The trans was garbage when I got the car; it would grind in every gear except 5th to 6th (up or down shifting) so I promptly removed and took it to the local, reputable, trans shop. I get the transmission back and reinstall, only to find a whole new list of problems. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Car info:
* 2003 50th anniversary, with 130k miles.
* Assume everything about the car is stock, with exception of the clutch and the newly rebuilt T56.
* Clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, T/O bearing, and pilot bearing were replace by the previous owner, and all look to be very new and in great shape.
* Transmission has O'Reilly brand Dex III fluid.

What it does:
* Grinds anytime I put it in 1st gear; unless I put it in another gear first, and then easily stick it in 1st.
* Grinds slightly when I put it in 4th. It's worse with hard pulls, but only slight if I'm easy on it. Doesn't grind at all if I give the trans time to spin down.
* Grinds downshifting into 4th, 3rd, and 1st gear.
* Trans will spin up, with clutch disengaged, when up shifting into 3rd.
* Clutch fully releases on jack stands in 1st gear. I haven't tried 3rd yet, because I haven't lifted it off the ground since I initially installed trans.
* Perfect otherwise.

I'm looking for any advice before I go through the pita process of removing the trans, again. Maybe I over looked something during install?

 

Is the clutch fully disengaging? Theres only about .030 (think?) gap between the disc/fw when pedal is all the way down. What kind of clutch slave setup are you using
How is it mounted, nice bracket or does the firewall flex a lot?

 

Hey and thanks for the response! When I installed the trans, while it was still on jack stands, I spun the flywheel (with a crow bar and a helper pressing the clutch pedal) and the clutch did fully disengage in all gears. I also cranked the car and made sure the wheels didn't spin (while in 1st gear and with clutch disengaged). I wish I had checked ALL the gears with the car running, but everything looked good from under the car. And I've always been a little sketched out by cranking a car on jack stands. Also, the install went smooth as silk. I even splined the input shaft on the first try... I didn't think I would have any troubles.

Honestly, the pedal feels great. It disengages at the very top of the throw. I mean, within a short inch of depressing the pedal. But none of the hydraulics look new, aside from the TO bearing/slave. As far as I know, everything else is stock. I'll do a better inspection this weekend, when I can get the car in the air. But I'm going to say that the firewall isn't flexing. Is that common on these cars? I'll also get a feeler gauge on it. Please keep the suggestions coming!

 

sounds like the clutch is not shimmed right ??? https://www.tickperformance.com/tick...im-kit-3-pack/

 

If the clutch hasn't been shimmed, a change to the Tick adjustable master cylinder might help. It will increase pedal pressure somewhat, but apparently can also displace the slave a little further than the stick M/C. Or so I have read.

 

Bleed the clutch master/slave and be sure you really got all the air out. If you have a remote bleeder be sure you do not have air bubbles stuck in the extended bleeder line. Don't trust Speed Bleeders - they don't seal well enough.
Bleed it manually the old way with two people - not one handed with a vacuum bleeder. I think you have air bubbles in the clutch system.

 

Don't buy tick M/C wasting your money. Like pounder said, probably improper shiming. Got to find the root cause and not bandad it.

 

First off, thanks to all of you, for the help! I was finally able to get under the car. I checked the slave/PP fingers for clearance, and there's just under an 1/8 ". That's within tolerance according to Tick. I also started the car on jack stands, and put it in EVERY gear. The wheels do not turn, and the clutch seems to disengage better than any GM car I've ever driven (maybe there's aftermarket parts somewhere?). The trans acts like the synchro's are worn out completely. Could it be something internal? Does anyone have experience with improper end play setup? I let the transmission guy drive it and he wants to tear into it again. I'm not a fan of that idea, but I'm running out of things to check. I'll try bleeding the clutch again.

 

This is going to sound dumb, but what fluid are you running in the trans. think of syncros like mini clutches that match the rotational speed of two gears before they connected before are mechanically connected. incorrect fluid can very how much friction is generated and thus cause shifting issues. Other than than, I guess I'd question how good of a rebuild your shop actually did. What was replaced, what wear was found et....?

 

Sounds like a very good question. The wrong lubricant will do just what you've described.

 

I'm using O'Reilly brand, conventional Dex 3. I don't want to start a debate, but I've read a lot of posts about people using syncromesh, to solve similar problems; however, IMO there's something fundamentally wrong with the trans internals, and I'm not interested in patching something, only to have it break later.

I re-bleed the clutch yesterday, and it's exactly the same as before. I'm taking the trans back to the shop. It was real bad when I first took it to him. As in, broke pieces fell off when he took it apart. I know he tried to save me some money by re-using what he could (at my request). So the real culprit was my skinny budget...

Anyways, I'm going to bite the bullet and have him go through it right. I'll post the findings when it goes back together. Next I'll be researching budget friendly T56 upgrades. I really want to trash this thing around the autocross this summer. Thanks again for all the help!