Clutch and Clutch Pedal

[WmWatt]

Car reluctant to go into 1st and 2nd gears at times. I suspect synchromesh bushings but want to make sure the
clutch is working first. How can aperson tell if the clutch is being fully engaged when the clutch pedal is depressed?

Checking the pedal hegiht and freeplay against the Haynes manual I think Mr Haynes has it wrong. He says the
(shortest, see photo in manual) distance between the pedal and the floor should be 8 1/4" but mine is only 5 1/2".
My clutch pedal is almost even with the brake pedal which is 5" from the floor. At 8.25" I could not get my foot up
on the clutch pedal. Also he says the pedal freeplay should be about 1/2" but mine is 1". However checking under
the hood the freeplay is what he says. He should not give the same freeplay for the pedal in the cab and the pivot
under the hood because the leverage is so different. Has anyone else noticed this or am I reading it wrong?

A friend tells me I can get the car to go into gear by "double clutching". Does anyone know what she's talking about
and why that works? (I'll look it up but it would be nice to have it here in the repair forum.)

I'd hope to buy some time put together a plan to fix the problem.
Thanks.

[F3BZ]

do know what she's talking about. don't know if it works but i'd sure like to meet a gal who can double clutch.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

WmWatt,

I made a post in this thread:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?53001-Trouble-shifting-into-2nd-Gear&highlight=synchro

asking what's involved in replacing the synchro parts, but nobody responded.

I, too, am trying to put together a plan for what to do.

Here are the details of my post:

Several of mine do that, one on 2nd only (my nice "city" LX car with 190K, so a royal pain), another on 5th only (one of my 160K "transcontinental" cars, so a pain on mountain freeways when bouncing between 4th and 5th to maintain speed). Otherwise, the gearboxes are all fine.

Q1: Is is practical to open up a gearbox to replace one syncrho ring (or whatever is it?).
Q2: If doing for one gear, should it be done for all 5 gears? I assume reverse doen't have syncro.
Q3: What else would be worth replacing if opening up a gearbox? Bearings?
Q4: At what point does it amount to an "overhaul" of the gearbox? Are all the parts available? What else is there besides bearings and synchros? Any special tools required?
Q5: Would this let me see why axles refuse to come out? One with no syncro problems but worn out CV joints absolutely refuses to release either driveshaft -- I was thinking of removing that gearbox and disassembling it sufficiently to see the circlips, destroy them, and push the driveshafts out. If opening it up, should I "overhaul" it? It has 150+ on it. Where do I get top-quality circlips?

[WmWatt]

Follow up on this post about car not shifting smoothly into 1st and 2nd gears. After a while I noticed it felt like the
the shifter was not throwing whatever it is that shifts far enough to the left where 1st and 2nd are. If I held the
shift lever hard over to the left when shifting into 1st and 2nd it seemed to go in to gear easier. So I went under the
car to take another look at the shift linkages which I had noticed were loose. I took out the bolt near the back and
tried to find something to shim with to reduce the play but couldn't find anything. Ended up just cleaning and greasing
and putting it back togehter. Ever since it's been going into 1st and 2nd okay, no sticking.

[htchbck]

You are definitely on the right track. If you have a Napa parts store nearby you can go in and have them order you 4 (6 if you feel like doing a little grinding and tapping or welding) of part number ATM 0771303. If not, try calling around to other parts stores to see if they can cross reference the number to one of their part numbers. That is the number for the shift linkage bushings. The front pair and back pair are fairly easy to replace, but the middle one requires cutting and knocking out the pivot and then welding or bolting it back into place, since it doesn't have a nut and bolt like the other two.

[navdoc101]

Mazda also carries all the bushings & tube , bolts ,etc.
Search, its on here.
Good threat posted by skimsucka.

[WmWatt]

Here is a link to the NAPA part with photo . Online price is $1.49 ea $US.

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=ATM0771303_0349821194

[Pu241]

Skimsucka's thread:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?34857-SHifter-sloppiness-solved!!-no-austrailia-nonsense

[WmWatt]

If this link works it shows photos of making a replacement bushing ...
(Yay, it works!)

http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/ag384fb/media/FestivaShifLinkBushing/102_0925_zps69aac321.jpg.html

I made it because..
1. replacement bushings are 33 cents each from FourGreen but shipping is $29
2. replacement busings are $1.99 each from NAPA USA but they don't shihp to Canada
3. replacment bushings are $4.99 each at NAPA in Ottawa
4. repalcement bushings are $5.82 each from a Mazda dealer in Ottawa

So I made one for free from a scrap piece of copper plumbing pipe.