[Singleton]

You stated that the flywheel was brand new. Don't assume that it was surfaced correctly from the factory.

Several years ago I had a similar issue, difficult to place the trans into first gear, grinding going to reverse. Everything was Brand New, Autogear M22, Hurst shifter, fork, throw-out bearing, clutch disc/PP, and Hays flywheel, all new.

Tried everything I could think of to the fix the issue, adjustable throw-out bearing, adjustable pivot, different clutch linkage, nothing worked.

Finally, after a couple thousand miles of putting up with the gear grinding, I decided to change the clutch and pp to a different manufacturer. I doing so I also figured that I would take the NEW Hays flywheel to the local machinist and have it resurfaced, for the hell of it. Turns out the flywheel surface was WAY off, not close to being true. That was my issue the whole time, even with the clutch depressed, the high point of the flywheel was touching the clutch disc at every revolution, just enough to keep the input shaft slowly spinning causing the gear grinding in reverse and the difficulty going into 1st gear.

So don't assume the new flywheel is true.