I have 1989 cheyene 1500 truck 4.3. Engine , 5 speed transmission , the truck has a problem going into first gear , have to shut engine off to get it to first , if I start it in neutral gear once I do that when driving it shifts ok , if I am in a spot where I have to get it to reverse , I have to shut the engine off , to get to reverse . I have also noticed that to start the engine you have to push the clutch pedal almost through the floor , or it won't start.

I am restoring this truck, there has been a lot of new parts put on this truck before I bought it , so this is the only problem I notice do far , I checked the slave cylinder under the engine hood, that was down a bit , i topped that up seems to be ok
so I am frustrated with the tranny problem, when driving the tranny dosen't seem to be slipping ,just wondering if I had more travel space to to extend the clutch pedal a little further would that allow it to work going into those gears first, and reverse, so if any body can offer some advice I need help with this problem, it just seems like something must be spinning when I am trying to get it into those gears , so thank you in advance if u
can help !