Transmission Compression Springs

[Casa de Mesa]

It would be very interesting if this all came down to a $1.17 ball pin. Regardless, time to pull the tranny...

Right?!

Motor need to come out to pull the tranny I'm told. If that happens, might as well respray the car. Logic dictates.

[Mayan-Viking]

Right. I mean, anything else would just be irresponsible and imprudent at this point right?

[sapote]

• Checked all the centering springs/detent mechanisms I can get to without removing the tranny.
• Rebled the slave from the bottom up
• Checked clutch stop and engagement
• Checked clutch resistance by hand
• With car on jack stands in the rear:
  • Started the car with it in neutral
  • Depressed clutch and engaged 1st (or any other gear) and the wheels don't move
  • Release clutch and wheels spin
  • Depress clutch and wheels stop (after some rotations)

Casa, I saw your last post today. I think the pressure plate probably about to explode: causing clutch dragging at high rpm (centripetal force) but released clutch completely at idle rpm.
So you may want to repeat the test as above, and at this step "Depress clutch and wheels stop (after some rotations)", the wheels stop at idle, but if rpm is increased higher then the bad PP will act up and starts grabbing the clutch, causing the wheels to rotate. The same thing happened when you tried to pull the gears out to neutral but it was hard to pull it out at high rpm as you said.

[sapote]

When the RPMs came down to about 2.5k, I was able to get it out of 2nd by slowly rolling on the throttle (just enough to relieve drivetrain stress from engine braking). The clutch pedal then worked slightly, (not well) but enough to get it into 3rd and crudely into 4th. I could feel a fairly strong wobble coming through the pedal in my foot as I released the pedal to engage the clutch.

The only thing could cause the pedal to feel wobble is something was pushing, pulsing, on the PP rearward, or the PP growing longer cyclically, at high rpm, or the clutch disk was falling apart and pushed on the PP. I would hope what pushing on the pp rearward is not a loose flywheel, but I strongly think it is the PP on its last breath, before exploding, or the clutch disk falling apart.

DukeofChen's problem was the clutch dragging caused by the shorten plastic pivot pin. The synchros were good enough to overcome the dragged clutch and engaged them at low rpm, but at high rpm, the speed differential was too big for the synchro to overcome the dragging clutch.

[Casa de Mesa]

Won’t know until you drop the transmission…but it sounds like a clutch or pressure plate issue.

Yep... valid point. Time to get busy.

Casa, I saw your last post today. I think the pressure plate probably about to explode: causing clutch dragging at high rpm (centripetal force) but released clutch completely at idle rpm.

Thanks Sapote. Based on this... and knowing the transmission has to be pulled, I think next step is to just tear into it and get it done. I don't want the clutch or PP exploding. No idea how solid the bellhousing is in these transmissions but I'd rather not find out.

DukeofChen's problem was the clutch dragging caused by the shorten plastic pivot pin. The synchros were good enough to overcome the dragged clutch and engaged them at low rpm, but at high rpm, the speed differential was too big for the synchro to overcome the dragging clutch.

Makes perfect sense. I was hoping for a similar outcome but don't think that's the case.

I'll search, but what's the consensus on flywheels and clutches? I'm a fan of lighter weight clutches in general, but have read some things over the years that you shouldn't go too light with these cars. I know the stock setup is great for smooth engagement, but that's not a primary concern of mine. Reliability and performance are.

[Apexwagon]

Yep... valid point. Time to get busy.




Thanks Sapote. Based on this... and knowing the transmission has to be pulled, I think next step is to just tear into it and get it done. I don't want the clutch or PP exploding. No idea how solid the bellhousing is in these transmissions but I'd rather not find out.



Makes perfect sense. I was hoping for a similar outcome but don't think that's the case.

I'll search, but what's the consensus on flywheels and clutches? I'm a fan of lighter weight clutches in general, but have read some things over the years that you shouldn't go too light with these cars. I know the stock setup is great for smooth engagement, but that's not a primary concern of mine. Reliability and performance are.

Hey Casa, reviving this thread from the dead!
I came across this thread from the OP and have similar issues when shifting, almost like hitting a wall trying to shift into 3rd at first, then as time/heat goes on it becomes difficult shifting into 4th and 5th. the shifter goes into the gate partially, hits a "wall" and when I release the clutch its either in neutral or I get a grind and pops back to neutral. then have to slow down significantly to get it into gear. This 6mt car is new to me at 155k miles, I flushed trans fluid with a large amount of particulate (non-magnetic copper looking material pushing me toward synchros, had a CAE shifter on before my purchase and changed to short shifter). Im assuming synchros so i found a low mileage SMG gearbox I plan to swap in with my 6mt bellhousing, but after reading this thread I want to get a solid parts list in stock so Im ordering all shift springs/detents etc above, TOB, pin, clutch assy.

Question is, have you settled the issue yet? What was your resolution? Thank you!

[Casa de Mesa]

Question is, have you settled the issue yet? What was your resolution? Thank you!

Hey Apexwagon. My issue turned out to be a failing clutch. Specifically, the friction material was starting to "delaminate" from the backing plate of the friction disc. Even after trying all of the stuff in this thread, the car wouldn't shift well and at times was nearly impossible to get into gear (especially higher RPM).

As part of a total restoration and color change of the car, I replaced the clutch (everything - throwout bearing, friction disc, pressure plate) with a OEM DMF flywheel (Luk) and self adjusting clutch (Sachs) from RockAuto and the transmission is shifting fantastically now. No issues.

Not sure why the friction material was starting to delaminate from the friction disk. There was still plenty of material there, it just started to come apart. Take a look at several pics down into THIS POST and you'll see what I mean. There pics of the exposed friction disc.