Over the years I've had my share of pivot ball blues. Broke one off in my 75/Milano (fortunately near the only phone booth on a 60 mile stretch of country road). My '85 GTV6 took a spell of unscrewing its pivot ball until we slathered it with Wurth's Blue Thread Locker and really tightened it down with a special 10mm wrench home made by Alfa Stan. So this week when I noticed my '86's clutch pedal sitting lower than usual, and I began graunching shifts (especially when cold), I thought I knew what was up.
Got under the car this afternoon, expecting to see plenty of threads on the pivot ball shaft, but instead saw all that area thickly covered with a fine, black, velvety powder like brake dust. What is that stuff? If my clutch disk were disintegrating, I'd think all that residue would be coarser and reddish-brown. This stuff is only covering the pivot ball area. Nothing outside the inspection hole (the rubber dust boot was missing when I bought the car, by the way).
Any thoughts?
What IS this stuff?
Mel Melton
'85 GTV6 (Old Red)
'86 GTV6 (New Red)
'84, '88 Spiders
'85 GTV6 (Old Red)
'86 GTV6 (New Red)
'84, '88 Spiders