Almost done, but a couple problems: gear grind & brakes locked

[grib]

Well, I am closing in on being finished with my s52 swap. I took the car out for a drive today, and after about 5-10 minutes of driving I noticed that the car was hardly coasting (if I put the clutch it, it would stop almost immediately). I fought it into a parking lot - and even with the transmission in neutral and e-brake down the car wouldn't roll an inch.

I tried pumping the brake and clutch pedals with the car off and on. Nothing. I even disconnected the vacuum line to the booster to see if that was it. Finally I grabbed the 8mm wrench from the trunk and opened the bleeder screw on one of the back calipers. Some fluid jetted out and the car rolled back. I was able to get home - but does anyone have any idea what's going on? E21 booster (remanufactured) and my 325i MC. SS brake lines with stock calipers. The brake pedal is extremely firm.

The transmission also grinds going into second gear - and only second gear. It's a ZF320 from a '97 M3. All other gears work fine, but it fights me all the way trying to get into second gear. At first I thought it was the shifter rubbing the guibo, but there is almost an inch of clearance after bending the shift rod. I really hope this is an easy fix - but more than likely there is something seriously wrong with my transmission.

Other than these, the car runs really nicely! Love the power! :up:

Thanks,
Matt

[Bmjpv]

Some Little Problems ?

Sorry about that, If you upgraded to the stainless lines you mite have a collapsed line to that corner,that would move fluid on the master side under pressure but can't flow back towards master when pressure is released. But if it's both rears
than you have to look at the possable preload of the master cyl. On the second gear,If it goes into reverse ok then maybe second gear really is bad, again just a quess, sounds like your close. joe

[rede30]

you need to adjust the booster fork, probably?

[kylebes1]

Did you cut 7 cm off the 320i booster rod? The side that is inside the car that connects to your brake pedal. You would have to grind down the shaft making is shorter and smaller in diameter and rethread it for the adjuster.

Sounds like rede30 is right, you may have the brakes engadged and not know it.

[BigD]

you need to adjust the booster fork, probably?

+1 sounds exactly like it (probably due to not downsizing the rod [enough])

RE: transmission, why did you have to bend the rod?

[ericzz]

Check the stop on the floor for the clutch mine was adjusted way out and had to be screwed back in to get a perfect clutch . I am running stock clutch master and e36 m3 slave with stock lines .

[grib]

Did you cut 7 cm off the 320i booster rod? The side that is inside the car that connects to your brake pedal. You would have to grind down the shaft making is shorter and smaller in diameter and rethread it for the adjuster.

Sounds like rede30 is right, you may have the brakes engadged and not know it.

Thanks for the replies. I cut the rod down to approximately the length of the e30 booster. I'll double-check the length this afternoon. I'm not sure this is it, because when the car is first started I don't have the problem. It only occurs after I have been driving for a few minutes and braked several times. If the problem was the booster rod being too long then it seems like the brakes would be locked all the time.

[grib]

RE: transmission, why did you have to bend the rod?

I bent the selector rod slightly just to be sure it cleared the guibo. It also seems to shift better at this angle with the ZM shifter.

Check out this article for more details.

http://understeer.com/shiftlever.shtml

Eric - thanks for the suggestion on the stop. I'll try completely removing that and the floor mat to see if it helps. :-|

[grib]

Check the stop on the floor for the clutch mine was adjusted way out and had to be screwed back in to get a perfect clutch . I am running stock clutch master and e36 m3 slave with stock lines .

I tested the clutch on my downhill driveway this afternoon. The friction point is about 2-3 inches over the floor - so I don't think this is the problem, unfortunately. (Would have been an easy fix...)

Any other ideas?

[surebimmer]

Sticking Caliper?

[grib]

Sticking Caliper?

Don't think so - it seems to be all four, or at least two on the same axle (car doesn't pull at all from it).

Is there a check valve anywhere in the brake Master Cyl. or Booster?

[surebimmer]

There is a check valve between the booster and the intake manifold hose. Do you have that in place?

[grib]

There is a check valve netyen the booster and the intake manifold. Do you have that in place?

I do. Right now it's set up so that air can be blown from the booster to the manifold - is that correct?

Thanks,
Matt

[surebimmer]

That's the correct way. Don't know what to tell ya.

[grib]

I'm going to try capping off the booster and running manually to isolate the problem to the booster. If that doesn't help then I'll start tearing stuff apart and replacing parts.

Thanks for the help. BTW: love the new sig pic Kyle.