Clutch Questions

[corsair231]

Hey guys, I have a 90' Laser RS-T and I'm having a clutch problem. I'm sure it is a release problem but not sure just what is causing it. It will not go into any gear from neutral. You can crank the car in gear with the clutch depressed and the car will try to move. You release the clutch and it pulls on off. All componets except fork, pivot ball, and probably fw are new but I did not do the install. As far as I know the car was not modified prior and all replacement parts were stock specs. Everything bled and re-bled. Clutch adjusted under dash and that did not help. Longer cylinder rod did get the car to where it did not try to pull off when in gear but still not enough to put the car in gear from neutral. Elevate the front wheels and the front wheels speed up when pushed into gear with the clutch depressed but with no resistance on the wheels the trans shifts fine with no grinding so I don't think my problem is internal. The fork hits just about in the middle of the window where it is supposed to be. It travels a little over an inch when the clutch is pressed and only has about 1/8 of an inch before it hits the bell housing.

I think I should pull the trans and check out everything there before I pull the pedal assembly. The pedal assembly seemed to have no play but may still be a factor but I want to make sure it's not the transmission end first. Which brings me to my questions.

Is there anything that I may have missed before I pull the trans? What do I look for when I do pull it. My repair manual has just general illustrations on the parts I need to check. I know that you can shim the pivot but is it supposed to have a washer on it to start with or does it install without one? How would I tell if the fork is bent? Also I've seen some post about TOB being wrong. Is there a short and long bearing? Also I know there is supposed to be a stepped flywheel. Is that from the mounting pads to the friction surface or are there two levels on the flat?

I'm sorry about the barrage of noob questions but I want to make sure that I know what I'm looking at when I'm in there. Thanks.

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

Go check this link out for some good info. Read the whole page.

My first thought is that if your clutch was replaced but the fw was not, the the fw could be at the wrong step height. The pivot ball does NOT have a washer in stock form. I'd advise replacing the fork/ball rather than shimming it. It's only $60 I believe. Check for leaks around your master/slave cylinder. That could mean the seals are bad. If you replace one, replace the other at the same time. Use Mitsu OEM only when replacing these. The issue w/ the TOB is that some aftermarket clutches include a TOB that has a metal sleeve instead of a plastic one. You always want to use an OEM style plastic sleeved TOB.

Also, search around. There's a LOT of info on this topic. Good luck!

 

[dwdsm]

I had a simular problem...the fork was bent and hitting on the TOB side of the Ball..

 

[cbassgsx]

Also make sure that the tranny and motor don't separate when you press the clutch! I have seen alot of cars with out the 12mmx45mm bolt that goes between the motor and tranny way below the starter

 

[corsair231]

I thought about that as well. I can't see any movement between the engine and transmission and everything seems to be tight. Trans will be coming out soon to check the fork and tob setup.