Hi Everybody,

As you can tell from my signature I have a 13B-REW in my car. I've been using a TII transmission and because of some clutch and trannsmission grinding problems I decided to change everything out and a few other things while I'm at it. The new trannsmission is a unit from Japan that's in good physical condition (obviously can't see inside. Tear down went very well. While everything was out I changed the rear main seal on the engine replaced the friction plate on my racing beat flywheel (87 TII style) and replaced the clutch with an ACT unit (can't remember the model off hand), pilot and throw out bearing. Everything went great untill installing the new transmission I can get the splines to engage on the clutch disc, but I have approx a 1/2 inch gap that I can't close for the life of me. In other words the tranny won't go all the way on. I've tilted the engine back to get more room and it doesn't help the situation. I've removed the clutch to make sure the pilot bearing isn't binding and the tranny fits up perfect. I've got the stock clutch allignment tool that's centering the clutch and it installs and comes out pretty smoothly. I also tried putting the old transmission back in and ran into the same problem. I'm really at a loss. I spent about 3 hours just fiddling with getting the transmission in. Not to mention countless times lifting that damn tranny in and out of the car. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be going on. All I can think is that somehow during installation we're jiggling the tranny around to much and sliding the clutch out of allignment. I've done many transmission swaps in these cars and have never had this much trouble.

Thanks for your help

 

If you ran into the same prblem with the "old" trans, the clutch isn't lined up properly with the pilot bearing. Get behind it and eyeball the bearing to be sure it's perfectly centered. The cltuch tools will allow for some movement, eg with disc loose inside pressure plate you'll be able to move the tool around as it's not a perfect fit and the clutch weight will cause the tool to drop. Loosen the plate just enough to allow the disc to move and do the final adjustment with a screwdriver resting inside the bearing and move the disc accordingly.

 

It won't "slip right in" most of the time.
I start torquing down the bolts just to get them to mate properly.
Make sure you torque them evenly so the engine and bell housing mate properly!
If it doesn't close evenly, something is very wrong.
Watch out for the "dowels", as they need to line up perfectly for everything to mate good.


-Ted

 

Finally got it. I'm pretty sure the alignment tool was a little screwy. I tried another one and with some careful finagling, I got it to slip in. Thanks Guys. I'm a happy RX-7 driver again. Now if I can fix the alternator next....

Greg