Any ideas on why i would get "crunching" of gears when I try to get reverse in my 71 z with original 4 speed (series A tranny)?

The problem is intermitent, and has only happened 3 times. BUT when it did, after I did get reverse, and went into neutral on the way to first gear, I was unable to get into any of the gates for any gear, UNTIL I let the clutch out and pushed it back in, then no problems whatever.

I just had a bearing kit put in the tranny 500 miles ago. Symptoms at the time were popping out of gear and finally, you guessed it, inability to put lever into any gear.

I told the shop that did the work about my new problem, they want me to come in Monday and look at it.

Could this be a clutch issue? They told me the clutch looked ok when they pulled the tranny, what about clutch adjusment.

Again its not happening all the time whcih is pretty weird.

Sounds to me like a clutch adjustment issue. The only times I've had that problem in my Z's is when the adjustment is out of spec.

when it gives you these probs pump the clutch several times and see if allows you at that point to go into gear , if so I would go with a clutch issue , i had the same prob before

This same problem just started happening to me. I must have a leak some where becuase my master clutch cylinder went dry, that's when it first started, (of course). So I filled it back up and bleed the system out at the slave cylinder. Worked fine for a short trip and then coming up my driveway I had the problem again. Still had plenty of fluid, so I readjusted it again. Once again worked fine for a drive but happened again when I pulled up into my drive way (which is up a hill). turned it off put it in gear and started it back up, noticed it was creeping when in gear and clutch pushed in. check out the adjustment again and it appeared fine. Let it set again for awhile, turned it on and shifted easily through the gears. Does anyone have any ideas or do I have a gremlin.

Pull up the driverside carpet and look for a leak out of the back of the clutch master cyl.

Hey heres some developments on this thread I started.

Recall I had a bearing kit put in the tranny. I finally went back to the shop mentioning the occaisonal crunching problem. The other symptom was the clutch pedal felt softer to depress,especially in the free play area.

They said they would adjust the clutch "at the slave cylinder".

They did say when the did the tranny work that the clutch looked OK...

When I got it back the crunching was gone, the pedal felt much firmer, but I noted the engagement was much higher, near the top end of the pedal.

OK I had another thread about erratic acceleration, where the car seemed to decelerate occaisonally on acceleration then pick back up again.

On a drive today I was sure the problem is likely clutch slippage.

Example, when pulling out of a gas station heading up a steep hill, the engine seemed to "race" ahead in gears with little accleration , and then drop in revs as the clutch engaged.

So Im thinking I need to tweek that adjustment they did in the slave cylander. Is there really an adjhustment there or did they just adjust the free play?

Im not certain how to do that either..Please help!