Im ready to pull my hair out, the z bar assembly in my car keeps tearing and bending itself (refer to pics.) I had to fab up another "bar" after the original bent completly unfixable, and the other piece ive had to weld back together a handful of times as it keeps tearing. Ill be able to fix and adjust it so itll work again (theres been a few times after i reinstalled and adjusted it as much as i could but the clutch would be so stiff its dang near a workout to engage it no matter what i do) and it'll last for about a month till itll ruin itself again. I have a 69.5 that was swapped over to a 3sp manual with the parts from a 72, everything ran and worked smoothly for a long time, i put in a high pressure racing clutch and it ran great for a year or so till this started happening. Would a high performance clutch take its toll on the clutch linkage after awhile or is something else?
Hey, Thanks for the replys. How do I get ahold of Raymond Stone I tried searching the boards, but couldnt find anything. Also, all i do is very simple welding, if anyone knows how to fab up a heavy duty z bar and the push bar i'll pay a decent price for it.
I have one of the z-bars that was sold by AutoKrafters I will sell. I bought it as a spare because I was having the same problem as you. Fortunately the last time I repaired one of my original ones it has held up okay. I've about decided to go back to automatic so it looks like all my 4 speed stuff will soon be for sale. These aftermarket z-bars are heavier duty that the factory ones. I haven't heard of anyone having any trouble with them. PM me if you're interested.
I know your pain. I put a racing clutch in a Mustang I used to have...then drove it to a show 500 miles away and the z-bar spilt. That sucked.
Take a stock Z bar, then weld flat bar to the original bar stock to double it's thickness and strength. I would also inspect the whole linkage system, especially the pedal support and bushings. The potmetal bushings don't last forever and can easily contribute to your problems.
