Thread: Need help with clutch install: shifter is wrong position ?

Update: all is good. Rear trans mount wasn't properly aligned

Oh and courtesy of Todd :




Never had this problem before. It's a 98 SE-R w/ a B15 trans swap from years ago. Over the weekend @SE-RMonkey and I installed a brand new Exedy clutch. We ran out of time and so earlier today I put everything back together. Everything looked normal from underneath - except the physical location of the shifter in the cabin. This is the gear shift in NEUTRAL:



Basically, it sits somwhere around 2nd gear when in neutral. And yes, the shift linkage in this photo was physically bolted up underneath. That ain't right. I tried driving it around the block and could only get it into first gear, it grabbed fine, but that's all and I barely made it back home.

Again it's a B15 trans and it does have a B&M short shifter, but that was installed for years and never gave me a problem. Before this new clutch job the shifter was completely normal.

I just tried unbolting the linkage underneath at the transmission, and pulling the fork out and rebolting it, unbolting it and pushing the fork all the way in toward front of car and rebolting it, but nothing has made a difference. The shifter still sits way off in the cabin like the photo above.

Everything else looks fine. Trans appears to be lined up properly with both the front and rear mounts, I really am at a loss. Anyone?

Brand new Exedy "stage 2" disc and PP all aligned, bolted down and ready to go (that little plastic alignment tool really does help):





According to the FSM, torque the PP bolts to 16-22 ft lbs moving in a criss cross pattern. We set them all at 20 ft lbs.

Fresh grease on the spindle:



Heres a photo of the trans/gearbox after the clutch install (axles weren't in yet) - you can see it sits normal & flush:



And the shift linkage bolted up from underneath:

so @speedricer told me that when installing a B15 trans in a B13/B14 you need to use the P11 shift linkage and grind it down - however this car came with the B15 trans already installed when I bought it from another member here- and I never had a problem with the shifting until this clutch install..

Check to make sure you bolted the rear motor mount bracket / rear motor mount correctly. Only thing i can think of that would cause that.

Not to mention it was fine before. Something is most definitely out of alignment. Question is, what?

Posting pics of the mount in a few min. Maybe you can take a look at it and see if it looks wrong

Ok, now besides the missing bolt on the top right and pass axle out (which of course I have since replaced) - does this look right/wrong to anyone? Starter was out as well

Its prob not your issue since it was already installed, but correction to my statement, I said you use the P11 linkage for a Plug and Play setup, but if you are still using the B14 linkage you would have to grind it down for it to clear/work. Not that you would have to grind the P11 linkage. I'm assuming he used the P11 linkage as I do not see any ground area.

Ohh ok gotcha. My bad

How do you and only you keep running into the strangest of issues?


Have you tried looking under car while someone else moves the shifter to determine where the issue is?

What all was taken apart as far as shift linkage is concerned for the clutch job? The linkage and stabilizer on the trans were the only thing you have disconnected for this job. Anything more than that and you probably goofed.