Just recently installed and converted over to a new Clutchmasters clutch with a stage 1 sprung disc and a CM lightweight single mass flywheel from the factory equipped setup of an unsprung disc with dual mass flywheel. Also installed a new ss braided clutch hose line. When I installed the new clutch I also went with a new master cylinder that doesn’t have the ol delay valve and everything felt fine with shifting after slight readjustment of the clutch pedal and bleeding. I never drove the car hard or up at redline the first 1000 miles to ensure a full lifetime for the new clutch. But soon after the break in period, I began to notice that once in awhile I’d find my clutch pedal had fallen to the floor on its own during stops at red lights. After many sleepless nights and countless attempts at rebleeding the system I found the culprit of the periodic dead pedal to be the ss braided line connection on new master cylinder I had just installed. The adapter fitting connection of the ss braided line with the U-shaped locking pin wasn’t a perfect seal. When actuating the clutch pedal I found the connection to have a slight play moving up and down from the force of the hydraulic fluid moving which slowly leaked air into the line over time causing the dead pedal. Plus I found the once fresh fluid had turned into complete pitch black indicating obvious contamination from an air leak. I was forced to go back to using my factory master cylinder which had a better seal with the adapter connection fitting. now that the dead pedal issue has been solved and clutch pedal feels 100% fine again I’m not too happy about the way the new clutch now feels when driven with the factory master cylinder’s delay valve back in place but it is what it is. Later when I have time I’ll try finding a better fitting adapter connection with another new master cyl w/o valve from a different manufacturer. Btw, I can really notice a huge difference in spirited driving ability coming from a delay-less valve back to now having the delay valve.

…for the first time since putting in the new clutch I raced somebody the other night and when I tried shifting from 1st to 2nd under hard acceleration right at redline the clutch wouldn’t engage 2nd. I missed the shift and lost the race. During the failed shift from 1 to 2 I tried twice even tho I had already lost the momentum and the race. So something is preventing it from engaging but only at redline. What can it be? What have I overlooked or not done enough of? I’ve bled the system perfectly and adjusted the pedal height accordingly within the service manual specifications.

I know some might think that by going back to a factory master cyl with delay valve, that could be what’s causing the engagement issue from 1 to 2 at redline but why is it that when I had my stock clutch and the same master cyl I never once had the issue of missing a shift at redline from 1 to 2.

any ideas?

 

Assuming you're already 601% sure you properly bled the clutch, preferrably using a 1 man bleeder...

Here are some possibilities

Pedal height and freeplay are 2 different things.
How much freeplay do you have at the top of the pedal travel?

Does the clutch start engaging right off the floorboard? It shouldn't.

Freeplay should be minimal (6mm, IIRC?) and the clutch's biting or engagement point should be around the middle of the pedal travel range...or higher up.

What type of grease did you/your installer use for the release bearing and splines?

Hint - there is only 1 fully acceptable and specific answer (Honda HT Urea). If the answer is "I dont know", the wrong grease was likely used. If the answer is "grease", its also probably the wrong stuff. If the answer is "anti seize", you should fire your installer.