Rebuilt, Quaife'd tranny shifting problems

[Kudzu '92]

This is my first thread, so be gentle

For the first time in 5 years, my SHO is close enough to good for me to be able to register it and bring it back on the road. I installed a Quaife'd rebuilt 5sp from FPS with a SHONut Ceramic TOB, SHOBros 17lb flywheel, a Clutchmasters stg 1 clutch, and extreme reinforced motor mounts front and rear (among many other seemingly unrelated things, mostly brake and suspension related). I filled the tranny to the top of the fill hole with Pennzoil Synchromesh fluid.

I've spent just a little time breaking the car in and trying to work out the bugs, but I've come across some problems as I go through the gears (in order of importance):

1. It will grind going into fourth gear every time.
2. The car will jump from 2nd to neutral while engine braking most everytime.
3. Occasionally, 3rd gear will grind when upshifting.
4. Sometimes, when the car is stopped and the clutch is out, I get a chatter sound. If I push the clutch in and then let it out slowly while still at a stop, the noise will go away, but not always.

I've got an email in to Doug at FPS, and I'm sure he'll get back to me when he can, but I wanted to ask for your thoughts to see if I can resolve these issues myself.

A few things came out when I did my search.
1. shifter linkage could be bad
2. tranny fluid (new) might not be right for a newly rebuilt tranny
3. clutch cable could be stretched and for some reason it effects only 3rd and 4th.
4. shot synchro on my new tranny with 20 miles on it....and me with no warranty

I'm thinking of starting with the rod shifter, though I'm not sure what exactly to look for. It looks fine, it was less than a year old when I garaged the car, but my old motor mounts were shot and sometimes I had to get a little forceful with the shifter. Looks can be deceiving after all.

What suggestions do you have for me? This is a '92 MTX with 20 miles since the transaxle swap. Additionally, what other steps should I take while breaking in my rebuilt tranny.

On a side note, I want to thank the community for helping me with my project. I don't often post, but I search and read others' posts quite frequently. You've been invaluable to my project over these past few years. :thankyou:

 

[Kudzu '92]

shifter linkage looks good. no unusual play. the shift boot where the shifter enters the cabin was riding up a little on the shifter; might explain why it was jumping out of second, I don't know.

i'm probably going to replace the clutch cable in the next couple days if I can get a hold of one locally. relatively inexpensive insurance.

am I missing something obvious? i have the feeling that I'm in dead synchro denial here.

 

[SinisterSHO]

I may have missed it, but did you try adjusting the clutch?

 

[Kudzu '92]

I'll give it a shot when the sun comes up. If not then, definitely before I buy a new cable.

You're talking about lifting the clutch pedal and listening for the click, right? I didn't think to do it because I just put the whole mess back together with a new clutch and I thought the clutch adjustment was to be used more as the clutch disc wears.

On a separate note, I did notice that when I took my rod shifter off this evening and I put a punch through the hole in the shifter shaft on the tranny and rotated, it clicked as I twisted clockwise from the center towards the 5th/R gate, but did not click as i twisted counterclockwise from center to the 1/2 gate. It should click both ways from center shouldn't it?

Put another way, the shifter (when attached) is firm when I move it towards the right as if putting it in 5th or reverse, but is kind of sloppy 1 through 4. I hope that makes sense. Could this mean something?

 

[Kudzu '92]

OK, when I lifted the pedal up to adjust the clutch, it didn't make a click noise. What does that mean? Does it mean that no adjustment was necessary, or could it mean that the cable is stretched, or something else?

 

[baySHO_510]

I have a Quaife in my 89 & I was told to use only Redline D4 ATF in it.

 

[SHO-NUF93]

Try pushing the clutch quadrant(the blue plastic thing) up with a screwdriver, you may have to push kind of hard. At one time, I found that pulling on the pedal made the clutch engage closer to the floor. Pushing up on the quadrant brought the engagement out.

