[Tortuga]

Long story short I took a huge risk on buying a 98' GSX off ebay. Rebuilt transmission has less than 100 miles on it, I know the seller said it has an ACT pressure plate and a kevlar clutch. He had a shop rebuild it and he installed it himself (car was originally an auto). Transport driver called me today and said when he was driving it onto the trailer that it was pretty hard to get into gear and the clutch almost had to be on the floor.

I'm thinking the master needs to be properly adjusted? Sounds like it's not building enough pressure, seller said the salve line be bought was like 8 feet long and maybe it being too long is not allowing for proper pressure? He also stated the cables he used came off a junkyard car so they could be bent or binding.

Where would you guys suggest I start, what sounds most probable?

 

[diambo4life]

1. Check for leaks at the Master and Slave cylinders. Bleed the clutch line. They are tricky to bleed correctly.

2. Adjust the master cylinder push rod in the car. Normally, if you turn it in (towards the car) it lowers the loading point (where the clutch engages - closer to the floor in this case) and turning it out raises the loading point. In your case, it needs to be turned out but you have to make sure this is only done to the point where you can still depress the slave cylinder rod into the slave with your finger. If you can't ,you need to back it out til you can. This is what people recall as "adjusting the clutch."
3. If you have done 1 and 2 correctly, you should have a firm pedal. If it's not firm, repeat 1 and 2 until it is.

4. 2Gs have accumulators in the clutch line, sorry I am not very familiar with them so I will leave that for you to research in these forums.

5. ACT clutches are notorious for disengagement issues so they may need the pivot ball to be shimmed a little to alter the clutch geometry. This sucks because you would have to drop the trans. This is especially true if after doing 1 and 2...you are barely disengaging the clutch on the floor.

Regarding the shift cables, you can tell if this is an issue by disconnecting them at the trans and manually shifting the car into gear. If you can shift it into all gears fine from outside but there's an issue from inside, then that's the issue. I don't think that's your issue here though.....yet.

 

[Tortuga]

Perfect response, a huge thank you!

 

[Tortuga]

I can’t seem to find the point where I can move the slave by hand, does this position tend to occur better with the rod adjusted towards the firewall? Also I’m leaning towards needing a shim for the pivot ball, would me running a stock clutch most likely eliminate that need?

 

[diambo4life]

I can’t seem to find the point where I can move the slave by hand, does this position tend to occur better with the rod adjusted towards the firewall? Also I’m leaning towards needing a shim for the pivot ball, would me running a stock clutch most likely eliminate that need?

So, it just feels stiff? For the slave cylinder to work properly it has to displace the clutch fluid back into the Master cylinder reservoir. So, either you didn't thread it out enough or your slave/master is defective. Watch this video.

Yes, stock clutch should work fine without the pivot ball shim....assuming the flywheel step height is in spec. and your slave/master cylinders are in good shape.

 

[Tortuga]

Thank you again! Yes it’s pretty stiff, the slave and master are brand new. I will go ahead and keep adjusting to see if I can get it to move by hand. Bleeding the system will be next on my list