[Nai150]

Is it possible that you have worn out synchros? Maybe this problem developed more as you were troubleshooting these last few weeks/months and grinding in and out of gear.

I occasionally have a little trouble getting into reverse when my transmission is cold and it depends on what gear oil I'm using. Have you tried the Redline LSP cocktail at all? Which gear oil are you using currently?

Did you replace the release bearing sleeve that bolts to the transmission around the input shaft? If the grooves created by the release bearing are deeply worn it can restrict clutch disengagement near the top end of it's travel.

Surprisingly tire pressure plays a small role in grinding through gears while moving. If there is an imbalance in wheel speed due to tire wear or tire pressure it can cause a slight bind in shifting. This was something I discovered around my 40k mile mark when I started grinding into 2nd and 3rd. Even tire pressure would alleviate it to some extent. This is only affects grinding while rolling however. I presume you are experiencing grinding into 1st and reverse while standing still? Downshifting to 1st while rolling will grind unless you are traveling 15mph or less it seems like.

Maybe worn out synchros? it just seems like it was from maybe 4 or 5 to 100 really quick

I've been using Redline MT-85 GL-4 for over a year (the whole time I've had the car)

I didn't replace the sleeve, but I inspected it and it had very minimal wear

my tire pressures are at 32psi

yes grinding is at a stand still only, but 1st doesn't grind, only reverse because of it not having a synchro, what I've found out after all this is that when you start the car if you put it in gear before it's idled for more than around 3 seconds it's smooth, but if you wait longer than that its difficult to get in gear and reverse grinds, its the same issue with reverse not grinding when coming out of a gear and immediately going into reverse, something to do with it sitting in neutral for longer than a couple seconds is building the resistance

 

[Nai150]

Ok so I yet again pulled my trans to tear out the clutchmasters stuff and put a Valeo kit in, I have finally found my first piece of evidence, the clutch wasn't making full contact on the flywheel, I assume due to a faulty pressure plate, I am going to inspect my Ark flywheel and take some measurements to see if it's compatible with the Valeo kit I just bought, hopefully get everything back together, and finally have this car back

HUGE thanks to @chase206 for all of his help, advice, ideas, linked parts, everything, really really helped me out when nobody had a second opinion for me

 

[Nai150]

one last thing, everywhere I've looked everyone has said the flat side of the clutch disc goes toward the flywheel, but doing this on this valeo kit theres just a slight amount of wobble, the clutch that says "flywheel side" is the fx250, that sticker is on the raised side not the flat side, so do I install the valeo clutch with the raised side towards the flywheel? it fits like that

 

[Nai150]

 

[chase206]

Wow! That is so weird it made almost no contact on the flywheel. Just enough to discolor the outer part. You had the correct side of the FX250 facing the flywheel from what I've seen in person. I also have an FX250 where I test fit to a Fidanza flywheel and it would only attach one way correctly. There should be enough of a recessed area in the flywheel for the non-flat side to face the flywheel. Do you see any obvious contact anywhere else such as the bolts or inner area where the friction surface begins to taper into the bolts? How do the splines look on the transmission input shaft?

On the Valeo install I believe the flat site towards the flywheel only applies to the dual mass flywheel with rigid clutch disc. The flywheel has no clearance in the middle where you do on the single mass flywheels so the slightly raised side of the Valeo rigid disc would face the pressure plate. If you are referring to this video at 466 seconds then that ONLY applies to the rigid disc and dual mass flywheel combination.

So basically, single mass flywheels get the flat side to the pressure plate while dual mass flywheels get the flat side to the flywheel.

 

[chase206]

And just for clarity sake, this is the direction the FX250 is supposed to fit (flat side up to pressure plate, raised side down to flywheel) and what the inner dimensions are for clearance. The flywheel inner diameter of the Fidanza is approximately 5.75" and the disc needs a minimum of 5" to clear. I imagine if your flywheel has a smaller inner diameter that's close to 4.9" then you might be making contact there. Otherwise I do see a little wear by your disc's springs that might be making contact with the flywheel bolts.

 

[Nai150]

Wow! That is so weird it made almost no contact on the flywheel. Just enough to discolor the outer part. You had the correct side of the FX250 facing the flywheel from what I've seen in person. I also have an FX250 where I test fit to a Fidanza flywheel and it would only attach one way correctly. There should be enough of a recessed area in the flywheel for the non-flat side to face the flywheel. Do you see any obvious contact anywhere else such as the bolts or inner area where the friction surface begins to taper into the bolts? How do the splines look on the transmission input shaft?

On the Valeo install I believe the flat site towards the flywheel only applies to the dual mass flywheel with rigid clutch disc. The flywheel has no clearance in the middle where you do on the single mass flywheels so the slightly raised side of the Valeo rigid disc would face the pressure plate. If you are referring to this video at 466 seconds then that ONLY applies to the rigid disc and dual mass flywheel combination.

So basically, single mass flywheels get the flat side to the pressure plate while dual mass flywheels get the flat side to the flywheel.

no damage to anything else at all, I put the Valeo kit in and I have a working car again! unfortunately I couldn't use my ark flywheel, the Valeo pressure plate just barely doesn't match the bolt holes, the ark flywheel is just slightly small

 

[Jorge A]

I just went through this issue with my new braided line as well and for you to fix this problem is to remove the screw from the slave cylinder and have access to the end of the hose. Remove the screw and washers, then close the hole with your fingers clisong the screw hole as someone presses on the clutch and you will see pressure build up. Keep a bottle of dot 3 fluid and keep bleeding about 15 pumps to remove as much air as possible. you will see fluid spit out from the side of your fingers. Then quickly put the hose back with the screw and washers then try to bleed the system using the slave cylinder bleeding screw. Then just bleed abut 5 times to make sure there's fluid flowing and you're done. It worked for me took me a while but you'll get it. If you don't get fluid in your slave. Remove the screw again and cover the screw hole and bleed again to remove the air inside. Don't get frustrated as I did

 

[Jorge A]

You can also buy the $170 lightweight flywheel from ebay. I bought one along with another new oem flywheel incase the flywheel was no good and took the car to my mechanic and he said the flywheel bloted right up. He also kept the car and drove it home from work for about 4 days to break the clutch in. He said the clutch is badass and highly recommends another. His testing said the results were the opposite from his expectations.. this was a year ago. I don't know if the price went up if not buy one.