My A833 won't shift into gear while the car is running unless the back tires are off the ground. Even then it is a little difficult.

This is a car that worked great when put in storage in 1991. It has a fresh 440. The original pressure plate was rebuilt. The original aluminum flywheel was resurfaced. The disc is a new. The new crankshaft probably came from an automatic car so I used the pilot bearing for conversion to 4 speed.

It did take a little more jostling than usual to get the engine to mate with the transmission. I even took an extra input shaft and made sure it fit in the clutch splines and pilot bearing. It eventually went together fine.

I don't think the trans developed a problem from sitting a long time. Could the pilot bearing be grabbing the input shaft somehow? With the back tires off the ground and the clutch disengaged in 4th gear, I can see the clutch disc spin freely when someone turns the back tires. I have a good view of the throwout bearing and that seems fine. What am I missing?

Even though the disc spins freely with the pedal depressed, it might not have enough clearance when running; use a feeler gauge to check the air gap with the pedal fully depressed, .060" minimum.

In no particular order.

1 bellhousing not aligned to block. Are the block and bell original to each other?

2. Pilot hole in crank not deep enough.

3. Sometimes rebuilt pressure plates are not set properly so that the plate is not parrelel to the flywheel causing one side to drag.

4. Pilot bearing might need to be reamed.

My eyeball says it was well over 0.080" but I will measure it. Thanks

1. They are not original to each other. The bell is not aftermarket.

2. I checked this before assembly but didn't make notes. The input shaft seems to spin freely when the car is on jacks and I am turning the back tires in 4th.

3. Possible. I will check. The clutch shop here is usually pretty good.

4. Its not a bushing. I did fit it over the input shaft before driving it into the crank. It does seem to spin fine in the bearing.

Those are interesting symptoms.

Here's a quick and easy way to verify that your transmission input shaft is not bottoming out in the crank's pilot hole.

Try loosening the 4 bolts that hold the transmission to the bell housing and see if the transmission moves back by itself. If a gap opens up between the trans and the bellhousing, you likely will have to cut/shorten the input shaft.

I had to shorten the input shaft on my 833 to allow it clearance from the bottom of the pilot hole in the crank.

Good idea. Although I would expect they separate slightly. If a 0.030" gap opens up, is that a positive result? How much fore/aft play is in the input shaft? Maybe a better test would be to loosen the bellhousing bolts so the bell can move back 0.060-0.080", not enough that the starter wouldn't engage or come out of its pilot hole, and start it up to see if it shifts better. Now that would be a positive result. Any reason that wouldn't work?

Well I loosened the bellhousing bolts and the trans didn't push away from the engine. I might have been able to slip a thin feeler gauge in there somewhere, but I would say the test was negative, but not definitive. After thinking it through, I decided not to start it with the bolts loose. Still no idea why its binding.

When you observed the clutch disc turning freely when the rear wheels were spun, you have a leverage advantage; put the trans in Neutral, have somebody fully depress the clutch pedal and push on the disc with a screwdriver to see if it turns freely.

The factory bell is machined bolted to its block. If you put it on a different block it may need offset dowels to get it concentric with the crank. May or may not be your problem.

lol, never heard that one before.

Laugh all you want.
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/973171/re-bellhousing-installation.html

Read John Kunkel's post on that thread. I have seen the same information from other sources.

Kunkel says a lot of things. No proof though.

Please explain why Factory Service Manuals say that a replacement bellhousing must be dialed in and corrected with offset dowels.

I did not check the runout. FWIW, the old engine does not have offset dowels and the transmission worked great on that one. I don't believe the old engine and transmission were together when new, so that would lessen the likelihood of a problem with the new engine, I would think.

Okay we did that and I could not budge the clutch disc. I was able to get a 0.064" feeler gauge between the disc and pressure plate but the disc seemed to be tight against the flywheel. When observing the clutch as the pedal is depressed, I noticed that the disc moves away from the flywheel briefly but then settles down against the flywheel almost immediately.

You can lead a horse to water but.............

Did you check that gap at more than one place? Pressure plate probably still against the disc 180 degrees from there. If so it's broke.

Sometimes the clutch disc splines are tight on the shaft, some clutch kits supply spline lubricant to avoid that.

What order did this happen? Was it put away working after the engine and clutch work?

As for the offset dowels. I've checked a few and since I like to get chase things to the middle of their acceptable range. The fact is I've never seen a difference from out of spec to middle of the spec as far as shift quality, clutch engagement etc.
GSS's problem is not something offset dowels will fix.

Here is a pressure plate with air gap but it can not be put into gear. There is a major drag from the engine to the input shaft or clutch disc.

I'd like to 1st confirm the input shaft is not bottomed out in the automatic crankshaft.
How about loosening the transmission to bellhousing bolts. Moving the transmission back a 1/4" and check again.
If this idea worries you, sandwich something in there and snug the bolts up.