Looking at a CL Type-S in need of a clutch

Planning on checking this out, but I'm wondering what else would cause a bad clutch symptom? I'm asking because the car has lower mileage than expected to be needing a clutch (sub-80k).

Is the clutch disk bad or has the clutch slave cylinder dried from non-use causing improper clutch hydrolics resulting in inability to shift?

Or a srized pilot bushing, failed throwout bearing, bad clutch hydraulics, or bad shift cables/bushings. 

Or, tranny was serviced by henessy honda of Woodstock. 

Don't these things have glass transmissions? 

I owned one of these awhile back and had the slave cylinder go out on me. Had myself a very interesting drive to the dealership but they repaired it under warranty and sent me on my way.

As for the glass trans, that was the auto, not the manual.

grover said:

Don't these things have glass transmissions? 

No, they're pretty stout and can be worth quite a bit because they're fairly rare, by Honda standards.  Usually $1200 or so for a junkyard 6MT.

grover said:

Don't these things have glass transmissions? 

That was the automatics. 

Not sure if these used the same-style clutch setup, but I had a first-generation Legend (with the transverse 2.7L V6) that the clutch started intermittently not disengaging on. Tore it all apart and found that in place of the usual clutch hub springs, Acura had used rubber blocks with metal end plates bonded to them. At 25 years old, the rubber cylinders had turned essentially to glass or hard plastic and shattered and dumped the metal end plates down into the pressure plate. Sometimes they would fall clear and the cutch would work fine, other times they would fall in just the right place and wedge the clutch on and it wouldn't disengage.

In reply to NickD :

I’ve always wondered why those transmissions never made it into mid engine chassis. This is probably why. 

In reply to _ :

They were...not great. Acura was much busier developing a super-advanced automatic transmission for the G1 Legends, so the 5-speed was kind of a thrown-together deal. Super long throws, very vague shifter mechanism and synchros that weren't particularly robust (mine no longer had any synchronization for first gear, fortunately it would pull in second gear easy). The irony is that while majority sold were automatic,the automatic transmission for all its refinement was very troublesome (required the old Hondamatic fluid, the newer stuff would kill it instantly, and it had a number of solenoids prone to failure) so the majority of surviving G1 Legends tend to be 5-speeds. 

I know there was a guy that went the opposite way and installed a supercharged NSX engine and manual transmission in the front of a G1 Legend coupe in the early 2000s. The story behind it being that his son had owned the Legend and absolutely loved the car and had dreamed of doing such a conversion, and then died of cancer at a young age, so his father built the car in his son's memory. It had a Kaminari body kit and some era-approriate wheels and was, I'm sure, a showstopper when it was built.

EDIT: I forgot, there was a guy who put a C25A/5-speed combo in the back of a 3rd-gen Civic with some Renault 5 Turbo bodywork on C4 Salad Shooters. I guess it still exists but now has a J32 with a CL-S trans

In reply to NickD :

####in amazing. Love it. 

I had an 05 TL with the six speed.  They are nice cars.  That version has issues with 3rd gear synchros.  I think they are better with some type of synchromesh mtf.  I have a 13 6 speed TL now and I can say that the trans is much smoother.  Just my experience.

In reply to NickD :

that thing looks bad ass!

a bad driver who likes to slip the clutch could easily burn up a clutch in much fewer miles than 80k!

I recently bought a decent manual trans honda cheap with a 25k mile bad clutch. It ended up being a leaking rear main crank seal that fouled the works and disintergrated the pad material. Just another possibility, should be obvious by a oil slick where the trans and case mate. 

jfryjfry said:

a bad driver who likes to slip the clutch could easily burn up a clutch in much fewer miles than 80k!

Agreed, or even an average driver that has some peculiar bad habit.  Like riding the clutch pedal instead of shifting to neutral for stoplights (eats throwout bearings.)  Or people that use the clutch / transmission to slow down the car.  It's fun observing some of the oblivious and strange habits non-enthusiasts have with manuals.  Or used to have...non-enthusiasts don't drive manuals anymore.

CL-S with a 6MT is a cool car.  If nothing else, you've got everything you need for a J32A swap into something hilarious.

Wow, I didn't even know they made them with a MT. I worked at an Acura dealer for 2 years and never saw one except in the first gen with the 4 cyl. Rare car.

Edit: Just saw that they came out with the MT after I worked there.