Last night, I finally got the tranny put back together after inspecting the internals. Got the new flywheel hung, new clutch and pressure plate installed, ground down the nose of the starter so the bell would fit, and finally installed the bell. I already hung the pedals, and cut the hole for the shifter in the trans tunnel.

New battles from last night- stabbed the tranny, but after wiggling around, multiple stab attempts, the damn thing keeps getting hung up on the machined lip on the tranny that holds it in the bell before you install the 4 trans to bell bolts.

I might have about 1/8th gap- just the amount of the lip. I can still turn the output shaft, and it doesn't feel like the input is hooking anything- so it's still in nuetral- should I have it in gear? Any other ideas?

Also, when I tried to install the slave cylinder onto the bell, I can't get the slave to compress so I can install the bolts and shield. I removed the boot and can see the rod cup sitting on the 'limiter', but the SOB won't budge. Should I open the bleeder valve and try to compress? I'm terrified of busting the ears off the slave by using longer bolts and compressing it that way. THANKS in advance fellas!

 

Did you use a pilot bearing, or a bushing? How did your clutch alignment tool fit?

 

Bushing. Drove it in about 1/16-1/8" past the opening. Alignment tool was slightly snug in and out.

 

Quick update- I FINALLY got to do some work on the car yesterday. After trying a few ideas such as putting the tranny in gear, and re-stabbing, loosening the bell and stabbing, etc, I broke down and threaded the 4 bolts that hold it to the bell, and snugged each one down a little bit. Turns out, the pilot bushing was snug enough on the input it needed just that to get it into the bell and pilot all the way.

Now, I noticed that even with the tranny in, the clutch fork is loosey goosey. I get no resistance on it. Should it be that way? I made sure that the throwout bearing was installed correctly.

 

If the hydraulics aren't there, then yes, it will flop back and forth; there's normally about ¼" or so of clearance between the back of the TOB and the front of the trans, which should allow the fork to move probably an inch or so between where the TOB is up against the clutch (normal position) and where it's against the front of the trans.

 

Thanks Amigo! Appreciate all your help and the fast response!

Last clutch I did was on an 83 with a Z bar 10 years ago, and before that was an 85 Nissan 4x4 w/ hydraulics about 15 years ago. College helped eliminate those memories from my brain cells, or brain cells altogether.