Okay so I have an 89 civic si with a d16y8 engine in it. after doing this swvp I came to find out that my gears were very hard to engage and my revers did not want to go in at all with the car running and turned off. I bought a new tranny from a 89 crx si and changed it out but still the gears did not want to engage, this time no gear would go in nthe car was turned on. I researche and I had the wrong clutch, I had a 98 y8 clutxh. so I prdered a new 89v si clutch and I also went ahead tobuy an 89 flywheel cause I learned you need to match the flyweel tranny and clutch all together. did all that and put the tranny and engine back in with the correct flywheel and clutch and still my gears will not engage! I am stuck now and dont have to many ideas on what this could be! please if you have any knowledge or have rann into this problem tell all you can do to help me! thankk you - shannon

 

Does it grind when you try to put it in gear or does it feel like it's blocked?

 

Hydraulic or cable clutch?

Is the clutch pedal height adjusted correctly?

 

Did you play with the cable adjustment ****/screw? It is the black one above the transmission and between the radiator and the battery. I had a similar problem long time ago after tranny swap and this solved it. If you pull up the lever that cable is attached to, have a helper put tranny in gears. This will tall you if it is cable/clutch pedal issue or something with transmission itself or how it was connected to the flywheel.
And you are positive that when you mated the tranny case to the engine block everything mounted fine?

 

just sayin, the clutch and flywheel is the same from 89-2000, the throw out bearing is the only change in 92 for the hydro and the 88 clutch DISK has a different tooth (plate and flywheel are still the same)...

by any chance did you install a bearing operated short throw shifter? (forgetting the spacers which many times are not provided will cause the shift linkage to be incredibly stiff. im not sure if this is your problem of it the shifter moves easily from front to back but wont go into gear, (if the shifter don't want to move at all from 3rd to 4th its most likely your shifter binding in the linkage)

also I don't believe the cable transmission cars have a adjustment on the pedal but I may be wrong, have been under the impression the pedal adjustment is only on the hydro cars because you cant adjust them at the trans.

do you mean the threads are stripped in the black cable adjustment? if the cable is pulled tight by the adjustment your clutch will most likely slip constantly, a small amount of slack is required to keep pressure on the clutch disk,

 

thank you i did not know that, i thought the flywheel diameters were different, hmm. i will keep that knowledge for future use.

i did install a short throw shifter with a bearing yes and it did not have any spacers, i will definetly look at that and the linkage as well. it goes into gear when the car is off, smooth as butter but do you mean when its on? it wont go in any gears then.

i also think your right about the adjustment, but ill check and let you know.

and yes the the threads that are used to adjust the height of the little **** on the cable, its all the way tight maybe this simple, but could be causing the problem i did not know it needed some slack.

 

i did mess with it a while ago but before i swapped this tranny because the **** is stuck now the threads stripped and i cant adjust it, its stuck very tight. thank you for the info im going to look into the clutch pedal height adjustment and see how everything goes and also buy a new clutch cable. and yes i am sure everything, tranny, clutch, and flywheel are mounted correctly

 

it is a cable tranny, and im not positive im due for a new one, the threads are stripped and the **** is stuck all very tight.

 

it feels like its blocked, and when trying to put it into reverse it grinds but still wont go in

 

if it works when the car isn't running but works smoothly not running the shifter wont be the problem, it would be stiff all the time.

unless its the adjustment on your clutch something would have to be wrong internally. a bad clutch would slip and you could change gears. your problem is opposite of a bad clutch, if the adjustment has the cable tight and it still don't work when you fully press the clutch something big is wrong inside or the cable isn't being pulled. does the pedal require a lot of pressure to press? have someone watch the lever and make sure the cable pulls it up.

if all else fails pull the lever by hand (probably need some sort of leverage as its stiff) and have someone try to put it in REVERSE as you will be standing in front of the car lol.

 

Since this is occurring immediately after your swap, I would be looking at your shift rods, shifter mounting, and motor mounts before anything else.
Since this is happening with the engine running as well as when it's not running then I don't see it being a clutch problem.
If it were only with the engine running, then maybe.

 

okay then it must not be the shifter.

my only option and idea for now is to play with the clutch cable adjustment but the thing is everything inside is brand new, clutch, flywheel, and tranny was bought used but good condition... no grinds and what not. it seems to me that the lever attached to the cable is all the way up, maybe it is bent? the peddle is stiff but otherwise doesnt require much strength to push down.

i will try by hand with some sort of leverage and have someone do that haha.

 

well before realizing i needed a new tranny, i had my original tranny on, it would go into gears except reverse but would be very hard to shift.... i had to pretty much slam the gears in.

motor and tranny mounts are good. so is the shift linkage and what not. the gears go in when the car is off but wont budge when the car is on. possibly bent forks on the inside behind throwout bearing?

 

when i put my car in first gear and start it holding the clutch down the car jumps about a half a foot, and also tried starting my car on reverse... car jumps back about a half a foot and would continue rolling if i didnt hold the brake, throw out bearing not engaging enough???

 

means clutch is not disengaging. i think throw out bearing is at fault here

 

make sure to use a Cable tranny bearing as the hydraulic is different

 

that is what i was thinking too, maybe the forks are bent? i have heard about people having that problem.

 

okay thank you, anything else you think it could be?

 

theres a bolt that holds the throw out being and spring and fork together its got a torque spec 27 ft lbs. had simular problems not being able to shift and its was cause the bolt on throwout bearing fork was stripped and wouldnt hold a bolt

 

damn simple things that you just overlook, i am gonna look into it tuesday ill let you all know how it goes!

 

just put the new clutch cable on and yes!!! it was just some stupid slight adjustment problems and since the striped old clutch cable wasnt able to adjust there was no way to get it right. the cable has to be just right! thank you all for the help!

 

i changed my clutch today and found that one of the forks on the throwout bearing had snapped right off ending up with a slipping ruined clutch and pressure plate.