My 87 has a slight audible rattle coming from the front of the car when the manual transmission is in neutral and the clutch is at rest. When you depress the clutch the rattle goes away. The clutch set is pretty new, I have the receipt from the previous owner, I think it has less than 20k miles on it and it was a complete set w/ flywheel resurfaced. Since the noise is in neutral it seems to me like it must have to do with the transmission itself (bearings). Any ideas? This trans does not synchronize 3rd as easily as the other gears so I will have it out for a rebuild at some point, just want to know what to expect w/ the rattle

Steve

 

Did they replace the throw out bearing?

Could also be a tranny issue like bearings as you stated but its hard to judge noises over the 'net.

 

If it goes away when you disengage the clutch (i.e., when you depress the pedal) it may be the transmission main shaft riding on the bearings. This is very noticable in the RX-8, but I haven't noticed it in my FC. Check the tranny fluid or better yet, replace it with a good synthetic like Redline.