disk? flywheel? pressure plate? driveshaft?) when you first start and causes the grinding, but I would think that would happen more often during the day.

Maybe you could park the car at the end of the day with the rear wheels up on jackstands. Have a friend start the car the next day while you are lying beside it (NOT underneath it - we don't need to read about you getting crushed) and release the clutch, and see if that gives you any clues as to where the grinding is coming from. You might be able to pinpoint that it's coming from the bellhousing area, or the transmission, or the driveshaft. Unfortunately, from you're description, you will only have one chance per day (and a short one at that) to troubleshoot this...

Thanks for the ideas. I was hoping its not inside the tranny but everything else are all new parts. Tranny I won off ebay years ago and didnt install until last year when the conversion was done and made the noise right away. Going to prepare for it being an expensive fix.

Had a truck with a similar noise issue that turned out to be the bushing in the end of the crankshaft. It was all wallowed out and split allowing the input shaft to move all over. No noise or at least very little once it first moved.
Mike

Wow that would be good news. I'll be bringing it in soon to have tranny pulled. Too darn heavy for me to get back in,

thanks