Here we go. One last time...

[Cornpatch MO]

The more I thought about the instructions from Brewer's on the over-center spring removal, the more it seemed to me they actually have it ***-backwards - I'd imagine the clutch pedal would need to be depressed so that the coils in the spring would be more spread apart, allowing one to insert said washers between them, right?

Since I'm up in the middle of the night anyways (it's a pain thing; actually hope you don't ever have to understand), I went looking for a video or something on the subject.
Nothing on the Centerforce website.
Nothing found on youtube, least by me.

Searched the Mopar Muscle archives and came up with this:
"To first remove the spring, have someone depress the clutch pedal while you insert washers into the spring so that they “pinch” between the spring’s coils when the pedal is released. Once you have enough washers inserted, release the pedal, and the spring should come out with just a little persuasion."
They were helpful enough to include a pic:
View attachment 400009


Ok, that makes more sense to me.
The part that doesn't is the part where you have someone else depress the pedal while you somehow also fit in the same space as them and force these washers in there.
Seems like things would get a tad crowded?
I don't know.
About to find out....

 

[Cornpatch MO]

As the pedal is being pushed down--pedal at the top, spring is de- compressed--- pedal at the mid point, spring is stretched out with the most space between coils. As the pedal is pushed further down , the spring contracts and assists you in pushing the pedal down. Pedal at the bottom, spring has de compressed with the coils close together again. .
My bet is, with a diaphram clutch and the over center spring still installed.. It would be more lkely to stick the clutch pedal to the floor...................MO

 

[Cornpatch MO]

Again, from Brewer's website:
View attachment 400084
"Torque shaft bearing retainer wire, small ends protrude through torque shaft tube holes on frame end (into the groove of bearing 1/2), then snaps over tube, holding torque shaft location on frame side."

So the little fingers are supposed to locate in the actual groove of the bearing....
wonder why my z-bar only has one hole?
Wonder if I have the correct z-bar at all?

EDIT: I'll answer my own question here.
Again, referring to the Brewer's website, my torque shaft (z-bar) is supposed to be 9" long.
Check, mine is.
Also according to their website, the arm for the linkage going to the clutch fork is supposed to be welded 1 1/4" from the end of the tube.
Nope. Mine is 3/4" from the end. :-(

I have the wrong z-bar. Of course. New one is $90!! Son of a....

Ok, so what z-bar DO I have?
The next one up on their web page indicates a z-bar that fits big block 1970-1971 E-body/1971-4 B-body applications with 10.5" bellhousing and the bar for the clutch fork is welded, you guessed it, 3/4" from the end of the tubing.
It also says "WILL NOT FIT 11" CAST IRON BELLHOUSINGS".
Great. Just great. Reckon that's this one....sort of.

How the heck was the arm for the clutch fork rod lining up so nice with my clutch fork then? I checked some more....conclusion:
This one has obviously been modified! The bar passing down to connect with the clutch rod has a little bit more offset on it than the "correct" one; that's how they did it.
Someone has "made" a z-bar for my car out of a "wrong" one.
Let me explain how I arrived at that:
When you look at the pic for the correct z-bar for my car ('68 b-body, 11" bellhousing), the end of the bar going down that the clutch rod attaches to
is supposed to be pretty much even with the end of the z-bar tube itself.
(The one for the 1970-1971 E-body/1971-4 B-body shows the clutch rod side arm offsetting beyond the end of the tube considerably, by comparison).
This "homemade" z-bar is set up just like that!
Obviously, whoever modified this one knew what they were doing whilst butchering the wrong part.
Net result is that the clutch rod side of things lines up nicely with the clutch rod going into the fork.

Since both z-bars are the same exact length (9"), either will fit the same between the frame and the bellhousing ball studs as well, so that's a wash.

Conclusion:
It's not the right z-bar - but it ain't the "wrong" one, either.
It'll work.

You are learning the hard way, like I did --trial and error. Things like this that are cobbled together so it will work in some fashion, Is usually the reason for clutches -linkage to not work right. If not for Brewers catalog with pictures, I don't think I could have ever figgered out what I needed. And there is more possibly coming up involving having the right clutch fork, and most important, having the correct fork pivot inside the bell housing. The pivot about drove me looney until I found I had the wrong one... the one that was inside my bellhouse when I got it........... Be patient, you will get it ................MO

 

[Cornpatch MO]

Again, from Brewer's website:
View attachment 400084
"Torque shaft bearing retainer wire, small ends protrude through torque shaft tube holes on frame end (into the groove of bearing 1/2), then snaps over tube, holding torque shaft location on frame side."

