Difficulty shifting into Reverse and 1st.
 

So starting this weekend I am having well more then just a little trouble to shift in reverse, it's almost impossible sometimes and requires a lot of yanking. First is similar but not as bad. The other gears are a bit difficult but nowhere near as bad as R and 1. I have replaced my clutch, flywheel, and CSC elimination kit from Z1 recently. Which was fine after a little adjustment to get it to shift into 5th and 6th. I have read it may be the synchromesh for those gears but not sure if it could be something else. I did do a 2 track day weekends recently but I don't see how reverse would be so affected.

Odd. Have you asked the shop that did your clutch installation?

Assuming it's not a clutch or slave adjustment due to improper install, synchros would be my next guess. Just weird that it's 1 and R since the 5th gear synchro seems to be the most common failure.

Your clutch is not fully disengaging. Have it checked. You may need to do another adjustment on your Z1 CSC or just a simple bleed the system.

might be time for tranny fluid change at same time

It may be that the clutch isn't disengaging. That would make more sense since rev match would make getting in all other gears easier but it car do anything in 1 and r.

I'm with the others that it sounds like the clutch is not fully disengaging.

FWIW: None of the MTs I've worked on (Ford Top-loader, etc) had synchros for reverse - but it's been a few decades since I worked on an MT.

I was actually wondering this myself. It appears there is one in the Z though - at least I think there is based on the limited info available online. But no one uses reverse enough to ever wear it out anyway, so that's unlikely.

There's a plate to prevent accidentally engaging R while driving, which if improperly installed can hinder or even prevent the shifter from entering the gate. However, R and 1 are on opposite sides in the Z, so that's not it (and it's usually 6th that people have problems with).

Sounds like the shop is at fault if the clutch isn't disengaging fully. That would certainly be the first place to look since it was the last work done that might be related. Best case is the Z1 kit can be adjusted. If not, they're likely going to have to drop the transmission again to check the gaps. I always hate hearing about a shop that messed up an easy install having to do it over - what if they screw up something else :thumbsdown:

Well I don't know if I could 100% blame them, it was working fine before the track weekend. Tracking puts a lot more stress on everything and it just might have been pushed far enough that it's no longer disengaging completely.

Then maybe you can just adjust the slave yourself. It is a very easy adjustment. It is literally loosening two set nuts, removing a 14mm bolt and lock nut, turning the threaded rod enough to adjust (1-2 turns maybe?), and then reinstalling and tightening.

Thank you all for you help, will work on it this weekend and let you know!

Master cylinder I had to change. Had the exact same issue.

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That's going to be a slave or mastery cylinder issue. Did you change your clutch master cylinder when you had the CSC elimination kit installed? What clutch was installed with it?

Ok so, wasn't able to fix it this weekend. What was tried so far, clutch pedal, Slave cylinder elimination cylinder adjusted, system bleed, and master checked. None of these solved the issue of it being extremely difficult to shift into reverse when the engine/transmission is warm (if it sits overnight changing gears is fine for a short while). This week should be able to drop the transmission and have a look. /sigh :(

It appears that you have touched all bases as far as the clutch is concerned. Since you track the car, I'm assuming that you have changed fluid recently and are using the proper weight. As far as I can tell, that leaves shifter or synchros as possible culprits. I doubt that reverse synchro is the problem - unless you use reverse more than most people and slam it into gear when you do. Unless the internal shift mechanism was damaged (possible but low on my list), it looks to me like the external parts of the shifter are out of adjustment.

I'm leaning toward this since his tranny was out. When I installed my short shifter. I had to play around with that plate for reverse to work.