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Clutch in backwards.  Been there, done that.  Which machines arc-shaped grooves into the heads of the flywheel bolts, and as my grandfather (a fitter/machinist) was wont to say, "None genuine without this mark".

And now I remember.  The spigot bearing collapsed (early Humpy), and I had to take the clutch off to replace the bearing, and when I put the gearbox back, the clutch adjustment was way off, and I wondered why that was, as I hadn't replaced anything.  Started the car, went to reverse off the ramps, and it made an awful racket as I let the clutch out.  Said a few choice words to myself about paying attention, and then did an engine-out to fix my mistake.  It took less time than working under the car.

Sorry, but I have to ask: Is your clutch still in backwards?

If you confirm that your clutch fork's bent, I have a couple of the indestructible forged FX-FJ ones.

Rob

Since my last response yesterday I have thought a little more about the clutch / gear issue. While I am going to go through everything systematically from the beginning again, I am leaning towards a bent clutch fork.

Prior to the sprucing up of the old girl, I had an ongoing issue with the clutch. I think I documented this previously but when I depressed the clutch, I would get a knock, and when I put the motor under load, I could also get the same knock. As it turned out, I had the clutch plate in back to front. I am suspecting this may have put excessive load on the clutch fork and bent it.

While I never had issues with the clutch and engaging gears previously, maybe with the new clutch and pressure plate, it has come back to haunt me. May be with the bent clutch fork, I have now got little adjustment of the slave cylinder pushrod.

Anyway, I will get there at some point. Hopefully it's not in a years' time.

Have a ripper.

Cheers Rod

Thank you so much Rob for your feedback. I read many of your posts on this, previously to posting, so it was great in hearing from you.

You have reaffirmed my belief of starting from the beginning again, even though I had adjusted free travel of pedal and slave cylinder or I thought I did. The one I will take particular note of will be the pedal free travel. When I did this I was not comforable that it was adjusted correctly. As I had put a kit through the Master (and Slave) cylinder, I used the new seal that goes between the master and firewall. This was a really good seal and was tight on the push rod hence I wasn't sure if the free play was taken up or not.

The slave cylinder hints are very useful. I hope the clutch fork isn't bent as it would mean I wasn't thorough when I installed the gearbox.

Bleeding the system was interesting at best. I used the two person method ie: Push clutch pedal in and hold, release the bleeder to expel the fluid, tighten bleeder and then release clutch pedal. I couldn't seem to make progress using this method. The clutch wouldn't engage properly and / or seemed to have to much air in the system. The best success I had was to gravity feed the system. The 'minister for war and finance' is going to love me when I ask her to be the "pusher" again.

Thank you so much again Rob. I will report back when I have success.

Cheers Rod

Rod,

It's best to check and adjust pedal free travel and throwout bearing clearance before doing anything else. So -

Pedal Free Travel: Best done by hand on the clutch pedal.  Gently depress the clutch pedal by hand.  Only the top inch of travel at most.  You'll be overcoming the assist spring, but you should feel a slight "bump" as the master cylinder pushrod contacts the piston.  Adjust the master cylinder pushrod until there's 1/8" free travel at the pedal before you feel the "bump".
Alternatively - reach up under the dash and grab hold of the master cylinder pushrod.  With the clutch pedal fully released you should be able to wobble the pushrod slightly, and as you depress the clutch pedal, the pushrod should feel firm.  This will allow you to gauge the free travel.

In short: back the master cylinder pushrod off a few turns and gradually adjust it up until you have between 1/8" and 1/2" pedal free travel.

Throwout Bearing Clearance:  Working from under the car, grab hold of the clutch fork with your fingers, and pushrod with your thumb.  Try to push the pushrod back through the clutch fork.  You'll feel the throwout bearing contact the pressure plate.  There should be about 1/8" free travel at the end of the clutch fork.  If you can't move the clutch fork relative to the pushrod, your clutch is out of adjustment.  Wind the adjuster nuts down the pushrod toward the slave cylinder until you achieve the right free travel.

Both these adjustments right?  Time to check whether the system's bled properly.  This is best a two-person job.  Have someone push down on the clutch by hand while you observe what's going on at the clutch fork.  As soon as the pedal free travel's taken up, the slave cylinder pushrod should start to move.  The end of the clutch fork should move nearly an inch with a full stroke of the pedal.

To me, it looks like something's not right with the actuating mechanism.  I'd try checking first that the slave cylinder piston's not stuck in its bore (pop the rubber boot off and shine a light inside).  And the pressed steel clutch forks can crack or break, producing symptoms similar to yours.  Unhook the return spring, remove the pushrod, remove the spring and covers from the clutch fork, shine a light inside the bellhousing and inspect the clutch fork to see that it's not bent.

Rob

Gee its been 12 months since my last post.

I have slowly be plugging away and happy to say I drove the car out of the garage for the first time on weekend, needless to say not in the manner I had hoped. More about that in a moment.

The hold up really has centred around lifes challenges and to a lesser a degree finishing off the front seat. I will make another post on what I did there.

Now to my saga on the weekend. I had enormous issues bleeding the clutch. Just couldn't get the air out. Not sure where it has been coming from as I ensured all new fittings were snug up tight. I have gravity bleed and that has been the best approach. I have adjusted gear linkages and when using the clutch I can move into most gears with the motor off. However, when the motor is runnin,g there is no way of finding a gear. When I place her into gear, push the clutch in and then start the engine, she takes off under the steam of the starter motor.

I have read a number of previous posts, and please correct me if I am wrong but I am thinking the clutch plate is stuck to the flywheel. I am not too keen on removing the gearbox.

One thing that doesn't sit right with me is the Slave Cylinder Adjustment rod. I have adjusted the free play and there is very little room for ajustment even if I had to do more. Please see photo. This is significantly different to the amount of adjustment I have left in my ute.



As a side note, the clutch assembly is new, the flywheel has been machined (could a stuck clutch still occur with this?), free play adjustment has taken place at the master and slave, and the pedal adjustment has taken place.

Any suggestions on bleeding the clutch or how to rectify my issues, I would be very grateful. Itching to drive the old girl down the road.

Cheers Rod

 Hey Gary. At least he got the number right!

Cyber Truck spotted outback

What engine are you running mate and who did the rack sump?

 The engine mounts themselves or the brackets that are welded to the crossmember ? If the former you need to put up some pics so we can try and figure out what they are from ??

Brett,

Buying your motor would be the sensible option, but I like the idea of building something up out of discarded parts.

Rob