Hey guys, heres the scoop

I got a 1990 RS Camaro now, 355 TPI mated with a 5 speed. Now since I bought this car, getting it into first gear while at a stop (but car running) was fairly hard, it would take slamming it into gear in order for it go in.

Now its been 5 days since I got it and its getting harder to get into 2nd and 3rd now. Basically there is no grinding but its just very very hard to get into gear. Its hurting my palm just slamming it into each gear lol. Its got a Hurst shifter, so its not the stock one.

Does anyone know why its doing this? When the car is off and parked, I can get through the gears just fine it would seem. Only when the car is running will it do this. Thanks for any replies.

 

its a sign that your t5 is getting ready to die. thats how it happened to me. Id notice stiff shifter action every now and then (mostly in parkinglots) then bam! The tranny died on me suddenly on the way to work one morning. I got it rebuilt and now its all good.

 

Damn I'm hoping thats not the case. Is there any other reason that it would be doing this? Maybe a shifter issue? I'm new to the manual thing so I'm really really hoping this isn't a case of T5 death.

Do you know why your's died? What exactly failed per se.

 

We had this happen to a car at work.. I think it ended up bieng a bad pressure plate or something.. might try an all new clutch, get your flywheel turned.. that would be better than an all new tranni.

 

If it's ALL the gears, it's not the transmission. It's something to do with the clutch.

What kind of a pilot bearing does it have? Bronze bushing, or roller bearing?

 

I couldn't tell you honestly... Fairly sure that trans is bone stock. Its a 1990 T5 that was mated to a 305 TBI. If that helps any.

 

With mine it was the main shaft. its got some kind of slide gear on it which is pressed on. there were cracks in the gear. 3 of them actually. and because the gear is pressed on, they had to order an entire main shaft.

For me it was stiff going into 1st and 2nd, all other gears were fine. And it was also inconsistent, like most of the time it would be fine, but the odd times (again, mostly in parking lots) it would be very stiff going into 1st or 2nd.

 

I also just wanted to say, If I had to go thru it again Id attempt the rebuild myself. Just be cause I ended up paying thru my teeth for the rebuild.

It sucks to have a trans that you know is on the way out, and hopefully it lasts you a while before it dies completley, mine lasted a few years.

 

check your fluid in the clutch master before you spend any cash, check the condition of the line to the slave, cracks, weak limp line?low fluid? hot fluid? exhaust? the whole hyd linkage may need replaceing, lucky chevy still sells this stuff but now only as the whole unit for like 170$...

if that stuff is fine, maybe you have a clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing issue, maybe the t-o bearing is worn thin and cant disengauge the p.p. from the clutch disc? maybe the disc is bent? (unlikely), p.p. and fly wheel are chewed up (heat spots, heat cracks) from many years of agressive driving(it is a camaro)

another easy free thing to check is the shifter, unbolt it and check its motion, does it have much play in it? it has a plastic bushing cup on the end that could be gone worn binding? who knows

hope this helps,

as far as internal problems all i know is that if that stuff is broken you can use that gear cause it wont move the car, and if the internals are worn weak and what ever they tend to make alot of racket (howling clattering vibration)?

doug.

 

I have to agree with Sofakingdom. It sounds like a clutch issue to me. For some reason, your clutch is probably not disengaging far enough to allow easy gear changes. This would also explain why it's easy to shift without the car running. When nothing's spinning, there's no resistance to engaging the gears. Synchros almost never all wear out at exactly the same time, so if it was something inside the trans, it'd only be one or two gears, not all of them. Oh yeah, if your hurst shifer has the adjustable shift stops, you'll want to check and make sure they're adjusted to allow enough travel of the shifter lever for each gear too.