Just like the title says. I replaced the clutch in my 83 Z28 and once everything was bolted up I found it only goes into 1st-4th gears. I can move the shift lever to the right but not up and down into either gear. It won't grind them or anything. I've checked that the tray is clear so I know there's nothing in it. I have no idea why the trans is acting up after a clutch job.

Any input is appreciated

 

I had something like that on mine when one of the side bolts fell out. It is near the drain and fill plugs. I think it holds the shift rail in place. By chance did you remove it during the clutch change?

 

Either that bolt on the side of the case or a snap ring broke/popped out of place.

 

I just replaced the clutch which is why I'm confused about this. Does it sound like an easy fix? I'm debating fixing it myself it it's not too awful bad. I just have NO idea what I'm getting into. I consider myself pretty decent at mechanical comprehension, but I've never done anything but REPLACE transmissions.

Also, while I'm in there is it easy to swap from VSS to cable speedo?

 

Such a noob....

 

Did you drain the oil from the trans as part of the change? I think you have to do that. I have always done than when I have taken the trans out. If so, did the wrong bolt get removed and put back in for draining the oil? If so, that would be the issue

If this is it, pretty sure you have to take the trans out and dis-assemble to fix. Not bad, just nuts and bolts. Seems like it was a little tricky getting the shift rail back togehter when the trans is being re-assenbled.

VSS seems strange. My 83 is cable drive. Yours should be too i believe.

 

He did change the trans oil.. I'm headed up to the shop with him this morning so we'll pull em out and check them.. Is there a noticable difference between the two?

The VSS issue is because we took this T5 from a early 90s bird, so it's not cable driven.

 

It's basically impossible to R&R a manual trans without changing, or at least R&Ring, the fluid.

The problem you now have is, the "bolt" that was removed to put the fluid back in, was the one on the driver's side. That's not a plug. It's the pivot pin that the 5th/reverse linkage inside the trans is mounted on. By taking it out, the clip that holds the linkage to it was knocked off and maybe destroyed and is now laying in the bottom of the trans, and of course the linkage has fallen off inside there as well.

The trans HAS TO come out and HAS TO be disassembled to put it back together. Usually the clip survives well enough to be re-used but sometimes not.

The VSS issue is beyond simple. Remove cable speedo bullet from old trans, remove VSS from new trans, install cable speedo bullet from old trans into new trans. One screw is all it takes.

 

So basically it all boils down to whether or not the clip is destroyed or not..correct? This car has been a nightmare with transmissions, lol.

Thanks for the info, we'll see how it goes this morning..

 

Be careful....it has been some time since I have looked, but the 3 bolts all look very similar. Seems like there is a high for filling , a low for draining and this 3rd one. Don't remove it just to see. Once you do, the part on the other side falls away and you have to take the trans out to fix.

For the VSS, is the VSS on the back of the trans? You may be able to swap the VSS for the cable adapter , not sure.

 

Unfortunately, the trans is already coming out We'll open her up and see what's going on.

The VSS is in the tail, as sofakingdom said, "should" be just a simple R&R.

We'll keep y'all posted.. Thanks for the info!

 

Thanks for the input guys. As s4l says we'll be pulling it and taking a look this morning. Fortunately I saved the old T5 so if we need to transplant parts we might have something to work with

 

No; there are NOT 3 "bolts".

There are 2 PIPE PLUGS on the pass side of the trans that are for draining & adding fluid, and there's a PIVOT PIN on the driver's side that the 5th/reverse linkage is mounted on.

But yes, if the clip didn't get destroyed, all you have to do is put it back together, and then kick the guy's butt who didn't PAY ATTENTION and pulled that out instead of the pipe plugs on the other side. No permanent damage is done by that mistake, it's mostly just a learnign experience about PAY ATTENTION to what you're doing and don't just randomly start taking pieces off.

Yes you can swap the cable speedo "bullet" in place of the VSS. I'm QUITE sure of it. Here's one of each so you can see what they look like. Not hard to see, they're DIRECTLY interchangeable.



Biggest problem you may run into, is the # of teeth on the drive gear inside the trans; depending on the rear gear ratios of the cars the 2 transmissions came from, that might be diffferent. But not to worry; you can just take that out of your old one and transplant it, as well, if it's different. It'll be easily accessible while fixing the other screw-up.

 

Transmission surgery complete!

Turns out the linkage was the culprit. We set it back in place and then proceeded to scratch our heads for hours trying to figure out exactly HOW to get the darn thing back together. That top cover with the forks is a nasty one! Once we got the cover and tailshaft back on, we set the selector on it and it went through all the gears just fine.

