Does the fluid flywheel whine when the engine is ticking over in neutral?
It should also whine loudly when the car is driven in reverse.

Graham

I think it's the gearbox that wines (or whirs) in neutral due to it being an epicyclic box. I wouldn't think the flywheel would make much noise but I may be wrong.

Hi, yes, quite right, only the Gearbox produces that glorious whining noise ! ! . Whereas the Fluid Flywheel is completely silent in operation

cheers Al

It does rather point to the Gearbox being the culprit, one way to prove it, would be to remove the Gearbox and start the Engine I suppose if this is possible.
My initial thought was that there may have been excessive end float in the Crankshaft, but having read and listened to the noise, I do not think this is the case . We shall no doubt see.............

Cheers Al

It's only a guess on my part but, as the noise goes when in gear, could it be wear on the input splines of the first motion shaft? At idle the viscosity of the oil will be the only drag and may permit a slight oscillations on the shaft, whereas when transmitting power into the box this play is taken up? Either way, it looks like gearbox out to investigate.
Peter

Hi Andy,

Well, it does look like a gearbox problem, so a few things:

Firstly, as the engine and gearbox are one unit supported on the chassis at three points - one of these being the rear gearbox mounting, unless you jacked up and somewhat precariously supported the engine, it could not be run seperately with the gearbox removed.

Regarding the gearbox removal, this is straight forward if not a little time consuming, and can be done by removing the floor pan (lots of screws) leaving the engine in situ, as removal complete with engine requires the whole front of the car rearward of the bulkhead to be removed first.

Also (and contrary to popular fear and belief which has been circulating since the 19th of October 1931 that pre selector gearboxes are some magic art) dismantling and inspection is also straight forward. All you need is the factory manual and some "normal" mechanics tools. The gearcase complete with bands and change mechanism lifts off as a whole, leaving the gear-train fully assembled. You can even make the tools to reline the bands for a few bob.

All that said, I'd cure your "misfire" first - then let us know what transpires.

Hello everyone!

Thank you for all the help and support, its been amazing. I have some good and bad news.

Over the weekend I took the Daimler for a quick spin around the block to help identify exactly where and when the noise is apparent. Sadly it seems that the noise is still there when the car moves in either reverse, first, second and third but then goes silent in 4th - I believe from comments on here this is going to point to the first shaft bearings? To help pinpoint the noise/damage I removed the transmission cover and the top gearbox plate. and then started the car briefly. The noise is 100% as the fluid flywheel 'catches up' and starts spinning the 1st shaft.

Has anyone replaced these bearings before and is it a difficult job? I am guessing the gearbox comes out from underneath the car?

I have downloaded the gearbox manual from the DB18 site but finding it very difficult to read some of the text.

Andy,

You will need the specific factory manual for the Conquest Range as published in 1956 - as the one for the DB18 will have numerous differences.

This will help

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hzwdsfwiht7o ... earbox.pdf

It sounds like something has come adrift inside the box

Neil