Well spent 7 hours getting everything together...no joy, clutch won't fully disengage!
Had a hell of a time get the trans in. Stripped out one of the top trans bolt. Ended up putting ez-threads in both holes.
Bled the clutch system.
Made some extended clutch rods. The last rod is just long enough not to pre-load the clutch fingers witht the TOB.
It will only go into 1st and 2nd and barely disengages 1/4" off the floor.

The flywheel was checked and it's step height was .61" It's a brand new ACT 2600 clutch and disk and MITSU TOB. You would think that with all new componant and the same shimmed shift fork as before it would have plenty of fork movement.

I guess I can shim the fork ball some more...don't know what else to do.

Chris, I have not read the whole thread..
A couple of questions that come off the top of my head.

With the car off, can you shift the trans easily into all gears? YES/NO

If No, then the problem is probably in the trans

If yes.. Clutch related.

How old are the Slave cylinder and master cylinder for the clutch?
Have you bled both of them?

Ive ran all sorts of clutches in the fwd, and numerous awd's.. Ive never had to shim anything, not once.. with act, spec (star), exedy so on and so forth. The only thing Ive ever done is the slave rod swap, which only changed my engagement point for me, as I recall (pedal release location).

Good luck man, I know it can be frustrating..
Where are all these shims going?

Trans shifts fine without the car running.

I replaced the slave and master probably 3-4 years ago. I checked them, they are not leaking. I did bleed the system twice. I replaced the hose with a braided one I had because it had a small knick but it wasn't leaking. The slave moves the fork a little less than 1/2" which I read is about normal.

The shims go on the clutch fork ball. Adding a shim effectively moves the fork closer to the pressure plate. Mainly to make up for the material lost when machining the flywheel.

I'm thinking the Fidanza flywheel is a different height that the stock , because the clutch fork is further over in the window than the previous setup.

Got everything back together...damn thing still won't go in gear.

I can put it in gear, push in the clutch, start it and then as soon as I twitch my foot it engages.

But I can't get it into gear with the engine running and the clutch pushed in. I'm not sure if the flywheel is screwed, the ACT 2600 is screwed...maybe clutch pedal is worn, slave or master??? Everything worked before the new clutch and flywheel was added

I can't beleive it would be the trans after I took it apart, because it goes into gear fine out of the car, I checked.

It's something in your clutch system. Your clutch is just barely disengaging, which isn't enough when it's running, and not already in gear. it needs to completely disengage to shift. Sounds like you need more travel on the clutch arm in some way/shape/form. Can you lengthen your slave cylinder anymore (or shorten, whichever would take play out)?

Well I had Brent check the movement of the clutch fork in the Rocket. (thanks again!). His car has about 1/2" of movement measured in the clutch window. My car has 3/8"

So maybe the slave or master is going out. But neither are leaking though and they are about 3-4 yrs old. I guess with the old worn out clutch, that throw might have been enough. With the new parts it may need more throw.

Replaced the master and slave...Still only have 3/8" of movement.

Checked the pedal assembly, after pushing down the clutch and letting it return I can pull the pedal about an 1" up. So now it may be my pedal assembly is worn out.

I still need to bleed the clutch a little, my helper left before I was completly done. but it don't look good.

man, that's a strange problem.

Will it hurt those clutches to run a bit of preload? It's obviously not disengaging, so if you could preload it like 1/8" you'd probly get enough movement to disengage the clutch, while still getting a good lock when pedal is out.

naw...preload cause TOB failures.

I'll pull out the pedal assembly and weld it.

Sooner or later I'll make it to the track.

yeah kinda what i thought, tough luck

The wearing clutch pedal is actually a fairly common problem on DSM's. I had to fix mine a while back. I agree, it still strange though...

steering column is out, everything disconnected. Can get the brake master cylinder out of the way enough to get the pedal assembly out.

Got pissed so it's a good time to quit.

Got everything out yesterday. By looking at the joint and the wear pattern on the washer and clutch master cylinder arm, I think the nut loosened on the edge of the clutch assembly allowing the end to slot and tab joint to wear slightly. I reassembled and tightened the nut and there was no slop. I read on a old DSMTalk post that that joint is almost an interferance fit and should have no slop, can anybody confirm that?

I ordered all new parts and Shep brass bearings today. I'm going to rebuild it and hopefully never have to rebuild it again. I hope this really fixes the porblem otherwise I don't know what else to do.

it really sounds like you're on the right track. I'd also make sure and locktite the nuts/bolts in the linkage, so they won't come loose. since you've got it apart already...

JNZ Tuning let me down for the first time. Order didn't show up yet. Got the brass bushings from Shep Trans but not the pedal, linkage etc. from JNZ.

Dualdj1, I plan on tack welding the washer/nut onto the end of the shaft after it's reassembled.

Well I'm about at the end of my rope. I replaced the pedal assembly and the clutch still won't disengage.

So to recap.
After installing a new ACT 2600, pressure plate and Mitsu TOB with a Fidanza flywheel the clutch didn't disengage. I had Mulvains check the step height and it was .610.

Pulled the trans and reshimed the fork to put the clutch pedal to the drivers side of the trans window.

I replaced the clutch master and slave. Replace the old hose with braided hose. Tried extended slave cylinder rods.

I rebuilt the clutch pedal assembly with Shep brass bushings, new Mitsu clutch pedal and arm. I welded the washers and nut on the ned of the shaft.

I even welded a nut on the clutch clevis to get more adjustment with no effect.

Bled the clutch system several times.

I have a 1/2" of slave rod movement at the fork.

The only things left I can think of is?:
-defective pressure plate (too thick?)
-defective clutch plate
-2600 clutch bending aluminum flywheel

ANYTHING ELSE???

Well unless your flywheel is a lot different than mine I don't think it's bending since I have the same pressure plate.

Do you still have the old flywheel? Did you compare it side by side with the new one?
Sound to me like you have taken care of everything, leaving only the possibility of defective parts.
As discussed earlier, the only way to really offer any help is to lay my eyes on it or any other person with good experience.

Kicks,
Let me know if your game gets canceled today, or if you have time this weekend.

I still have the old flywheel. It looked the same to me. I have the friction plate thickness spec from ACT so if I take it apart I can verify the thickness.

I got the Talon running! I found this video last night "Proper CLutch Adjustment"

http://www.jackstransmissions.com/pages/tech-articles

I had welded an extra washer on the clutch master cylinder clevis and good thing cause I had the adjust the clutch rod pretty far out. Have 1" of free play and it disengages about an 1" off the floor. Doesn't seem to creep on the stutterbox either.

Now I just got to finish putting the car back together.

Congrats Chris! See you at the track June 6th!