Have an 88 rx7 convertable. Just put the motor back in it along with the old transmission. Clutch was still good, clutch master cylander is new. The problem im having is when the car is not at operating temperature it does not like to shift into first, and if i try to put it into reverse it grinds, so i hafta grab it and throw it in reverse as fast and hard as possible to reduce the grind time. Far as the first gear goes i either have to push on it really hard and eventually it will make a loud pop noise then go into first. or i have to put it into second then it will go into first a little bit easier. Once i drive the car for 5-10 miles this all goes away for the rest of the day, until it sits overnight again, then it starts again in the morning. I checked the fluid level in the tranny its fine, also reblead the clutch to make sure it had no air in the lines. Any ideas what is causing this? and can i fix it without pulling the tranny cause i dont want to do that again. and if i do pull it, its getting replaced. Thanks

 

Do you hear any noise from the transmission area when you hold the clutch in?

 

only noticeable noise i can hear is when the clutch is at almost the very top of its travel only when im moving it kinda has a chattering noise

 

Does it get worse as the transmission gets up to operating temperature?
When you put the transmission back in, did you use the bolts to pull it into the engine?

 

It gets better once the tranny is up to temperature. Once its at temperature it shifts like its new. Didnt have to use the bolts to pull the tranny in, we had the clutch lined up perfect and it just slid right in, just had to tighten bolts. Does it make a diff that my clutch engages really low to the floor?

 

It might, you can adjust the engagement point. Look by the pedal area.

 

UPDATE*** Transmission will no longer go into ANY gear. Cars been sitting for about a week, got in on a nice sunny day to drive the vert, and it wont go into gears now. Shut the car off it moves into all the gears no prob. Start and it wont go into gear at all. Low_impedance is comming over sunday to try and figure it out. He thinks my clutch slave is bad. Idk we'll find out sunday. If anyone has any other ideas lemmy know im up to try anything on this thing now to get her moving again.

 

Does the pedal feel soft and spongy? Is your clutch fluid res full? How are your tranny mounts? I had a problem somewhat similar, turns out the center tranny mount ate itself.

 

The petal is weird feeling to lowimpedance but i didnt notice a difference cause its felt that way sense i got the car. We just put the tranny back in 700 miles ago and the bushing was fine not eaten or dried up at all. and the res is full checked that first lol

 

Maybe the release bearing?

 

if you press on the clutch pedal, you can see if the rod is moving out from the slave cylinder, if it does move, and not leaking the slave cylinder should be good.
Can you start or crank the car in 1st gear with the clutch pedal pushed down? Make sure the rear wheel is either on ground and nothing in front of you or up in the air.

 

When we got our JDM Tii tranny, it shifted very stiffly and had to be jammed in. When we put the Royal Purple gear fluid in it cleaned right up.

given that yours get better when it' hot, maybe the synthetic fluid would help. I'd try that before pulling the whole thing out. If it doesnt work, you can reuse the synth gear fluid.

 

i dont know about first gear start but ive started it in reverse because i didnt wanna keep grinding it into reverse once it was running. im gonna check the slave on sunday see if its leaking. The cars at home now and im at work lol

 

my wife was driving mine( i know i know) and the clutch stuck to the floor.(found out when i got to the car) she said it would not go in to any gear running. anyway pulled the pedal up and seemed to work fine. I pulled the master and slave and the master was seeping inside and the slave when i pulled the boot off you could see pieces of rubber around the piston. I noticed sometimes when shifting into lower gears in seemed to surge just a little bit. I think if you fix the slave,you fix your problem

 

Put it in first then start the car. If it jumps foward it is probably your pilot bearing.