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Joe!
Clearance and Tolerance are NOT the same thing!
Clearance is what you need and put in intentionally. Tolerance is the
variation from "just right" that you can get by with.
You need a little clearance/play in your clutch linkage or you will have
the same effect as riding the clutch, which will cause it to slip and wear out.
Since the third gear synchronizer is the best, that is the gear you can always
get it in. You could be getting drag from the pilot bearing in the end of the
crankshaft or somewhere else but I am pretty sure you are getting what is usually
called clutch drag, because otherwise the input shaft SHOULD coast to a stop
when the clutch lets go all the way.
ALL M40 trannies are OLD and it is not surprising to me that two of them would
have weak synchronizers in most gears.
I had a problem in Li'l Red that took YEARS to figure out. From Neutral the
clutch would let go freely but if I would move the car slightly in first (like
taking up the slack at a traffic light) when I pushed the clutch back in it would
NOT let go! This was before the brickboard but I talked to the guys at IPD ad
nauseam and all they could figure was that it was a hydraulic problem. I replaced
ALL the hydraulic components and it made NO difference. The only provisional
cure was to grab the gearshift and jerk it into neutral. Then the clutch was
normal when disengaged or fully engaged. Partial engagement would ALWAYS cause
it to try to carry me off!
Eventually I tore it down and found the clutch plate only slightly worn, but
just inboard of the friction surface there was a button that stuck up and would
drag on the pressure plate when almost engaged. Turned out this plate was for
a BMW and it was supposed to warn the owner by making a noise when the clutch
plate needed new facing. In my case, it caused the plate to be pushed on one
side on the splined pilot shaft and was no longer perpendicular to the pilot
shaft and would drag. Using the Dremel Moto-tool and an abrasive cutoff disk,
I removed the button and put it back togehter. From then on, it was fine!
I got back to some of the folks whose advice I had sought and none of them had
ever heard of such a thing. I guess I am a magnet for weird insoluble problems....
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!
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