I'm new to the forum but you guys have already helped some thank you. Here's my issue. My wife just bought a 1987 IROC Z28 with a 305 4BBL and a T5 with 67000 original miles. With the engine running it will not go in to reverse without grinding. If you start it in reverse you can feel it creep backwards. Without matching RPM's downshifting to 2nd is near impossible. I have bled the clutch master and slave three times according to the instructions found here. Again thank you. Also drained and refilled the oil it had a tag on the side saying 5w30 only so thats what I used. Problem still there. All I can think now is there is something wrong with the clutch fork or throwout bearing or the clutch disc is not free on the input shaft??? The slave is moving the fork far enough I believe between .5 to 1 inch. there were really no shavings to speak of in the oil either so don't think it is internal trans issue. The wife is pretty upset about this. Please help and THANK YOU in advance.

 

This is the problem.



Somebody JUST DID put a clutch in it, and assembled it wrong.

 

I don't think that is the case also pull the inspection plate today those bolts haven't been disturbed in quite some time I'm going to see if I can see anything through the clutch fork hole tomorrow it's beer and bonfire time right now thanks for the idea though

 

if you can pump the clutch a whole bunch of times and then it goes into reverse ok, you need new hydraulics -- clutch slave AND master, we see that often.

 

Think this may actually be it noticed if I double pump it it goes into 1st and 2nd easier when down shifting or leaving a stop will try tomorrow and post up any new developments thanks guys

 

Btw, one other tip for you. Reverse gear is not synchronized on the old T5's, so even if your clutch setup is working perfectly, it can grind going into reverse a lot of times. The trick to getting it into reverse w/o any grinding is to put it in 1st gear, let out the clutch til the car starts to pull forward, then push the clutch back in again and then shift it into reverse. This stops the gears in the trans from spinning, and it'll go into reverse w/o grinding every time. I learned this trick on my old Muncie 4 speed in my 69 Camaro, and the same trick will work with T5's as well. As far as grinding when downshifting, yeah that sounds like a possible problem with the clutch hydraulics, or the T/O bearing being installed wrong like in the pic above.

 

well i got the slave off adn looked inside everything looks to be ok so i think we are going to change the slave and master cylinder i hope the clutch fork boot isnt too hard to find or too expensive cause i ripped mine in two very dry another question though is the hole on the master cylinder (where it hooks to the clutch pedal supposed to be a little larger than the pin or is there supposed to be a bushing in there?

 

Got the new cylinders on works like a charm the new slave is actually made of metal not plastic, bonus.

 

Hey, that's awesome that you managed to get one of the aluminum slave cylinders. They're Sooooooo much better than the chintzy plastic one! It's usually hit or miss getting one, just depends on what the parts store has on hand at the time. Glad to hear you got her straightened out!

 

Ok so all was well for a day and a half the wife drove her new car to work for the first time yesterday and when she went to leave shifting from from first to second gear when she let the clutch out the car didn't keep going the slave got stuck and the clutch didn't disengage parts store ordered me a new one it will be in Monday also towing it home across town six blocks it over heated and blew the heater control in the heater hose hope it didn't kill the engine I got water back in it as soon as I could and started her back up so I think it will be ok oh the joys of buying a 26 year old used car :-)

 

Put it in first before you go into reverse.

 

Just want to note that you don't have to start going forward in order for reverse to not grind. Simply going to any forward gear with the clutch in will stop the gearset allowing to go into reverse without grinding. No need to let the clutch out in the forward gear. When I had my T5 I would go from 5th to reverse being it is a simple up then down.