ok everyone today i tried to finish up my car and ran into some serious problems. i am going to give you a run down from the top so this post is going to be kinda long but bear with me. ok saturday morning round nine showed up at craft shop. first thing i done was the interior stuff. took off the middle console and the shifter stuff.(have a ripper shifter to put in its place). then i took off the thing under the dash that the clutch pedal is connected to. moved under the car. took off thing that pushes clutch fork, torque arm, drive shaft. and then it was time for tranny. put one jack under oil pan with block of wood. jacked it up to there was just a little resistence. moved to tranny. took tranny jack and jacked it up until there was a little bit of resistence. took off tranny support and all the torque arm stuff. then i unbolted tranny leaving bell housing and at this point i started to pull. tring reall hard to get tranny out. the clutch fork seemed to be stuck. so i pulled and i tugged and eventually i unbolted the bell housing somehow thinking that would help. it allowed me to see that there was what looked like a little clip over the clutch fork. so i stick a screw driver in there and pop it out. it lands on the ground. then i notice a bolt back there and so i started looseing it. and with enough lossening the clutch fork drops down and i proceed to pull off the tranny and the bell housing. then i unlossen to old pressure plate, clutch disc and old fly wheel. then i take out old pilot bushing. tried the grease method. didnt work for me so i used the toilet paper method and it worked beautfily,then i went to put in new pilot bushing hit it with a rubber mallet first and then finish putting it in the rest of the way with a extension and a socket then i put on new fly wheel and torque it down to the right torque specs(i never had to take off starter either). then i put the alignment tool in and put the first clutch disc on went on fine then it was time for the floater plate(mcloed twin disc ) went on fine. i was missing the spacer that was in there but i talked to a guy who just put one in his z28 and he said it was about a half inch. so i just used washer to end up with half inch. then i tried to put on second clutch disc. wouldnt go on because it wouldnt fit over the ring that was on the alignment tool. so i just pulled alignment tool out had wife hold first clutch disc and put alignment tool through the second one and ran it back through the second one. making sure that the alignment tool went all the way to the pilot bearing. then put on the pressure plate torque it down right. pretty much clutch went on fine. used lock tite where i was supposed to. tried to be as careful as possible. then i put on the bell housing. and torque it all down. this is where i stopped at yesterday. i ran out of time at the craft shop. so this morning i felt a lot better. had gotten some information from some people on this board telling me hot to get clutch fork back on. so i went in this morning and my wife suggested that i try to just stick the tranny on without taking the bell housing back off so i tried that it and it worked. but that tranny was a bitch to get on. but back to the clutch fork. i had busted off the little rivet that held that little clip on. so i just used a really small screw and nut and a little washer. worked good. so on with the tranny. like i said before it was a bitch to get on. i pushed tug and did everything i could to get it on. finally i got it to within a half to quarter inch. so i decided to just bolt it on and let the bolts pull it tight. it worked. so after that it was just a matter of putting everything else back together. everything else went back together fine. so it was time to start it and see how she ran. i turned the key and all you could hear was grinding. it didnt pull forward or anything. i had tranny in neutral and clutch pedal pushed in. so i stopped and i just had to try it again. this time i held it long enough for it to start. even after it started you could hear nothing but grinding. i never tried to move it. hell it only ran for like five seconds before i shut her down. so once again it was getting close to closing time. so i had to push her outside. once out there i could not believe that i had spent the last two days doing this only to be no where. so i tried it again. this time the only thing it done was ticking. kinda like when the battery is dead. didnt turn over or anything just ticking. so i was going to just turn on the alarm and deal with it tomorrow and the battery was almost dead. so i let it sit for a while like 20 minutes and the battery was fine again. so i tried to turn it over again. once again all i get is ticking. and it is like the battery is dead again. at this point i dont know what to do. do anyone have any idea what this might be.

i know this has probably got to be the longest post in the history of this board. but i really need help and tring to give as many details as i can.

 

Sounds like your starter isn't aligned with the flywheel.

 

so how do i go about alingning it and getting it right the first time.

 

come on there has got to be someone out there who knows how to align my starter. what should i use as shims. should i go to pep boys or autozone and buy some. or should i use washers or something andd how do i make sure i get it right the first time.
thanks for all the help

 

Have you taken the starter down to see if that's what is grinding for sure??? if not I would do so, you said it was grinding while it was running so something it hitting. It might just be that bolt and washer you put on the fork that is hitting and now has locked in the pressure plate. Just a guess I not there to look at it .

 

check and make sure that the clutch fork didn't come loose inside there and is just banging around, it could've jammed on the fly-wheel and has it locked up, mine did it on one of my clutch installs and you could see on the clutch fork where it grinded on the clutch. Hopefully you figure it out.

 

i dont think it is the bolt and nut that i used on the clutch fork. becasue i cut it pretty low and i checked for that when i first put it in. and the bolt that actually holds the clutch fork to the tranny sticks out way farther than the one i used on the clip. as far as the the clutch fork coming lost i dont think that is it either because i used lock tite on that bolt that holds the clutch fork to the tranny. i think i will pull the starter and look for damage their. does anyone know how to shim a starter and get it right the first time.

 

ok this is what i done. i pulled the starter didnt see any damage to it or the flywheel so i shimmed it anyway just to be sure. the grinding didnt change at all. so what i was going to do is just let the starter sit on top of the exhaust and try to push start it to see if it was actually the starter. very hard to go into gear with the clutch pushed down but finally got it in and the car wouldnt move with the clutch pedal pushed down. so i am thinking there is something wrong with my clutch fork. so i take off the clutch plunger thing and the little nut and screw that i put on the clip on the clutch fork had almost work itself lose and the clutch fork was just kinda banging around in there. so i am going down to the chevrolet dealership here in sierra vista today even tough i really really hate that place and buy a new clutch fork and hopefully that will fix my problem. what do you guys think. does it seem like thsi is my problem.

 

Glad to hear that you figured it out. I thought it sounded like the clutch fork. Just make sure when you put the new one in, you push it all the way in until you here it click into place and it should be good to go.

 

ok thanks for all the help. i will be doing this tomorrow afternoon which is thursday and i hope everything goes ok and i have no problems. AND I CAN FINALLY DRIVE MY CAR AGAIN.

 

man am i having problems with this car. replaced the clutch fork and it is still doing the same thing. i am getting really frustrated with this car but i have no choice but to keep tring. i went out and bought myself a BRAND NEW slp clutch kit. and hopefully this will fix m problem. i am thinking it gotta be something with the clutch itself. because i dont see anything else it could be. any and all suggestions would be appreciated. and also do you think that this new clutch will fix my problem. please someone any and all suggestions that could help me out will be appreciated.

 

For one thing I wouldn't have pulled the trans up to motor by using bolts because if it's out of alignment you can break something. I also have a Mcleod S/T and if there not shimmed properly according to Mcleods specs you will have disengagement problems. You don't have to take the bolt off the clutch fork to get the tranny out, The fork just slides back, Then when installing just push it back in. If you fork is bent that can also cause you to not be able to get in gear. Thats just a few of the probelms you might be having

 

the amount i pulled it up to the tranny using the bolts was not that much at all. and i dont think it is the clutch fork because the one i have is band new. i bought one from the dealership. and so you think it not being shimmed right is causing all of this grinding and stuff.

 

Grinding, Do you mean when you are trying to put it in gear?

 

it is grinding when you start the car. at first i thought it was the starter. then the clutch fork. now i know it isnt one of those two things the only other thing i can think of that it can be is the clutch itself. so that is my next step hopefully my clutch will be in before next weekend.