11/9/23 I agree with you both.
I did a check this morning. I have everything off so I put the tranny in to see if it would go all the way in without the clutch installed. Nope. For whatever reason it didn’t want to seat all the way in the pilot bearing.
I’ve got another pilot bearing I could install. Is that my option.
First picture is the gap I’ve talked about
Second picture is how far the shaft goes into the pilot bearing.
Doug
Doug... the pic shows the input shaft not going into the pilot. That cannot be the correct pilot.
Read the code on the pad behind the distributor. Post that code and we can determine how that engine was set up.
How hard was the pilot to install? Was it easily tapped in or did you have to drive it in? Somehow that pilot became too tight if the input shaft does'nt fit with no clutch in the way. That is where your 1/2" gap is coming from.
"If it don't fit don't force it"
Drawing it up with the bolts binds the pilot to the input shaft and running it like that will create heat friction that will ruin either the pilot, input shaft, or both.
Pull that pilot and find the correct one. Measure the diameter of the hole in the crank and the diameter of the input shaft. Compare that to the pilot bushings that came with the other clutch kits you bought. OD should be in the neighborhood of 1.09"
The gear grinding you are experiencing probably comes from the binding of the pilot which does not allow the transmission to fully disconnect from engine torque when the clutch is depressed.
