Clutch Nightmare, not wanting to Disengage...

Been fighting this issue since I put the new transmission in, and I am at a loss on what it might be. Hoping someone on here might be able to help before I drop the transmission for a third time. I'm ready to drive this damn car again hahaha.
Automatic transmission went out, decided to manual swap my car. Running into an issue where I cannot shift into gear when stopped.

What I installed:
- Used TR3650 ~ 80k miles. No issues with it.
- Installed Exedy FMK1011 kit which included Clutch, Pressure Plate, and Slave Cylinder/TOB.
- Brand New Ford Pilot Bearing
- Resurfaced OEM Flywheel
- Duralast Master Cylinder
- OEM Clutch Line (Used)

What I have done:
- Bled the clutch with and without a Vacuum with the front drivers side jacked up as high as I could get it.
- Pumped the pedal for roughly 7 hours trying to bleed the system.
- Bench Bled the Slave Cylinder before installing.
- Attached clutch line before mounting transmission so air would not be sucked into the slave cylinder.
- Measured from TOB to Bellhousing and Clutch Forks to Spacer Plate on the engine and shimmed the Slave Cylinder about .4 of an inch.
- Dropped the Transmission again and put more shims on, in total about 7/8in of Shims, Made no difference from previous shims.

What is going on:
The clutch is still not fully disengaging, which is not letting me shift into gear while stopped.
Transmission shifts perfectly fine when the car is off, goes into all gears smoothly.
If I start the car in gear, I can shift into all gears somewhat smoothly while driving. This was improved dramatically after shimming the Slave Cylinder.

Anyone have any ideas what it might be before I drop the trans again? I'm 95% sure I installed everything properly as I took my time with it. Right now I have it narrowed down to either a defective Slave Cylinder or Pressure Plate.

My first thoughts are; How much did they remove from the Flywheel? You shined the slave cylinder. How much preload do you actually have on the throwout bearing? And last, I don’t know anything about the Duralast brand master cylinder but I probably would have purchased that part from Ford.

Shim coud be wrong or even the Slave could be bad. What brand Slave. OE is always suggested on these cars.

Midlife Crises said:

My first thoughts are; How much did they remove from the Flywheel? You shined the slave cylinder. How much preload do you actually have on the throwout bearing? And last, I don’t know anything about the Duralast brand master cylinder but I probably would have purchased that part from Ford.

Click to expand...

Midlife, i'm not sure how much was removed to be honest.

Preload was about 7/16in before any shims. Initially I just put on a .4in shim(About 7/16in or a total of 7/8th preload) and it made no changes. Still no changes after the second .4in shim either, which puts it over a 1in preload. Granted I got these measurements by measuring from the Engine Block to Clutch Forks then TOB to Bellhousing and getting the difference between them. I did find a video from Department of Boost that showed another way to measure it including the Slave Cylinder travel in the measurement. I believe they had you subtract the preload with no shims from the travel of the Slave Cylinder and that was the size of shim you needed, this came out to about 1in for me.

It very well could be the Master, but I did have improvement from the OEM master that came with the pedal assembly I bought after installing the Duralast one. I am considering getting the 13/14 GT500 master cylinder and putting it on, but I really want to think it's an issue with the Slave Cylinder, it's an Exedy brand one.

my bet is on the Master Cylinder... I would buy a Gt500 Master Cylinder. I am sure that his will solve your problem

86GT351 said:

Shim coud be wrong or even the Slave could be bad. What brand Slave. OE is always suggested on these cars.

Click to expand...

86GT351, I'm leaning more towards the Slave cylinder, it's an Exedy brand Slave Cylinder. I do plan to get an OE one from Ford and install it next time I drop the transmission. This would make the 4th time I've dropped the transmission lol.

...the Master you have right now...is too weak .. also Duralast is not the kind of Brand that I would like to see in my cars.. ( but that´s just my opinon )

brasil said:

...the Master you have right now...is too weak .. also Duralast is not the kind of Brand that I would like to see in my cars.. ( but that´s just my opinon )

Click to expand...

It very well could be the case that it's too weak. I initially had an OEM Ford one on there and still had the same issue though. I might end up swapping back to it.

How does the clutch pedal feel? Im guessing "soft and squishy" IF it is a hydraulic issue.

If the pedal has good feel to it, as in bled fully and all else ok hydraulically, that would point to a pressure plate/friction disc issue.
Since this is a swap, you dont know what a 'good clutch" should feel like.

Juice said:

How does the clutch pedal feel? Im guessing "soft and squishy" IF it is a hydraulic issue.

If the pedal has good feel to it, as in bled fully and all else ok hydraulically, that would point to a pressure plate/friction disc issue.
Since this is a swap, you dont know what a 'good clutch" should feel like.

Click to expand...

I do have some experience with Manual Transmissions and how a clutch is supposed to feel. The pedal feels nice and firm like I believe it should.

FryProductions said:

I do have some experience with Manual Transmissions and how a clutch is supposed to feel. The pedal feels nice and firm like I believe it should.

Click to expand...

That would mean pulling the trans again.....

Juice said:

That would mean pulling the trans again.....

Click to expand...

If it fixes it, that's no issue. I've already pulled it 3 times trying to sort out this issue lol. What's a good clutch kit that you'd recommend?

I run Centerforce clutches.
Prefer the organic friction disk over the dual friction.