clutch/gearbox question & engine identification

[hobajay]

Hi all,

New to the forum and to owning any kind of camper. Bought a 1981 transporter last thursday, test drive was fine apart from not being used to driving such a big vehicle and having no power steering! However on the drive home from Brighton to London, it started making some interesting noises.

When at a standstill, getting into first gear was no problem at all, but then when giving it gas and releasing clutch it was making horrible crunching noises as if trying to put it in gear without pressing clutch in... Once clutch was past a certain point the noise stopped and carried on driving and changing gears no problem. Had to pull away from standstill many many times on the journey home, and it did this maybe 40% of the time, the rest was no problem. I'm pretty sure that gear was properly "in".
Van has been sat on my friends drive since we came home while I get it taxed and insured so not driven it (or even seen it!) since last week. Intend to take it to a garage for a service and a check over but does anyone know what this might be?!
Have been reading some old posts and you all sound like you are mechanics! I know absolutely ZERO about this kind of stuff so any advice greatly appreciated.

It's RHD and Manual, just realised I missed that info out! Petrol 2,000cc engine - apparantly!

Also... I am trying to find this out from 2nd to last owner at the moment, but the engine has been replaced and I need to find out wha kinda engine it is, is there an easy way to find this out?! Insurers were insistant on me telling them exactly what it is.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice!

Jo.

[Fritz]

The horrible crunching noises would suggest to me that the fault may well lay with your drive shaft universal joints, these can be removed, cleaned out and then re-packed with graphite grease. This quite a common problem with these vehicles as the shafts/joints tend to get forgotten about and eventually the grease drys up which results in a metallic clicking/knocking noise , in extreme cases the joints break up due to this lack of lubrication.

Regards

Fritz,,,,,,,,