i have an 86 z28 with 305 and t5 nwc. ive had it 6 months it drove great until recently ,when im in 1st gear i almost get the clutch all the way let out and it pops out of 1st only sometimes though . it also hard to up or downshift into 2nd gear but when 1st pops out it goes into 2nd like it was new. i flushed it and put new gear oil in it but i dont think it helped any. all the other gears in it are great even reverse and 3rd.clutch is good no t.o. bearing noise. im hopin that its just a bent shift fork, but im worried.just needed some opinions.thanks fellas!

 

I don't think its a bent fork. It's worn. or you might have shifter problem. Mine didn't pop out of gear but it didn't go into the gears as smoothly as it used to, I replaced the shifter with a B&m ripper shifter, what a big difference smoother more positive, But more than likely first gear is worn..

 

Possible the fork pads are worn, causing the mis-engagement. You usually don't shift hard into first to bend the fork. The plastic shifter cup in the trans sometimes cracks also, but that tends to affect either all the 1,3,5 or the 2,4 gears. The last cause could be if the synchro keys are broken. Again less likely since that would tend to affect 2nd also.

 

i meant the shift forks might be bent from bangin 2nd from first.

 

That would bend the fork back towards 1st, which would cause issues in 2nd, not in 1st..

 

Did you ever find out what the problem was?