I'm sort of at the end of my rope here. I don't know what else to try so I'll lay out what I've done to you guys and see if you have any ideas.

I got a McLeod clutch with adjustable master cylinder from Thunder Racing. I also ordered a 01/02 updated slave cylinder from GMpartsdirect. I started the install last week. It's was trial by error. Had some problems figuring out the master cylinder but finally got it figured out. I was missing some much needed parts, like a clutch alignment tool, so I stopped halfway through and started again this weekend. I got everything all back together and started testing.

My problem is the clutch will not release. It is constantly engaged. My clutch pedal pressure is none exsistant. With the rod adjusted all the way out(pushing the pedal as far away from the floor board as it will go) I can just barely get enough pressure to push the pedal back up. And I mean just BEARLY! If I don't have it adjusted all the way out the pedal doesn't return at all.

So I've disconnected the hydrolic line from the slave inside the tranny. I've tried gravity bleeding but that just seems to introduce air to the line. If I pump the clutch about ten time it builds up so much pressure I have to push really hard to break the pressure built up in the line. I know the master cylinder is building up pressure, I just don't know if it's building up enough.

With everything hooked up. I can start the car(up in the air) and the put the tranny in any gear with or without the clutch. The higher the gear the longer it takes to push the stick in. I'm guessing that is the synchros doing all the work there. But heres the thing; If I put it in first, press the clutch in and hit the brake it will stall my car out. So the clutch is not releasing.

So then I disconnected the hydrolic line out of the tranny and grabbed the old slave cylinder and hooked it up to that. I bleed it through the old slave and then try to build up pedal pressure. It's still not like it used to be, but I was able to push the pedal back up by c-clamping the old slave down. So what this tells me is that the presure plate is not pushing back on my new slave cylinder.

So thats where I'm at. I can't tell if my Master cylinder is building up enough pressure. I also can't tell if the slave cylinder is making contact with the pressure plate. The only thing I can think that I've done wrong is maybe pulling air into the master. I've bleed the system more time than I care to talk about. I also bleed through the NEW slave cylinder before installing it. I torqued the presure plate just a little over 52 ft/lbs of pressure. I've been told this wouldn't hurt me.

I just don't know what else to test. If I can't get any new ideas in the next couple of hours I guess I'll just have to tow it somewhere and get it fixed. ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated at this point.

Thanks for your time, I know this is a long read.

Mike B.

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My Navy Blue 2000 Formula Firehawk