Major progress, 1st a DOH!, then a YA!!, then a Hmmm Options

[aircooledboy]

The Arctic winter broke briefly today here, with temps near 60 for the first time since late October. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/boldblue.gif) So, Stef came over and we put the new clutch and trans in. First I went to turn the lights on in the shop. . . nothin? So I open the giant double doors to the Great Midwest NARP Assembly Building, and I see something odd (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/idea.gif) Boy, I don't remember that bank of floresent lights leaning up against my tool box. . . .

[John2kx]

Chris,

Have not been here in a while but it was a pleasant surprise to see your still wreching on what used to be mine.

I agree with Brad and think it is just a adjustment issue and suggest you make 1/2 turn changes to make the clutch move "forward" until it shifts without grinding.

Since you have changed to a different style clutch/pp, the location of pivot ball may not be in the desired location. Removing washer(s) will do the same as loosening clutch cable and adding washer(s) will provide more disengaging action (moving clutch forward). I would not go to the trouble of making washers changes until you've used up all your adjustment range with clutch cable.

You may have to make several adjustments to get clutch in range and something I learned by spending allot of time on my back.

I never liked the idea of throw out bearing riding on pp forks during my original installation but Scott @ Renegade told me this was normal and they have never experienced a failure.

I followed the same shifter procedure you mentioned and marked shift rod by scribing fore/aft and left/right marks in the event it was ever removed again. It does not sound like you've done anything to prevent the use of those settings. To speed things up, you could tighten clutch cable until t/o bearing makes contact with pp and check for grinding. If this works, just take it easy the first few times you apply torque to ensure you don't have a clutch slipping issue. This is where the 1/2 turn or less on cable adjustment really comes in to play. There is a fine line between grinding the gears and clutch slippage. Needless to say, this is where the difference comes in when bolting 400hp vs. 80hp to the 901. With the flat 4, clutch slippage is not much of a issue once you get the gear grinding adjusted out.

Not sure if we covered this while you were here but the clutch cable has been replaced and the pedal cluster was also rebuilt just prior to my purchase of car. A new bushing was also installed in clutch pivot fork when I installed the conversion.

A couple of things that I picked up from other guys that have done similar conversions that can cause problems and are easily overlooked:

-engine and transaxle mounting bolts to chassis are tight
-engine to transaxle mounting bolts are tight
-tall oil filters will cause contact with shift rod

Sorry for being so long winded but I hope you find some of this useful.

Regards,

John