I have the rattling noise in mine, and AFAIK it's as old as my car, 157k. But that, along with the grinding, could have something to do with the fluid that you're using. I seem to remember seeing something to that effect here before.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

I would only forceably adjust the clutch quadrant once I had eliminated all other possible sources of the problems. In my opinion, there are too many issues here to be simply attributable to the clutch quadrant - especially given that there's been no mention of incorrect engagement (high/low pedal, slipping, etc.).

When I had my problem a few weeks ago, another individual attempted to manually adjust the quadrant (after I had several times) and physically damaged the end of the quadrant adjuster. It's no longer possible to put a flat blade screwdriver on the end now, as a result.

 

[NJSHO]

Pennzoil Synchromesh fluid? Is that the same as the GM stuff? The first thing I would do is try a different fluid. Some trannys like Mobile 1, some like the gm syncrosmesh, and some like cheap ol ATF. How long has the tranny been full of fluid? From what I've read on the forum, the paper syncros may take some time to soak up the fluid.

 

[jccorb]

When I first bought my car it had to go in second before first so it would not grind. After I blew that tranny in Germany and 3 months later with new housing and all it still had the same problem, this was in 2001. 15k miles later and the year 2007 the car was very hard to shift. Come to find out it was a bad rod shifter. Don't know where to look but the teck at Ford said thats what is was and got a new used one and it is no shifting problems

 

[Kudzu '92]

From what I've read here and on other sites, the Pennzoil and GM Synchromesh fluids are exactly the same. I've had the Synchromesh in the tranny for several months before ever driving the car on the road, so the blocking ring paper should be saturated by now. Maybe I'll change it anyway and see if it helps.

The grinding only happens when getting into 3rd and 4th, and I'm not having any resistance from the shifter except for the momentary feedback when I'm briefly grinding the gears.

The clutch pedal feels about right. It fully engages somewhere near the middle of its travel. Maybe just a little higher than the middle, I can't remember exactly off of top 'o me head. I can start from a stop by slipping it out, and once in gear the clutch doesn't slip.

Let me ask another question. Why, other than a busted rod shifter, would my car jump out of 2nd gear while engine braking? Could that be tranny fluid too?

 

[jccorb]

Aside from having to put in second before reverse I had to do it before first from time to time. It just would not go into first all of the time if the car was running or not. In the tranny I use the mobile 1 but in my experience with that I have only had the rod shifter be a problem. I hope this helps. Let us know if you find the problem

 

[03cobraSHO]

I Dont think the tranny was shimmed corectly!!

 

[platoribs]

Where's Waldo?

As close as you are to FPS ???:angelnot:

 

[Kudzu '92]

I've decided to puss out and take the car in. I think this is beyond my capabilities and beyond the amount of time I want to spend doing the same job twice. Doug hasn't emailed back and has read and ignored my PM, so I get the impression I'm on my own on this one. Like I said, there are no warranties for trannies you haul off and install yourself. Especially so because I'm just now driving the car for the first time, a full 9 months after I bought the tranny. Conceivably it could have been something I did, though I doubt it. I'm not blaming FPS yet either. I won't know anything until I know what the problem is. When I find out, I'll decide how to deal with my vendor. Additionally, I'll post what was wrong for those who are interested to know and so those searching the forum for the same symptoms will have the benefit of my experience.

Mableton is a long way away when your car isn't safe to drive, so I'm taking it somewhere local. I've checked the BBB, asked some friends and have found a shop I'm going to personally visit in an hour or two to ask questions. Give someone else a chance to get it right. Maybe it will turn out to be something simple, maybe it won't, but I'm not going to give up. It's been more than five years without a SHO....what's a few more weeks?

Thanks for your help, wish me luck

 

[Storm-Chaser]

There's few people I would trust to know what they're looking for inside an MTX. It's not a common transmission and it's been shown here more than once, that transmission "experts", often aren't when it comes to an MTX.

Get a hold of Drivinhard - he's just east of Atlanta, has rebuilt a number of SHO transmissions, and if there is a problem with the rebuild (which SHOULD be warranteed) he'd be a good neutral third-party qualified to say what is/isn't wrong with the tranny.