Hey,

Just wanted to let everyone know of my recent experience. My car was off the road for about 5 months due to waiting on parts (but that's a story for another time) such as brakes, suspension, rear end, etc., etc.

Well just last weekend, once the car was ready, I fired her up, let her reach temp, and then tried to shift to reverse. No go. The tranny wouldn't go into any gear with the car running. After searching around there was no help -- I had bled the hydraulics many times over, so I knew it wasn't that. With a flashlight I looked through the slave cylinder hole in the bellhousing and notices some rust around one of my clutch disks.

I ended up pulling the tranny and then proceeded to disassemble the clutch. Right away I noticed that everything was "stuck" to the pressure plate but not to the flywheel. I figured by pressing on the clutch pedal, the slave rod separated the assembly from the flywheel, but not from the PP or the floater (which is bolted to the FW and was why I couldn't disengage the clutch). I used CLR to get rid of the rust on the steel surfaces, and carb cleaner on the clutch disks. After cleaning all EIGHT surfaces (FW, 2 clutch disks, floater, and PP) I put her back together and drove off. What a PITA!

So, if you don't run your car over the summer especially if it's humid, be aware that your assembly could rust.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'm installing an ST right now.