This information may come as a shock to some as alot know when I owned my 5th gen, i went w/ a Stage 1 Competition Clutch Kit and their LWFW (lightweight flywheel) and damn near praised them at every opportunity. Yes, the clutch kit and flywheel in the 5th gen worked great, and i never had issues in the maxima.

This could save some headache/hassle for possible future Competition Clutch Kit owners...

Well fast forward to present. Some on here know that i moved on to 'Honda world' and i now own a 90 Integra. Well about 3 weeks ago, my transmission went to trash (whoever owned it before me apparently didnt put enough MTF in it ) . Well i sourced a transmission, clutch kit and flywheel (went with competition clutch kit and their flywheel since at that time that's who i trusted as a manufacturer in my vehicle.



Well I loaded up my car to take it to the guy that was going to do my work.



that weekend everything went well until realizing i had to source another half shaft..got one within a week, took it back to him, he went to install everything that tuesday





i get a call that the car shifts into gear when the car is off, but it wont when the car is on, so both of us do a rigorous search on what the culprit could be. i ended up doing a google search and ran upon this scion forum:

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176208

cliff notes: many have had issues w/ competition clutches w/ my same symptoms. on top of that i called up a local maxima owner, who is also a member on here who did a 6 speed swap and mention my car's situation and he immediately said pressure plate, so i ask him what clutch kit he went with, he mentioned competition clutch....

I say all that to say this, in case you do decide to get a competition clutch, be weary of their pressure plates, they are known to be a issue. It really put me out an extra couple of weeks unnecessarily seeing as this is my only vehicle. If i had a 2nd vehicle i'd risk a competition clutch, but if i have my only vehicle, i'd probably just go exedy.

Granted, at this point the Exedy hasnt gone in the car yet, so i cant say that the clutch kit was the problem, as VISUALLY the competition clutch pressure plate seems ok, but if the car drives w/ no quarrels with the exedy, then, there's only one explanation

 

If this is in the wrong section and should have been in teh all motor section, please move it, i just wanted to make everyone aware of a possible future situation

 

OK, your clutch is not disengaging. I see the LW flywheel is stepped, Did your OE flywheel have a machined step?
What is the spec for the step and have you measured the new one?

I assume you've tried bleeding and adjusting the pedal.

 

A bunch of different things can cause a clutch to not release. but it basically boils down to the clutch dragging on the flywheel/pressure plate.

Mis-adjusted release system
worn release system
damaged clutch fork
bent disc
misaligned engine/transmission
missing or damaged pilot bearing
damaged pressure plate

Although swapping out the clutch kit could mask some of the problems that could be remedy by this.

I would like nothing more than for the kit in your car to work 100% but the referencing to a forum for a completely different vehicle using different parts isn't exactly related.

Let me know if you have specific questions and I will do my best to get you taken care of.


Dominic