We did notice a lot of play on the 5th/reverse side, however. Particularly in reverse. It always took a good firm slam into reverse to keep it from grinding and now we know why. There is an ungodly amount of play in the gearing on that shaft. It's not a huge issue to me since I'm planning on upgrading the entire drivetrain anyway, but one that we have at least identified.

Also, with the VSS and cable systems, it's not simply a swap out in our case, but with a little engineering it might be alright. We realized with what we had it wasn't going to work. The tailshaft we took the cable "bullet" out of is unusable due to bolts being broken off in it. The VSS tailshaft's bolt hole is further away than the cable tailshaft's location so we will need to fab up a piece of flat stock to hold it in place. Not a big deal but I'm thinking I'll hold off until the correct gearing is researched. Red gear on the tailshaft, unknown rear end gear, etc...

Big thanks to s4l for helping me out today.

 

So a simple linkage fix turned into an afternoon staring at that damn top cover with the shift forks and learning real quick how to take all that happy crap apart and reassemble to line it all back up..First time was a PITA, but after that it's really easy after we saw how it all sits in the cover.

Def was a good learning experience for us, and I look forward to more 'adventures' in the future.

 

would you quit putting these hexes on me?! grrr

 

Lmao, my b. I've only called pretty much everything that's gone wrong so far.....

 

Ummm.......... no.

The reason it grinds going into reverse, is because you are SUPPOSED TO put it into a forward gear FIRST before jamming it into reverse.

Now that you've seen the inside of it and know how it's put together, in your heart of hearts, you ALREADY KNOW why it does that; and it isn't anything to do with "play in the gears".

It is because although all 5 forward gears have synchronizers, reverse does not.

Consider the following scenario: car sitting still, engine running, trans in neutral, clutch engaged (foot off the pedal). At that time, the clutch disc is spinning, ALL the gears inside the trans are spinning, the mainshaft (which is connected to the drive shaft) is sitting still.

Consider next the following scenario: driver pushes the clutch pedal to the floor. What just changed?

Right: the engine is no longer connected to the clutch disc. BUT the clutch disc has a pretty fair amount of inertia, and keeps right on spinning; along with it, the trans gears keep spinning; and the whole mass of stuff slowly decelerates and gradually comes to a stop, after about 5 seconds or something. BUT UNTIL IT DOES COME TO REST it's still spinning.

OK, now consider what happens when, within a second or so after pressing the clutch, the driver attempts to jam it into reverse. You've got one half of the reverse gears sitting still, and the one the shifter moves is still spinning at almost the same rate it was spinning at when the clutch was engaged. There are no synchronizers there, so the edges of the teeth hit each other, and GRIND LOUDLY for several seconds while everything slows down and stops; meanwhile, METAL CHIPS FLY OFF THE EDGES OF THE TEETH AS THEY WEAR DOWN.

Moral of the story: DON'T DO THAT. Put it in a forward gear, ANY forward gear, before going to reverse. Youv'e already destroyed reverse to whatever extent by doing that, learn how NOT TO ruin your transmission.

Did you actually LOOK AT the revese gears while you were there and wonder why the edges of the teeth looked like somebody had been beating on them with a hammer or something? Or, look in the fluid, and notice that it seemed all full of little shiny powdery metal flakes? Now you know why.

Back before the T-56 became readily available (or available at all for that matter), I regularly bought T-5 cores to rebuild or scab parts out of, to keep my car running. (had a 400 under the hood... T-5s didn't last too long) The FIRST THING I would do, before I even told people what I would pay for their trans, was to pop that cover off and look at reverse, to see if they had suffered that abuse; because even though reverse itself isn't that big of a deal, bad driving FILLS THE FLUID WITH METAL CHIPS. Meaning, EVERY bearing, EVERY gear surface, EVERY EVERYTHING in there, had been subject to be ground down long-term by metal chips in the fluid. Just an all-around MAJOR source of ruination for a transmission.

LEARN to drive your car properly and it will last you alot longer and cause you less trouble along the way.

 

Its not hard to pull one of these and leave the fluid in it, I did/do it all the time..
Use a old DS yoke, trans plug or even the old driveshaft if your careful.

 

Yeah you can put a yoke in it, and keep the fluid from coming out there; but it's a little harder to deal with the shifter hole though. Especially if you're not on a rack.

Personally I don't like bathing in that stuff so I just drain em. Less work, less hassle, all the way around.

 

This transmission was a transplant. The one in the car when I bought it didn't do this. Since day one it has needed a firm shift into reverse, regardless of how it has shifted or who has driven it.

In any case, it's back together and runs like a champ. Except the part where the brake lights no longer work...

 

Your car is a wiring nightmare. Surprised it hasn't gone up in flames yet considering the 12vdc socket shot sparks at me lol