So the little fingers are supposed to locate in the actual groove of the bearing....
wonder why my z-bar only has one hole?
Wonder if I have the correct z-bar at all?

EDIT: I'll answer my own question here.
Again, referring to the Brewer's website, my torque shaft (z-bar) is supposed to be 9" long.
Check, mine is.
Also according to their website, the arm for the linkage going to the clutch fork is supposed to be welded 1 1/4" from the end of the tube.
Nope. Mine is 3/4" from the end. :-(

I have the wrong z-bar. Of course. New one is $90!! Son of a....

Ok, so what z-bar DO I have?
The next one up on their web page indicates a z-bar that fits big block 1970-1971 E-body/1971-4 B-body applications with 10.5" bellhousing and the bar for the clutch fork is welded, you guessed it, 3/4" from the end of the tubing.
It also says "WILL NOT FIT 11" CAST IRON BELLHOUSINGS".
Great. Just great. Reckon that's this one....sort of.

How the heck was the arm for the clutch fork rod lining up so nice with my clutch fork then? I checked some more....conclusion:
This one has obviously been modified! The bar passing down to connect with the clutch rod has a little bit more offset on it than the "correct" one; that's how they did it.
Someone has "made" a z-bar for my car out of a "wrong" one.
Let me explain how I arrived at that:
When you look at the pic for the correct z-bar for my car ('68 b-body, 11" bellhousing), the end of the bar going down that the clutch rod attaches to
is supposed to be pretty much even with the end of the z-bar tube itself.
(The one for the 1970-1971 E-body/1971-4 B-body shows the clutch rod side arm offsetting beyond the end of the tube considerably, by comparison).
This "homemade" z-bar is set up just like that!
Obviously, whoever modified this one knew what they were doing whilst butchering the wrong part.
Net result is that the clutch rod side of things lines up nicely with the clutch rod going into the fork.

Since both z-bars are the same exact length (9"), either will fit the same between the frame and the bellhousing ball studs as well, so that's a wash.

Conclusion:
It's not the right z-bar - but it ain't the "wrong" one, either.
It'll work.

Somehow my reply to this did not show up in the right place...scroll down..........................MO

 

[moparedtn]

As the pedal is being pushed down--pedal at the top, spring is de- compressed--- pedal at the mid point, spring is stretched out with the most space between coils. As the pedal is pushed further down , the spring contracts and assists you in pushing the pedal down. Pedal at the bottom, spring has de compressed with the coils close together again. .
My bet is, with a diaphram clutch and the over center spring still installed.. It would be more lkely to stick the clutch pedal to the floor...................MO

That's what the Brewer's folks told me also.
The spring has gotta go. I just gotta work my way up into going in after it.

 

[moparedtn]

You are learning the hard way, like I did --trial and error. Things like this that are cobbled together so it will work in some fashion, Is usually the reason for clutches -linkage to not work right. If not for Brewers catalog with pictures, I don't think I could have ever figgered out what I needed. And there is more possibly coming up involving having the right clutch fork, and most important, having the correct fork pivot inside the bell housing. The pivot about drove me looney until I found I had the wrong one... the one that was inside my bellhouse when I got it........... Be patient, you will get it ................MO

No doubt. I do have the benefit of it all having worked before, though.
The previous owner might have been a cobbler, but his stuff did wind up working.

 

[moparedtn]

Somehow my reply to this did not show up in the right place...scroll down..........................MO

I just imagine someone stumbling across this thread one day in the future and thinking "good grief, man, that dude was going through gyrations. Why doesn't he just use all the right parts?"

Simply put, the challenges here are multiple - the time thing, the lack of proper amounts of money thing, the previous owners' fabrication skills (or lack thereof) thing, etc.
Nothing that other folks don't deal with every day, really, other than the ultimate clock ticking part, of course.
I love solving the puzzle, though. Learning all sorts of stuff here and some of it is unique to this situation and this car.
I hope someone else down the line is helped by anything I'm going through here.

Oh, today's cool news: Parts have started arriving! Brewer's takes care of business. I'm impressed so far.

 

[NJRR]

Ok, that makes more sense to me.
The part that doesn't is the part where you have someone else depress the pedal while you somehow also fit in the same space as them and force these washers in there.
Seems like things would get a tad crowded?
I don't know.
About to find out....

