Car won't go into gear

[Dream On]

Hey guys, I'm having a huge problem with a clutch install from about 2 months ago. I took the tranny off, and tried to install a Spec Stage III clutch with a Fidanza flywheel. I replaced a bunch of parts while I was in there, and put it all back together. The car wouldn't go into gear, so I didn't feel like messing with it again and took it to a mechanic. He said that something was wrong with the clutch, and a stock one would work fine. So I called Spec and sent out the clutch and flywheel to them, thinking it was defective. They didn't find anything wrong with it, but replaced it and now here I am. He hasn't tried to install it yet, but I'm thinking its going to be the same thing again. Here's what I replaced:

New clutch fork/pivot ball, shimmed with about the thinnest washer I could find
Master cylinder
slave cylinder
SS clutch line
longer flywheel bolts and pressure plate studs from FP
OEM TOB
welded clutch pedal assembly

I think thats all I did with the clutch at least. Spec said the flywheel was surfaced right when they checked it. What could be the problem? Could I have screwed something up when taking something off and putting it back together? Even after the mechanic took it apart it didn't work right. He said the stock flywheel wouldn't work with the clutch either. I don't personally know this guy or how good his work is, but he seems to think that I should just get a stock clutch, and I sure as hell don't want to do that. He's going to try and put on the recently returned stuff, but what if it doesn't work? What should I do?

 

[turbo90gsx]

Well it seems like everything that would cause a disengagement problem your either fixed or replaced. Your saying the car won't even go into any gear, or just first? Are you shift cables hooked up properly? Are you cables bent somewhere? Another culprit of it not wanting to go into first is a chewed up gear. Don't install a stock clutch unless you want to baby the car everywhere. There should be no problem with an aftermarket clutch. You can figure it out.

 

[Dream On]

Well I guess it could be the cables since we moved them out of the way after disconnecting them. It won't go into gear when the car is on, but goes in fine when the car is off. When started in gear, it rolls forward when the clutch is on the floor. I tried a longer slave rod as well and it didn't help. I'm lost on what to do.

 

[turbo90gsx]

Bleed that baby! Sounds like you just have a bunch of air in your line. Same thing happened to me when I had a bunch of air in my line.

 

[Dream On]

Turbo90gsx suggested that I adjust the master cylinder back in since it is adjusted all the way out and bleed it again since I bled it with it adjusted out the first time. Any other thoughts on what I should do? Thanks.

 

[Cool Mr Steve]

The only other thing I could think of is to put on an extended slave rod. If your problem is that you can't adjust the clutch out enough (which is what it sounds like) the extended rod will get rid of the symptoms. I don't know if you can really call it "fixing" your problem, but it will provide a sufficient band-aid for you to get back on the streets. You've been suffering with this problem for entirely too long. I feel for you, man.

 

[Dream On]

Well, I thought of doing that, so I bought one awhile back, even though it shouldn't be used. It didn't do anything for my problem either.

 

[Cool Mr Steve]

You said that you used the thinnest washer you could find, but did it move the fork to the proper location? I'm sure you probably already read this in the other "I can't get my car into gear" thread, but here it is again just in case.

When the transmission is first installed in the car and just bolted down to the motor, this is the time to check the wear on the arm and ball. Look at where the arm protrudes out through the square boot on the front lower bell housing. With the arm pushed over towards the passenger side so that the release bearing is just touching the clutch, the arm should be either in the center of the square hole or towards the driver's side of center line. If the arm is sitting off towards the passenger side, you need to pull the transmission back out and add a washer or two. This gets things back in line. If you don't, the hydraulics in trying to take up all the extra slack, will push the arm over and bottom out on the inner bell housing. If you are fighting clutch adjustment problems on an existing clutch install, get under the car and check this out. If you remove a crossmember to see it better, you can pull off the rubber boot and look in the bell housing with a flash light while an assistant pushes on the clutch pedal. You may see the arm hitting the inner bell housing.

 

[Morphius]

The only other thing I could think of is to put on an extended slave rod. If your problem is that you can't adjust the clutch out enough (which is what it sounds like) the extended rod will get rid of the symptoms. I don't know if you can really call it "fixing" your problem, but it will provide a sufficient band-aid for you to get back on the streets. You've been suffering with this problem for entirely too long. I feel for you, man.

If one has a clutch adjusted so the extended pushrod helps, the clutch is misadjusted. Start from scratch and follow the procedure in the service manual.

The reality is the extended slave rod does nothing but bias the piston in the slave further inward in the cylinder. It doesn't bias the fork. If you install it and it does, the master cylinder is adjusted wrong and the compensation valve is blocked of. The result is you can't push the pushrod in. Again, this means misadjusted.

 

[Morphius]

Turbo90gsx suggested that I adjust the master cylinder back in since it is adjusted all the way out and bleed it again since I bled it with it adjusted out the first time. Any other thoughts on what I should do? Thanks.

1. As turbo90gsx said, adjust clutch properly.
2. Check per RRE site, the relation of the fork to the bellhousing.
3. Verify the step height on your flywheel is correct and matched to your clutch.

 

[Dream On]

The fork is angled towards the driver's side, and the flywheel was checked out by Spec when I sent back the clutch and flywheel b/c it was supposed to be messed up (or so my mechanic thought). So I'll have the mechanic adjust the pedal, then bleed the shit out of it again after he installs it, and try and have him bleed the slave like it says on the tech article that somebody put up recently as well.

 

[turbo90gsx]

Any luck on getting things to work properly?

 

[Dream On]

Negative. My mechanic seems to think its the clutch, even though Spec checked it out ok. He's a backyard mechanic though, and doesn't really do work on performance cars...So basically he won't put the clutch back in unless I get a different one..GRR

 

[NeoZer0]

Have you made sure the clutch fork isn't bottoming out on the bell housing when you push the clutch pedal in? You can remove the rubber boot around it and shine a flashlight in the opening to look at it while a friend pushes in on hte clutch. If it does then you need to shim the pivot ball more. I had this problem when I put my new SBR 4000 clutch in. Had to pull the tranny again to fix it

 

[Dream On]

Was your pivot ball brand new?

 

[Dream On]

Update: Problem fixed. I replaced the FP pressure plate studs with stock bolts and washers. The studs wouldn't let the pressure plate sit flush against the flywheel.

 

[turbo90gsx]

Thats good. I've never heard of someone using studs on those? Huh, interesting. Are you still running the spec setup?

 

[wannyGSX]

Bleed that baby! Sounds like you just have a bunch of air in your line. Same thing happened to me when I had a bunch of air in my line.

I had a very similar problem when i installed my SBR 3500. Gravity bleeding didn't do the trick but i went and got a vacuum bleeder that hooks up to compressed air. I havent had any problems since. Just an idea.