transmission problem
 

My transmission has never been rebuilt, it's a 76, so the syncros are a little warn, it has a little trouble going from 2nd to 3rd & sometimes shifting into 1st at a dead stop. Going into 1st while coming to a stop is what i got into a habit of, which seemed to worked pretty well. Last night, as I was going into first, there was a clunk & a jerk. By the time I got home, the car didn't want to go into gear from a stop.

This morning I began to investigate. I've discovered that with the engine running & the clucth pushed, there is a high pitch squeeking noise in frequency with the idling engine. It will sometimes go into gear, but the squeeking seems more pronounced. While rolling the car, in gear & clutch in, it is squeeking & I can tell that the clutch is not engaging all the way, the car won't roll freely, but not enough to bring the rpms up. Once shifted to neutral, the car rolls fine, but again, applying the clutch the sqeeking returns. It seems not as pronounced with revving the engine, and the frequency stays with engine rpms .

The clutch seemed fine, it wasn't slipping before this. I am thinking it's probably the throw out bearing or something to do with the clutch system. The fact that the squeeking concided with the idle rpm, even when the car was rolling with various speed & gears, leads me to believe its a problem with engine/transmission clutch system instead of the final drive

Your throwout bearing is telling you that you are on borrowed time. It will freeze soon, at least that was the result on my wife's 84 Carrera last year from the same symptoms you described. The freeze caused the disintegration of the bearing, a royal mess. and a disabled car. Act now. YMMV

just what I was thinking
 

I was planning an engine/trans drop at the beginning of next month, so I'll add it to the list of while I'm in there.

My car is officially off the road now.

Thanks for the reply & info.