Okay so this truck has been my one weekend a month project for the better part of a year now and it is time for it to work. The truck is a 1984 F150 with a 302 and what I believe is a granny 4 speed (so the T18 IIRC). I am going to attempt to give y'all all the information I have here so there may be some unnecessary info but please try to help me if you can, I can really use it.

Now this truck has been nothing but trouble from the moment I got it. I drove it home with a rebuilt engine (from a 69 torino) in the bed and no engine in the bay. I was missing a massive amount of misc. bolts but all the major components were there. After many hours of struggling we finally get the engine to marry with the tranny and bolt it all up. We would get the engine and bellhousing within about 1cm and then it would just sit there. I believe there is some kind of issue with the pilot bearing that caused this problem. We had to do a lot of jacking and prying and shaking to get the engine to marry up. Could this be the root of my problems?

After putting many of the other components on and cleaning out the radiator etc. we had to cut part of the header where it goes behind the starter and put a piece of flex pipe on there so we could get the starter in. I could see on the pipe we cut off where the previous owner had tried to hammer the pipe out so that the starter would fit. This part is pretty much irrelevant to the situation at hand but I just wanted to mention it.

We got the engine running and it sounded pretty good but our next issue was the clutch. It would not release. We figured we put the throwout bearing on backwards and went through the massively over complicated process of pulling the engine and flipping the bearing and putting it all back together. This is and excruciating process because of the pilot bearing inside the engine. I'd also like to note that in order to get the oil pan off the frame I had to use mount spacers. After all that we ran into our next issue.

The only gear we could get into was reverse. I did some research and then noticed the stereotypical firewall flex and it was bad. So we put on the large reinforcement plate and there is zero flex to date. I'd also like to note that all of the clutch hydraulics are new except the line but I changed out a seal and there is no leaking now and the line has been gravity bled.

THE PROBLEM:

Now our issue is that no gears work and we can't get the clutch to disengage. The little plastic washer thing that goes on the master cylinder rod by the petal assembly was worn out so I bought that heim joint to fix it but I think I lost the black bolt that goes through the actual joint and the petal rod will not fit. I think I am going to just drill the heim out so that it will fit. But for the time being I had some electrical tape in there that for the most part got rid of the play between the petal actually moving the master cylinder rod. Do you think that the little bit of play left is my issue? I'm hopefully going to fix that today but if the problem still exists what am I left with. I should note that the clutch and flex plate were both used and from the old engine in the car. My buddy suggested that we might have put the clutch on backwards but it is so hard to pull this engine I want to exhaust all other options first. And I don't think reverse would have worked in the first place if that were the case. Maybe the pilot bearing is the issue?

 

I didn't realize how easy it would be to pull the pilot bearing. I may do that if I pull the engine again.

 

I have never had this problem, nor have I ever tried to install the transmission + bell housing as a unit to the engine; I have always installed the bell housing first, then align and attach the transmission (a transmission jack is a WONDERFUL aid in that area, might rent one of those next time).

Can you elaborate on what you mean when you say you can't get the clutch to "release?" Do you mean "engage the transmission and engine" as when letting the pedal up? Or disengage as when pushing the pedal down?

The pilot bearing is just a little thing that goes into the end of the crankshaft but I guess if you're using the wrong one then that could keep the transmission's input shaft from fully seating in the crankshaft... that part where you talk about a 1 cm gap between the engine and bell housing, me thinks therein lies an indication of your problem....

 

I meant the clutch will not disengage when I push in the pedal. But I did get rid of that 1cm gap and got the engine and bell housing all aligned and everything it would just be very difficult to do.

 

Take the inspection plate off and see if you can see the throwout bearing moving when someone pushes on the clutch pedal. If it doesn't move and the pedal doesn't seem to have any resistance, then you still have air in the system. If you are patient and pump the pedal a couple of times and let it sit overnight, enough air will work it's way up the line that it might start working(if this is the problem).

 

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