What a nightmare...

So I pulled my engine and rebuilt it. The transmission stayed in the car. I put the engine back in. The clutch pedal has felt light ever since. I could not start the car so we tow-started it. In retrospect I think its because the clutch won't pull away from the flywheel much or at all.
1. While rolling I could not get it out of neutral into any gear.
2. We stopped I pushed in the clutch and put it into first. I dropped the clutch and it started up. It was running very rough (probably another issue) and was idling at 2000 rpm.
3. When I tried to change gears to turn around the clutch seemed to stick to the flywheel. When we tried to tow-start it again, it started up with my foot on the clutch. It has been that way ever since.
4. I tried bleeding the clutch and adjusted the clutch pedal lever so that the rod is as far out as it can be.
5. When I push the clutch pedal in there isn't much resistance and there is no obvious "engaged" point. When releasing my foot quickly like when I drive the pedal does not pull out as fast as my foot.

Other facts:
A. The pilot bearing was new.
B. Before I pulled the engine the clutch would periodically not pull out as fast as my foot.

I'm absolutely stumped, I would appreciate your help. Thanks.

 

For it not pulling out all the way it was my slave cylinder leaking slowly, it did this until i got a new one. I dont think it did it after that cant remember, but my MC went out a week and a half later. Pull the rubber boot of the slave and see if its moist at all.

 

lol I hope you didnt make the same mistake as i did and didnt tighten the pressure plate bolts down tightly. I thought I did but I was wrong. I rebuilt my master and slave but still didnt have any pressure. Good thing my friend was smart enough to check that.

 

Russ-R: You mean the bolts that hold the clutch assembly to the flywheel? I torqued them to spec. Is there anything else I could have done?

 

If I simplified this problem to say that after my rebuild that depressing my clutch pedal doesn't do anything, what would you say?

 

My master was bad and wouldn't disengage the clutch. It would bleed of very fast and then I wouldn't have a clutch. I replaced the master and the slave and now it works great. you might look into this.

 

If you torqued it all down to spec (even if you didnt and just tightened them) it should be in the clutch hydrolics. Check to see if the master cylinder and slave cylinder are working correctly. Also bleed the system a time or 2 and see if that does anything. As long as you have the flywheel, clutch disk and pressure plate, and a throwout bearing installed correctly, thats all it could be. Did you install the fork correctly onto the throwout bearing? It might be misaligned and not working properly. Just look around and track down the problem. Start at the pedal and work towards the clutch.

 

Thanks for the responses.

One thing occured to me, when I removed the engine and the clutch the transmission was left in the car and in gear. I believe that it was in gear when I reinstalled it too. Would that cause a problem?