I just recently got my 58 Apache 32 on the road. It came to me in pieces and I just completed putting it all together this weekend and took it out on the road for a test drive. It has a 235 with a 3 speed column shift. The problem I am having is that it grinds in first gear when the clutch is pushed in but only when I come to a stop while driving around. It only seems to do it while out driving. If I drive back and forth in forward and then in reverse in the driveway all seems good with no grinding going into first gear from reverse with the clutch pushed in. If I go out on the road and drive I can switch gears fine from 1 to 2 and to 3. I can down shift from 3 to 2 with no problem but I can't go from 2 to 1 without grinding gears. I tried double shifting and that won't work either. When I come to a stop sign I push in the clutch and come to a complete stop and try to shift into first and it won't go into first without making a buzzing grinding sound of gears not wanting to mesh. If I sit at the stop sign for a length of time (say 30 seconds) with the clutch pushed all the way to the floor I can then shift into first gear with little to no grinding. So I'm confused as to what what is causing the problem. My first thought was that the clutch must not be separating with the pedal pushed in so I took off the dust cover so I could get a look at the clutch and its separating about 1/8" when the clutch pedal is fully depressed. I messed around with the nuts that adjust the "free clutch pedal movement" adjustment and all that seem to do is move the point at which the clutch grabs in the pedal stroke. Is an 1/8" of separation in the clutch enough when the pedal is fully depressed? If not how do I adjust that? Does the pivot ball the clutch fork pushes against control this? Or do I have a transmission problem? Any advice greatly appreciated!
