My 71 is experiencing strange things with the clutch/tranny. Everything was OK a few years back when I replaced the tranny due to popping out of second on deceleration. All was well till a few months ago when it started grinding going into reverse. Thought it was the slave cylinder, which did have a leak, so I replaced that. Problem went away for a short time, so I kept adjusting the slave rod to cure it. Figured that I didn't have enough travel on the fork. Still no joy, so I got a new master cylinder. Again, OK for a short time. It gets worse the longer the car sits idle. Could the fingers on my pressure plate be going bad? Just yesterday, I couldn't even get it into first without a whole lot of trouble. It also has lost that silky feel it used to have. When it does work, it is hard to shift and there is almost no takeup on the clutch pedal. Starts moving as soon as the pedal begins to come up. Any ideas?

Definitely sounds like a clutch problem of some sort, since the pedal doesn't feel right. If the pedal felt OK another possibility might be excessive drag in the pilot bearing. Rare, but possible.

Cracked or damaged clutch fork maybe?

Simplist answer is usually the right one. Worn out clutch plate.

Simplist answer is usually the right one. Worn out clutch plate.

In my experience, a worn clutch (either plate or disc) slips when disengaged, not the reverse that is described in the original post. This one won't engage fully, and so it the gears continue to spin. Doesn't sound worn to me.

Could be bad fingers on the pressure plate, though.

While I am not ignoring or discounting Arne's answer, have you checked the tranny fluid lately? I had a similar problem with my 71 and hard shifting - it just didn't want to shift into 1st or 2nd. Topped off the tranny case with 90 weight, and all is well so far (2 yrs).

The travel on my slave rod is about 3/4". Not sure if this is sufficient to push the fingers on the pressure plate far enough. I think I'm going to get a new clutch kit and start from scratch.

strange but true. the clutch fork fulcrum pin on my 85 z31 broke. Sorta worked until one dark and stormy night at Oh Dark Thirty when it let go all the way. But you got to pull the tranny to find out so when you do that to check the clutch might tap that with a ball peen to see if it is sound.

Sounds like hydraulics to me. Check the soft line and all the connections. Could be that there was crap in the hydraulic line and when you replaced the master you blew it through the slave. Pull the boots on both and check for leaks. If you replace either again, replace both at the same time, then flush the hard line before you connect the new ones.

Usually on the early Z the fulcrum doesn't break, the throwout fork splits right where the fulcrum hits it. You might check that as well, but that is more common with really heavy racing style pressure plates.