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dudeX

10+ Year Contributor
126
12
Jun 14, 2011
Surprise, Arizona
I'm about to throw in the towel. I have a 98 gst that I am installing a 6 bolt block/ 2g head into. I did the timing outside the car and everything spun perfectly. Today after having the motor and trans installed I began to fill with coolant as a last step prior to attempting startup and I got a leak from the water pump weep hole. I proceeded to get a new pump and replace it which drove removal and rigging of the timing belt components. I got everything lined up (everything had stayed aligned since last belt install on stand)and went to rotate the crank the 6 times to check tensioner gap and after maybe rotating 15 degrees it hits something. I did this very gently as I'm paranoid about these things. Spark plugs were removed and proper timing all around. What doesnt make sense is that with cylinders 1 and 4 at tdc the crank freely rotates telling me valves are not the issue but plus or minus 15 degrees from tdc the crank stops rotating and I feel it contact something solid. I thought maybe it was a bad starter not disengaging so I removed it, no luck there. Had my wife hold down the clutch to see if that was the issue, no joy. Obviously the trans is in neutral. The trans came out of another 98 gst spyder that was supposedly a 2 4l build. I'm using the same clutch that came with that trans, it's part number saying MB010 which looks like an ACT pressure plate which to my knowledge all year DSM clutches are compatible. The only new item in that mix is a 6 bolt front wheel drive flywheel. As it is a 2g fwd trans and I'm using a 6 bolt block my research showed I needed the 6 bolt fwd flywheel to make this all work. Anyways, somewhere in this madness there must be a solution. This car has been beating me up over the last week and the idea of pulling the motor again when I'm so close to having it done kills me. Any help would be appreciated. I'm actively sitting in my garage trying to figure this out, wish me luck or better yet tell me where to go. Thanks.

I will also add that I never rotated the crank with the trans installed to the block before installingthe motor in the car so I have no info about that being a possibility, typing that out makes me feel dumb.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What doesnt make sense is that with cylinders 1 and 4 at tdc the crank freely rotates telling me valves are not the issue but plus or minus 15 degrees from tdc the crank stops rotating and I feel it contact something solid.
You should check the valve timing once again if the timing belt is correctly installed. Valves don't hit pistons at TDC does not guarantee anything that the timing is correct.
What happens if you rotate the crank counterclockwise?
 
I can rotate it about 30 degrees ccw from tdc and maybe 10 degrees cw from tdc. I feel like my flywheel or pressure plate is contacting the transmission bellhousing somehow.
 
Does anyone think this might apply? I'm about to pull the motor again as I have no idea what's wrong.
Alrite, well this is for eveyone that runs into this problem, searches, and finds this. Inside the 4g64 (2.4L) transmission, there is a "bump" that the pressure plate was hitting. The "bump" is part of the hole for a transmission bolt on the outside. I put the pressure plate over the spline and spun it to see where it hit, then I just shaved it down with a grinder, and now the clutch assembly rotates freely.
 
Are you using the proper separator plate between engine and trans? Did you rotate engine before you took timing belt back off?
 
Yes, I watched a jafro vid and learned about the starter plate and flywheel compatibility. And no, when it came time to swap the water pump I hadnt rotated the engine yet. Tbh I wouldnt have noticed the interference had it not leaked on me causing the timing to be undone so I guess i should feel blessed
 
All right, got this problem figured out and solved. Basically the flywheel was contacting a rounded casted piece inside the bellhousing related to the left of the two upper bolts that mount the trans to the block (viewed from trans during install). The interference was less than .020". I was able to use a grinder to remove some material and upon mocking up the flywheel and pressure plate found that the interference was eliminated. The thread I quoted above seems to have been the same issue and I give thanks to those in that thread from years ago for pointing me in the right direction. As to what combination of transmission and flywheel and things I don't know about that contributed to this problem I can't exactly say, but I definitely found a solution that works. Motor rotates smoothly now with timing set perfectly and all is well, pictures will be attached showing what it was that I had to do for anyone else that is curious or runs into this problem.
 
So you're saying you're using the NT transmission? Guess this answers the question on whether you can just bolt on a trans with a turbo clutch and flywheel. I was always under the impression you could not and you need an f5m33. Wonder how it holds up.
 
I will go verify which transmission I have but I am fairly positive it is an F5 m33. maybe there's more to this not sure but I will go look and post a pic to see maybe if there is more to learn from this situation.
 
I think that's what I'm gathering. Post 4 above has a thread where a guy ran into the same issues and ultimately led me to my fix. I'm guessing this is an uncommon trans to use but I have almost one of everything and weird Frankenstein things happen and this might be one of them. Hopefully this can be of use to someone else one day granted there is not some underlying issue that makes the whole thing into a time bomb.
 
I am wondering if the trans plate is too thin? Is the 6 bolt crank face to bell housing face a different spec than a 7 bolt 2.4?
 
The 1g starter plate thickness measures between .057 to .059", the 2g one is around .060 to .062". Not sure if thats helpful info but there's that. Oh btw, car is driving now, trans shifts as smooth as any ive ever had, had no one brought up it was a 2.4l trans I wouldn't have noticed any difference save for the interference issue I had.
 
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