johnstronaut

Not liking the way this is going. Thanks for doing the research, I thought I had googled enough specifically for Fidanza, guess not. Hopefully I can break it free and wear it off like one of the posts in the link had said.

That's what I was thinking. Why make it green if it's internal... Oh well, saw good reviews so I bought it. I was hoping my seizing theory didn't sound outlandish. Unfortunately I'm not with the car tonight so I won't be able to try freeing it, but I'll let you know asap. I really can't think of anything else it could possibly be.

Weird right? The green part is supposed to be some sort of removable contact surface rather than changing the entire flywheel. I did read the instructions that came with the wheel, as well as the fsm.

I did adjust the pedal height according to the FSM prior to tearing the trans apart and replacing the internals. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check again.

The original issue was thought it be the pressure plate, but after replaced both the master and slave and dropping the trans, the knob that the clutch fork rides on had completely punched through the fork, which was preventing the pressure plate from being depressed. I'm just confused as to why it went into gear the night before. I bled it again just in case some air had seeped into the lines overnight, still nothing.

I replaced the bushing when I had everything off. The trans went in fairly easy when I installed it besides getting the shaft to spline on the clutch. I also feel like I'd hear the bushing rotating in the housing if that were the case.

Hey guys, I finally got my '76 280z back on the ground after replacing the clutch, flywheel, and a few other components while I was there. The Clutch is a Centerforce Stage II and a lightened Fidanza flywheel. The very first time I ran it, it went right into reverse and I back it out of the garage. I then realized that I really needs to bleed my brakes, as they were almost none existant. I shut the car off and pushed it back into the garage and called it a night. I bled the brakes the next day, I then started it it'll no longer go into gear, which was the original issue. Goes into gear fine with the car off. Slave cylinder moves a considerable distance when the clutch is depressed and I can see the pressure plate being actuated when it's depressed. For those of you not familiar with the Fidanza flywheel, there's a green paint that's on the contact surface of the flywheel. Before installing the clutch I cleaned that surface with brakeclean. I noticed some of the paint had come off when wiping it clean. I know it's far-fetched, but is it possible the brand new clutch and flywheel have somehow already seized because I only put it into gear once then let it sit over night? This has been a clutch job from hell and I'm just trying to drive my Z again. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

1976 280z coupe, 5-speed late S-30 Transmission A few months back I had an issue where my Z wouldn't go into gear while running. After changing both the slave and master cylinders and having the problem continue, it was time to drop the trans. Turns out where the clutch fork meets the pivot ball had completely broken and wasn't allowing the clutch to fully disengage. I always get a bad case of the while-im-at-it's whenever I do anything, so I changed the pilot bushing, flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing and of course the shift fork. After reassembling, the slave is now over extending and ends up blowing out because it goes too far. By the time the throw out bearing reaches the pressure plate, the slave rod is nearly fully extended (seeing this through where the rubber boot goes). The rod doesn't return when the clutch is released, but the clutch pedal is adjusted to FSM specs. At this point I'm just looking for some brainstorming, I'm all mixed up now and would like to get back on track. Absolutely anything you guys know about anything clutch related just blurt it out. What was supposed to be a simple fix is driving me crazy. I'm no Z expert so I could be missing something really simple. Thanks guys!

Dropped the tranny today in my '76 280z with a '77-'78 five speed. Originally I had thought the pressure plate was faulty after I replaced the master and slave cylinders and adjusting the clutch pedal. Upon further inspection, the clutch and pressure plate definitely weren't the culprit. Now I haven't scoured the web to see if anyone else has experienced this besides googling a few key words, but a few really experienced Z guys I know say they've never seen this. What do you think? My symptoms were just the car being harder and harder to put into gear over the course of a few days. As far as I know, the car was originally a California model although the transistor ignition unit is from non-cal with a cal distributor. The car spent time in Phoenix and now resides in Tucson with me. Stock fuel injected 2.8 with what looks like a stock clutch and flywheel. Original slave and master cylinder looked to be of oem quality. Just some info for brainstorming. Tell me what you think!