A friend at work has a spartan with a sierra box in it. He is just trying to put it back in after a rebuild, but when its in it won't go into gear but on the bench its fine. Any ideas?

More details - It will go into gear when engine not running but not when running.

[Edited on 15/5/07 by watsonpj]

Problem with the synchros?

All gears or just some?

[Edited on 15/5/07 by flak monkey]

Is the clutch releasing completely when the pedal's down?

yep, clutch problem, is the drive plate in the right way round?

[Edited on 15/5/07 by NS Dev]

Does it try to go in , but make horrible grinding noises? Does the clutch fully disengage? If bot sure, point the car down an open empty drive, stick it in 2nd, put the clutch down and try to start it. If it jumps forwards the clutch needs looking at it. If it doesn't jump, then something's up with the box.

He says it won't go in but makes a grinding noise.

Clutch not clearing! If he carries on trying he will end up damaging the box, another possibility is the spigot bearing in the rear of the crank picking up on the first motion shaft.

A friend of mine recently lost almost all of his gears in his type9 box(westfield....) after a trackday..
all he can get is 5th and reverse..

We've stripped the engine and box out of the car, and took the top off the gearbox, to discover the hardened dowel that locates the selector fork to the top rail had sheared above and below the rail, allowing the selector fork to slide along the rail freely.. previously he had spoken to BGH geartec and they over the phone diagnosed the problem, and later it proved to be 100% accuarte..

If your problem turns out to be this, semi-easy fix, replace with a 8.8 or 10.9 short bolt (4-5mm dia) with head so that it cant completeley drop though., better still skim the threads down a bit so they act like teeth, and also allows you to unscrew/remove it later after gently tapping it in with a hammer..

BGH recomendation was to replace the std dowel (rolled hollow dowel) and put a 2mm stainless pin through the center of it to give extra strenghth..