I'm having a bit of trouble with my KJ manual gearbox / clutch. Sometimes the lever seems to stick in gear - you have to either pull harder on the lever, or wait a couple of seconds & it'll then pop out as normal. Similarly, sometimes it's hard to get into gear & I've noticed that sometimes if you depress the clutch at rest, there's a clonk a couple of seconds afterwards.

Spot the key word "sometimes" here - makes it a bit difficult to diagnose. I took it to a gearbox specialist this morning who took it for a test drive & couldn't feel any obvious clutch problems & also tested the hydralics, which seem to be fine.

Should also say that it's fitted with an RPW short shifter which gives a short throw, but is as notchy as hell.

Any ideas / suggestions before I go down the $400 gearbox removal & inspection route?

I'm having a bit of trouble with my KJ manual gearbox / clutch. Sometimes the lever seems to stick in gear - you have to either pull harder on the lever, or wait a couple of seconds & it'll then pop out as normal. Similarly, sometimes it's hard to get into gear & I've noticed that sometimes if you depress the clutch at rest, there's a clonk a couple of seconds afterwards.

Spot the key word "sometimes" here - makes it a bit difficult to diagnose. I took it to a gearbox specialist this morning who took it for a test drive & couldn't feel any obvious clutch problems & also tested the hydralics, which seem to be fine.

Should also say that it's fitted with an RPW short shifter which gives a short throw, but is as notchy as hell.

Any ideas / suggestions before I go down the $400 gearbox removal & inspection route?

Does sound like it could be the clutch not releasing. If you depress the clutch and wait, select reverse do the gears grind continuously as if the input shaft is still being driven?

how much freeplay is there at the top of the clutch throw? also check your fluid level to make sure you havent sucked any fluid into the line. i would also do a bleed before doing anything drastic.

There's no issue with grinding gears when selecting reverse & the clutch pedal is adjusted correctly. Fluid level is OK also... the guys that checked out the hydraulics were reasonably confident that they are OK.

The other thing I've noticed recently is a vibration on hard acceleration which has only just appeared. Could they be connected?

get rid of the short shifter... try and picture what the short shifter is doing.. its like you slamming through gears everytime you do a normal gear change.. may not be causing this issue but it wont do your box much good in my opinion...

Take your point, but have you seen the throw length on the standard lever? It's not that short a throw even with the short shifter, & I don't tend to force changes, except on rare occasions, so I doubt it will be doing any damage. Still, I have been considering dumping it as 1st & reverse are as notchy as hell. Might just try shortening the standard lever instead.

There's no issue with grinding gears when selecting reverse & the clutch pedal is adjusted correctly. Fluid level is OK also... the guys that checked out the hydraulics were reasonably confident that they are OK.

The other thing I've noticed recently is a vibration on hard acceleration which has only just appeared. Could they be connected?

Could be a warped flywheel.

Is most likely your shifter, while these do give you a really short throw, some of them tend to jam every now and again

I know of at least 2 people who have had the same issue, will be ok sometimes and not others. For what they decided was a benefit to them they decided to keep the shifter and live with it.

I think if you remove your console top, you may even be able to see what it is doing from on top

The clunk, I gather this is when you remove your foot from the clutch, this can be perfectly normal as it is just the box taking up the slack as it spins up and is generally nothing to worry about

If it is a warped flywheel you will feel it through the pedal, especially on a pull type clutch set up

Is most likely your shifter, while these do give you a really short throw, some of them tend to jam every now and again

I know of at least 2 people who have had the same issue, will be ok sometimes and not others. For what they decided was a benefit to them they decided to keep the shifter and live with it.

I think if you remove your console top, you may even be able to see what it is doing from on top

The clunk, I gather this is when you remove your foot from the clutch, this can be perfectly normal as it is just the box taking up the slack as it spins up and is generally nothing to worry about

If it is a warped flywheel you will feel it through the pedal, especially on a pull type clutch set up

I have experienced this a few times, both before and after my short shifter, just out of interest. Doesn't happen very often though.