Not sure if you tackled this yourself yet but here's a suggestion. Get in the car and depress the clutch pedal to the point where the springs are spread to insert coins/washers/spacers. Then measure the distance from the pedal to the seat. Cut a 2x4 to that length and use that to hold the pedal in position while you get in there to place the spacers. Put the seat all the way back to give yourself more room.

 

[moparedtn]

Not sure if you tackled this yourself yet but here's a suggestion. Get in the car and depress the clutch pedal to the point where the springs are spread to insert coins/washers/spacers. Then measure the distance from the pedal to the seat. Cut a 2x4 to that length and use that to hold the pedal in position while you get in there to place the spacers. Put the seat all the way back to give yourself more room.

I like the way you think.

 

[moparedtn]

Care package arrived from Summit today. It's like Christmas around here.
Another one due from Brewer's tomorrow. Just waiting on the tranny to arrive...

EDIT: Got the rest of my stuff from Brewer's today. That's a good company right there, highly recommend them.
Had to do some chasing of the trucking company bringing the transmission though - apparently they're another corporation that has a problem talking to each other, but that's all sorted out now (I actually talked to the driver this time). I'll be meeting him tomorrow afternoon.

I've waved off the cavalry until next weekend. That's ok, I have plenty of stuff to do in preparation anyways.

Full steam ahead.

 

[moparedtn]

The final piece of the puzzle arrived today and it appears unharmed from the trip:

I'm going to replace the side cover and input bearing cover gaskets on it, give it a paint job, replace the output seal, stuff like that. It's supposed to be good to go; the VERY generous anonymous FBBO member that sent it had it checked out by their transmission guy and sent me all sorts of pics of the inside.
I wonder what the VIN pad numbers mean? Does that "G" signify it used to be behind a 318?
I'll admit I cheated on getting it out of the back of the Ram - I used my engine hoist. Makes me feel like a wimp, but hey, nobody and no thing got hurt, so heck with it.

So, I guess everything is here:

Lots of stuff from Brewer's, including the Centerforce dual friction clutch setup, transmission seals, flywheel and clutch bolts. There's hardware kits for the clutch linkage and shifter in there, too.

Brewer's also sent along a gallon of StaLube gear oil and a reconditioned Mopar flywheel, which I opted for over a new (read: probably Chinese) one.
The Wix oil filter for the engine came from Summit.

Brad Penn high-ZDDP oil, Remflex header gaskets, spark plugs (Champion RJ12YC), Hedman header collector bolts, thermostat gaskets (I just wanted one but they sell them in packs of 10, oy) and Permatex in both blue and RTV black.
That's a reproduction starter cable to replace the spliced up and downright dangerous one on the car now, too.
Mopar "Street Hemi Orange" paint for the engine and satin black for pulleys and such.
Finally, just to prove I do actually own a factory service manual, there ya go.
Yeah I know it says Dodge - I reckon that's close enough.

Now, to find some help getting the hood off the GTX. I haven't figured out how to safely do that by myself yet. Makes me miss my lift-off Six Pak hood days...

I reckon it's time to get on with things.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Party time.

 

[NJRR]

Lookin good !!!!

 

[Cornpatch MO]

Take a moment, sit in your chair , and look at all the goodies you have recieved the last couple days. That is part of the fun.......................MO

 

[moparedtn]

Take a moment, sit in your chair , and look at all the goodies you have recieved the last couple days. That is part of the fun.......................MO

Yeah, I did that for a moment or two - then the wheels started turning about all that crap actually having to be assembled.
Scheming right now on how to use the engine hoist to get the hood off the car without wrecking everything.

 

[Ladysmith Bob]

This may sound kind of backwoods - how about folding up bath towels under corners of hood at firewall and gently opening almost all the way until hood makes contact with towel. When unbolted hood should slide very little.



If you care to drive - drive with care

 

[Ladysmith Bob]

Don't forget to secure front of hood before starting

 

[Glenwood]

Yeah, I did that for a moment or two - then the wheels started turning about all that crap actually having to be assembled.
Scheming right now on how to use the engine hoist to get the hood off the car without wrecking everything.

Here's an article I saw regarding hood removal. I have a contraction that fits on the hoist and cradles the hood. Works okay.

http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/misc/22.html

 

[khryslerkid]

I did the same removing the hood with my engine Crane but I used ratchet straps. A good friend or Neighbor works better!

 

[moparedtn]

All very good suggestions and along the lines of my scheming, thanks you all.
Recovering from rolling around the floor with the transmission yesterday, but I think I'll go after the hood this evening.
"Hold my Diet Dr. Pepper and watch this!"