Been restoring an 88 Prelude SI 5speed D2J5 for a family of a friend who passed away 20 years ago. They let it sit for 8 years and rats trashed it. Anyway long story short, the car will go in to gear just fine when the car is off, but will not go in to gear when the car is running.
Master, slave, clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing is all new and the flywheel was resurfaced by a machine shop.
I purchased a used trans from a junkyard since the original D2J5 had a hole in it. Only info on the junkyard car it came out of was an 88, so I could have gotten a D2J5 or D2J4 I guess....
Exhausted all the troubleshooting I could before I decided to drop the trans. The only issue we could find was maybe with the flywheel. Does the 88 Prelude flywheel have a raised surface in the middle where the clutch touches?
For example, this first picture is of a random flywheel but it shows the raised surface I am talking about...I highlighted it in the red rings.
The second picture is my flywheel on the car now...see how it has no raised surface? Did the machine shop screw me over and machine that raised surface off which is why my clutch won't engage and disengage? You can see the clutch wear a bit on the flyhweel, that's where I feel like the raised surface should be...
I guess I didn't take before pictures of the flywheel before I took it to the machine shop and doing endless searches trying to find an 88 Prelude OEM flywheel is driving me crazy. If this flywheel is the issue, I guess I cannot use any B series flywheel on the B20? From this post it looks like I can only use a 90-91 Integra flywheel and clutch, "so the 88-89 d2j5 preludes can use 90-91 integra b18a1 clutch kits." https://www.preludepower.com/threads...ptions.350196/.

Another post I found "Simple rule of thumb here. You can use any 3rd gen engine with any 3rd gen transmission. They will bolt up fine. You just have to keep the flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate with the transmission you intend to use." https://www.preludepower.com/threads...ywheel.284511/.
With that said, I have a D2J5 flywheel and I could have gotten a D2J4 trans from the junkyard. I guess I need to test a D2J4 flywheel? Anybody know if they are thicker or stick out more because it does not seem like the throwout bearing is touching the pressure plate much at all, which is why my clutch won't engage/disengage.


Random flywheel showing raised edge for clutch:


The flywheel in my car without a raised edge:

 

Doing more research....gold sticker on what I assume are USDM trans, the D2J4 and D2J5 housings look the same so I cannot determine what trans I bought to know what exact flywheel to get...
Can't seem to find a D2J3 to see what the housings look like...

 

Got a reply on another thread "Correct, all 3rd gen prelude engines and transmission all bolt up with proper mounts etc. But when it comes to the transmissions, you have to use the flywheel and clutch and pressure plate for the intended transmission you are using. If not, it will have issues."I've read that plenty of times but I just cannot figure out what exact trans I bought. The junkyard tag says it's an 88 but no VIN to identify it exactly. While trying to identify it the best I can, it looks like both the D2J5 and a D2J4, so I am unsure what to purchase exactly. Obviously I have a D2J5 flywheel so I ordered this clutch kit https://www.ebay.com/itm/154306739409. The clutch fits the input shaft, so the trans I have is definitely 88-89 because the input shaft is different on 90-91. Do the clutches/PP differ in size/thickness? I just don't understand if the flywheel is wrong or if the clutch kit is wrong, or both...or should I just buy a 90-91 integra full clutch kit with flywheel and see if that works? Why does a 90-91 flywheel and clutch kit supposedly work on all 88-89 transmissions when my flywheel from an 88 D2J5 and a clutch kit made for 88-89 won't work....just doesn't make much sense.

I see there is flywheel shims, should I try these to get the length/thickness I think is needed here?

 

So you replaced all that stuff and it won't go into gear when the car is on?

"Master, slave, clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing is all new and the flywheel was resurfaced by a machine shop."

If so, maybe the shop did something wrong? Is the throw-out bearing engaging/disengaging when you press the clutch? When the engine is on, you have to have something to engage/disengage the transmission to match the speed of the engine. When the car is off, there's no speed match required so you can put it into gear freely without needing something like a throw out bearing. Could also check the clutch cable and see if it is working. There's a few things you can do here to try eliminating some possibilities.

 

Correct, it goes in to gear just fine when the car is off but does not go in to gear when the car is on. It actually goes in to gear with some force when the car is on, and only when the car is up on jack stands and the wheels are off if that helps...can't really get it in to reverse without it grinding with it up on jack stands.

But that is what I am wondering, did they machine the raised surface for the clutch off of this flywheel? I can't seem to find OEM pictures of a D2J5, D2J4 or D2J3 flywheel to match mine up to.
We have bled the system many times and I can see the slave pushing on the clutch fork. I am not entirely sure if the throw out bearing is engaging/disengaging or not, seems to me like it isn't and that might be the problem. I can see wear marks on the PP fingers where the TO bearing was touching it...just doesn't seem like the TO bearing is getting pushed in far enough to engage/disengage the clutch...
Clutch cable? You mean the clutch pedal that attaches to the master? I adjusted the rod all the way out in which I would assume would give me maximum slave travel to push the clutch fork out as far as possible...if that makes sense.
But what exactly is the problem ya know....is it my flywheel being machined down to far, throwout bearing wrong size, clutch and or PP. Wish I could figure out which piece was wrong so I could buy that piece and be done. I bought a flywheel and clutch kit for a 90-91 integra today so going to see if that works I guess because I've been reading forums and looking at pictures for 4 days straight now, i'm burnt out

 

Sounds like you should take it to a good mechanic to check it out. I would bet the throw out bearing or clutch master cylinder isn't working as they should. Maybe someone didn't align the clutch properly.

 

Not to be douchey, but i've been working on cars for a good 20 years and know my limits. I've done all the work myself on this car and replacing a clutch is pretty easy stuff, I've done quite a few of them...but you won't catch me building a motor, I know that's my limit!
Everything installed like a normal clutch job, nothing out of the ordinary at all and everything fit up correctly. Clutch was aligned properly and the trans slid on and bolted up just fine (all of it was done with the swap outside of the car).
I'm trying to figure out a way to explain it, I honestly think nothing is wrong with the master or slave...it's an issue with the 'thickness', I guess that's the best word I can find, of either the flywheel, clutch disc, PP or throwout bearing or all of it. Like if the flywheel was 'thicker', it would push the clutch towards the throwout bearing more and the throwout bearing would make better contact with the PP, which in turn would engage/disengage the clutch better. Hopefully that makes sense...
I just feel like the machine shop screwed me and shaved a lot off of my flywheel, or I bought the wrong clutch...That's why I was hoping someone would point out a definite issue with either of those so I could get a new flywheel or a new clutch ya know...