Issues after clutch install. HELP!

[mR. ek9]

SO, about 4 months ago I moved to my new house and began to repair the dreaded snap ring failure (ohhh ahhh). I ordered a known working 5spd trans and dali clutch for a good price and began the swap. All was fairly straight forward. After about 10 hours, some beers and some curse words the clutch and trans was back in. I went on vacation and resumed the finishing touches. I purchased a new starter and a set of used axles and installed them, and was finally ready to start the car. Here is where i have hit the snag.

The car will not start. The starter is working but cant turn the motor. I adjusted the shifter cables thinking maybe it wasnt all the way in gear, and re-bled the clutch. Still the same issue. Car goes through all the gears fine, and wheels will spin in neutral. After some thought I attempted to turn the crank pulley to align the flywheel with the starter. 1/2 wrench with 3ft breaker bar and it doesnt want to move. Drained the oil to make sure there was no shavings and its clean as I just changed it before I parked it.

Now I am back to trying to figure out where I may have went wrong with the clutch and trans install....

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas here?? MY next step this evening is to pull plugs and put some oil down in the cylinders and pull the starter back out to see if maybe one of those things will allow the motor to turn by hand. IF this doesnt work, the trans is coming back off this weekend for investigation.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

OK, so with the trans in neutral, clutch depressed, the engine(crankshaft) will not turn? So what is a "dali" clutch? It seems like the flywheel is not right, also can you see the clutch fork moving when you depress the clutch?, although this issue would make the car move forward, not lock the engine up.

I would not waste any time with oil if the engine turned properly before the swap, clearly this situation is a result of the swap.

JMO,
LarryB

 

[Old Guy]

, and wheels will spin in neutral. .

If both wheels were up in the air, did you confirm that the transmission output shaft was actually rotating as opposed to the differential allowing rotation of the two wheels?

 

[GraemeD]

If you can't get the crank to turn, start taking it back apart.

There must be something binding the flywheel to the case or something like that. Everytime you take a part off try turning the crank to see it can move. That way you can identify the cause.

 

[mR. ek9]

OK, so with the trans in neutral, clutch depressed, the engine(crankshaft) will not turn? So what is a "dali" clutch? It seems like the flywheel is not right, also can you see the clutch fork moving when you depress the clutch?, although this issue would make the car move forward, not lock the engine up.

I would not waste any time with oil if the engine turned properly before the swap, clearly this situation is a result of the swap.

JMO,
LarryB

I have not had a chance to try this as I have not had a spare body to press the clutch while I try to crank the motor. When I say Dali clutch, I mean from the old supplier Dali Racing that used to produce nsx parts. Its similar to ACT or Exedy single disc. I am going to take the inspection plate back off and compare the new fly wheel of that that came out of the car to see once again that it looks right.

- - - Updated - - -

If both wheels were up in the air, did you confirm that the transmission output shaft was actually rotating as opposed to the differential allowing rotation of the two wheels?

Newb question possibly but how would I confirm this? I dont recall if I spun the output shaft by hand before i installed the new trans, but I was wondering too if maybe it was seized up. I know that the seller told me that he recommended the trans fluid be changed upon install and then again after a short break in period since the trans had been sitting for such a long time. It had fluid in it still so i would think the internals would still be lubed to prevent any sort of rust inside the case.

 

[Old Guy]

I think the clutch style LSD on the NSX should allow you to do this test. With one wheel on the ground, one wheel jacked up (parking brakes off of course) and the transmission in neutral, try to turn the wheel that is off of the ground. You should be able to turn the wheel which should cause the output shaft of the transmission to turn (of course you can't see any of this). If you can't turn the wheel, I think that means something on the output shaft or the LSD is jamming things. If the wheel does turn, the next step might be to put the transmission into 4th or 5th gear, have someone get into the car and press the clutch down (make sure car is well secured on blocks or whatever while doing this). If the clutch is disengaged, you should again be able to spin the wheel; but, it will be harder because this time you are also turning the transmission input shaft and the clutch plate. If the clutch is dragging at all, this test may not be possible.

This test would work with a conventional open differential. I think you should be able to do it with the NSX differential which uses friction disks; but, I don't know that for sure because I have never really examined its operation in detail. Others who are more knowledgeable about the NSX diff may advise that I am out to lunch.

When you tried turning the engine, was that with your new starter in or out? Do it with the starter out on the odd chance that the starter drive might be jamming something up.

Edit - in retrospect, I am thinking that if the starter motor isn't jamming things up, the tests may be academic since it all has to come apart to address any problem - clutch, flywheel, transmission , differential. I don't think any of those can be touched without removal.