So I recently posted about a clutch issue in another car I am restoring. I also completed an engine upgrade to another car ('55 Studebaker) that has a standard shift transmission and utilizes a mechanical (original) shifting set up. It has a new clutch disc and a NOS pressure plate. I got the car out for the first time since the upgrade and drove it on a very warm day with no shifting issues. After about fifteen miles the engine was running hot (@220F) so I shut it off. When I started it after about 40 minutes, I could not engage any gear. Reverse made a grinding sound (clutch not disengaged) and I could not move the shifter to any forward gear (pedal depressed all the way in both cases). I heard no strange sounds. I can not find nor see damage externally. Heat build up - readjust clutch? Something happened to clutch - pressure plate?
Could be the pilot bearing in the crank seized up with the trans pilot shaft from heat. Did you lube it when you installed the transmission?
It's a coincidence. I doubt one had to do with the other. What's Murphy's law say? "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". Since you messed with both, engine and clutch, Murphy's premonition came true. You didn't mention how you got it back home? Try the easy thing first by adjusting the clutch, see if it helps. If not, disconnect the clutch return spring and see if there's resistance from the pressure plate springs or diaphragm and go from there. There is a direction on which way the clutch faces. Is it possible it's backwards? It could be something in the transmission or linkage also. If adjustment doesn't work sounds like it's coming apart again.
Sounds like it is time to take it apart. Then you can tell us what happens. Sorry for your aching back. I am the sort who'd walk past it for a week, then get busy.
Check clutch adjustment first. If your clutch appears to be working ok (watch under the car while someone pushes on the pedal), then I suspect either the shift linkage or the trans itself. Since it sat for a while, are you sure the transmission had sufficient oil in it ?
If it only does it, when the engine is running, most likely it is the pilot bearing is tight or seized to the input shaft. If you can shift it with the engine off.
Seized pilot bearing does not sound good. Anyway I was eventually able to check the adjustment and it's now shifting with the motor running. I must have previously adjusted it too close and the heat must have expanded the clutch disc and it was not separating from the PP. It is a new clutch disc.
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