New Clutch = No Gears

Skyntara · Postby **Skyntara** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:27 pm

Hi Guys,

Whacked a new clutch and flywheel in over the weekend but sadly now I can't select gears while the engine is running.

I put in a new slave cylinder as the old one looked quite scummy. Bled it to within an inch of its life. The slave cylinder piston is moving the clutch actuator lever about 3/4" for a full pump on the pedal. It just didn't seem like enough for me. On a hunch I hooked up a ratchet strap to the lever and cranked it up. Where the piston would be at 1 1/4" I found that I did indeed have a clutch.

If I take the ratchet strap to 1" and then use the clutch pedal I actually have a working clutch but it's somewhat impractical to have a ratchet strap hanging under the car.

If I ratchet to 1" then chock the pedal with a piece of wood, the slave will hold its position. I can then pump the pedal and keep it there however, if I let off the clutch completely there's a big woosh of fluid and the lever compresses the slave down to the hilt.

All I can think is that the master is rooted and I'm not getting enough piston from one pedal's worth of clutch.

How far should the piston travel? is 1 1/4" of travel too much?

I was pretty careful putting the clutch in, and as I said it actually works fine if you can get it to the friction point.

Thanks in advance for the help and advice.

Clancy

Edit: I put in an Xtreme HD Clutch and Lightweight Chomoly Flywheel if that matters. (Local shop did em for $600 the pair - cheering, well I will be when they work).

ralt · Postby **ralt** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:17 pm

Hi.
Just a thought when you put the new slave cylinder in check the bleeder is at the top. If you have fitted it at the bottom you will never bleed the air from it and your thingy will be forever soft. Air always goes to the highest point.

tbro · Postby **tbro** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:29 pm

Check the master cylinder push rod. Betcha you have far too much free play,
meaning your running out of pressure before it can push the slave far enough.

Have a search and somewhere in this section there is the specs that I have posted a few times.

Or

Adjust until there is no movement at the push rod and back it off one FULL turn inwards.

Terry

olboy · Postby **olboy** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:28 pm

Could be 2 things, neither good
1 Did you check that the flywheel was the same thickness as the old one
a little bit makes a big difference
2 Did you put the clutch lever ( the one sticking out of the bellhousing ) in properly

Skyntara · Postby **Skyntara** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:01 pm

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

What it actually was....

The new flywheel didn't come with bolts for the pressure plate, so I used the ones I had. Turns out they were a different thread. This wasn't immediately apparent at 7:30 on the night I put them in.

Although they torqued down, they actually stopped going in before the pressure plate was flush with the flywheel.

Thus the pressure plate was too far out, pushing the clutch lever too far back and requiring way too much travel to actually use.

I'll be shooting an email to Xtreme about the lack of bolts, admittedly I am mostly to blame for not being dilligent but you'd expect to be able to use stock bolts or get some with it.

toppertee · Postby **toppertee** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:34 pm

Live and learn,
Last time I did my clutch, I place the fiction plate around the wrong way. :oops:

Skyntara · Postby **Skyntara** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:24 pm

Well thankfully mine had "gearbox side" written on the gearbox side, so no mistakes there.

vrmmmpshhh · Postby **vrmmmpshhh** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:15 am

Im having this exact same problem right now, i can get get it into gears but its very hard and reverse cannot be engaged with the engine running. interestingly i just put in the xtreme HD clutch too but with my stock0 flywheel. Please dont tell me i have to take the gearbox off again... :cry:

trader · Postby **trader** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:19 am

Sorry to roll on your post Skyntara but Toppertee has raised had a problem he had and may know the answer to mine. I'm about to put an SE clutch in my NA so this post has been useful. However can anyone tell me which way the plate goes? The only difference seems to be the central section which is longer on one side.
thanks

Skyntara · Postby **Skyntara** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:17 pm

From memory, longer side is out. If it blows up I take no responsibility.

Once again, mine was stamped or painted "gearbox side".

vrmmmpshhh: I'd bleed the clutch lines, then bleed them again then, flush them and bleed them. If that fails, grab a new slave cylinder and repeat the bleeds.

Also, adjust your clutch pedal. sh*t of a job and I like to do it with my upside down in my chair, with my legs up in the air, waving them like I just don't care. You want a barely perceptible amount of free play in the pedal before it starts taking up the clutch, you should be able to feel it with your fingertips on the clutch. You can always adjust it to your liking later.

If it's still no good, do as I did and pull the box again after crying some manly tears (not really, but some jobs have brought me to tears in the past).

Pulling the box a second time, it was very very obvious that the pressure plate was not flush with the flywheel. Replaced the bolts with some that were actually the right thread, torqued them down properly and never had a problem after that.

vrmmmpshhh · Postby **vrmmmpshhh** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:41 pm

I've done about 200ks so far and it's getting better and better each time. First is still a little hard to get into at the lights but shifts are nearly back to normal. Reverse is even going in first try too. I thomk it should go backto normal in a few thousand k. If not I'll clutch dump the bitch and replace everything again.