civcmatt

ok so here is the thing. i have been a member for some time but i never really post before...however i am no n00b to forums. anyway my names Matt and i have a 96 Honda Civic Hatch DX with a JDM H22A swapped into it. i built this car for racing and thats pretty much what i do with it. it sits in my driveway until i get the bug in my *** to drive it, or im taking it to the track.

so needless to say it has been sitting in my driveway cuz i cant do what its intended on doing. race. here is why and here is my problem.

so i got the clutch swapped out with a Stage II competition clutch ( http://www.competitionclutch.com/ in case no one has heard of them) and it seemed a bit stiff and the engagement point was REALLY close to the floor. but it worked ok a bit hard to get into second gear but i just thought it was my driving at first.
so time goes on just gets worse and worse, harder and harder to get into second. then what was happening is it would drive and shift normally under normal driving conditions. however whenever i would hit higher RPMS between 5000-8200 the clutch would get REALLY light and would feel like it is almost non existent! causing it to not go into 2nd gear and grind really bad in 3rd gear. so here is the list of what i have done....

figured maybe the master or the slave was going out. got a replacement for the slave still having issues.
swapped out the tranny with a used F22 tranny i bought from a Honda tech at the local Honda dealer....same EXACT issue.
took it back to my tuner where i got the clutch from and installed (had installed by shop cuz i didnt have the time nor the place to perform that task at the time) had him drive it....said it was the master cyl
ordered a new one, swapped that out bled the clutch....same issue.
took it back to the tuner said i need a new clutch. he called Competition and they stated they were having troubles with their Compound stage II discs...upgraded me to a Kevlar (i believe) Stage III or stage IV 6 puck clutch. swapped it out under warranty, resurfaced the flywheel again and dropped that 6 puck in throw out bearing replaced each and every time. have had 2 brand new ones in there.....thats where i am today.

so i picked the car up today took it for a drive. the clutch feel a TON better, much lighter, more evenly distributed throughout the throw of the clutch. and drives like a champ. so im cruising to some back roads waiting to get to op temp. thinking WOW this feels WAY better. so its warm now. i get on it.....VTEC....7900 shift into second...it goes in but grinds a bit....8000 rpm shift into 3rd and a itty grind. then i let off. stop and do it again.
go back to the shop and give the keys to the shop owner. lets go for a drive. drives it and says what the [freak]. so we throw it on the lift and look at the shift linkage everything is working just fine, it goes into gear just fine when its lower RPM or sitting still. no kinks bends or rips in the shifter cables. so he drives it again, and we notice that it wont shift from 1st to 3rd...will only go 1st to 2nd to 3rd during higher RPM shifts. so he states its the syncros in the tranny.

sorry its kinda long but it needs to be to understand whats going on.

Cliffnotes: not able to speed shift tranny keeps grinding...lost on what else to do.
*replaced*
slave cyl
master cyl
changed tranny
throw out bearing (twice)
replaced the clutch and resurfaced the flywheel
and also bled the hydro system 3 times.

any insights...appreciate it
Matt

H22Luda720

Does sound like Syncro Problems if all was replaced that is listed ---^

Or your granny shiftin not double clutchin like you should

DCFIVER

You're still using the F22 trans?/ Probably has many miles on it sounds like synchro isues...

civcmatt

ok....can see where your coming from with the tranny, and normally i would agree with you hands down....but...

why would it be doing this EXACT same thing with 2 DIFFERENT transmissions?

H22Luda720

Approx. how far away from the floor is your clutch friction point?

civcmatt

sorry took so long.

it used to be like an inch away from the floor....but now with the new clutch its normal. like 3-5 inches from floor. a decent amount away.


i took it to the track this weekend. it just grinds a little going in its not too terrible. but would help if it didnt grind lol.

H22Luda720

You replaced the tranny before the clutch?

Just asking because possible that the old clutch was not disengaging fully, cooked the syncro's in the old tranny and possible did some damage to the current trans before you took it out?

civcmatt

ok here is the order i did it in.....

replaced the clutch with the H22 tranny on there....worked ok but started to throw parts at it and nothing worked...so i went ahead and threw the F22 tranny on it...drove it like 3 times and walked in and had the clutch warrentyed. i MAYBE put 100 miles on the car, and maybe 10 miles driving hard to test it. so i dont think the syncros are gonna cook that fast....

thats the thing about this car i NEVER drive it. maybe once or twice a week.

but it'll shift into second now, so its not terrible. only thing i can think of is the pressure plate, but i may reach out to Competition for that