Here we go. One last time...

[moparedtn]

Just so folks know where I'm coming from...

ON THIS DAY - 4 years ago today, I went into the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, for what turned out to be a marathon bout of life-saving surgery for removal of a cancerous tumor on my left kidney, which went rougher than they anticipated. Gigantic mass, bled to death on the table, the whole she-bang.
Anyways...
As you may have surmised by now, it was successful - at least for me.

Turned out to be the worst of the three times I've survived cancer so far. Knock wood.

A prolonged period of grief immediately followed - not for me so much (since I don't remember much of the following 2 months, other than the first night waking up after surgery) but for anyone who had the misfortune of dealing with me post-surgery.

Four years later, the "new me" (as the doc put it) is still here, for whatever reason God has intended.
I won't lie - it hurts like hell to be here and I'm only about 3/4 of what I used to be... but it still beats the alternative.
Hope it's doing some good to be so.
I've got loose ends to tighten up, including the GTX.
Hope I've got the juice left to get it done.

 

[Ladysmith Bob]

Hey Ed : You are still here for a reason, what that reason may be I cannot say, but I think the journal of this build you are keeping can be important to the younger generation insomuch as it shows the reality of life. Keep on going!

 

[moparedtn]

View attachment 412469 Hey Ed : You are still here for a reason, what that reason may be I cannot say, but I think the journal of this build you are keeping can be important to the younger generation insomuch as it shows the reality of life. Keep on going!

Much appreciated, Bob.
"Journal" is an apt description of this. I do it to keep focused in healing/down times between bouts of working on the car.
If anyone else gets anything out of it, more the better.

 

[moparedtn]

Tonight I went thru the process of getting the cobbled up clutch z-bar ready for a hopeful install tomorrow. (To remind, the z-bar I have appears to be one modified from a later model car by a previous owner).
Results were good:
http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/z-bar-spring-thingy.129192/page-2#post-910654387

End result:

A coat of paint and she's good to go.

 

[moparedtn]

First order of business today is to clean this mess up a little. I've reached the "can't find sh#$" point.

 

[Fran Blacker]

 

[moparedtn]

View attachment 414212

Thanks Fran!
Ok, shop back in some sort of order.
Driveshaft is installed now; transmission fussed a tad about spinning to allow lining up u-joint, but finally yielded.
Time to get all the Brewer's supplied goodies organized for the next step:

Here goes...

 

[moparedtn]

Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE these headers?
Lots of cursing and gnashing of teeth later....

Now to get the other end...

 

[BeeKool]

First order of business today is to clean this mess up a little. I've reached the "can't find sh#$" point.
View attachment 414211

That's not too bad. But you're right, tidy up before it gets bad. I wish I would follow my own advice

 

[moparedtn]

Obviously not the ideal z-bar (apparently the homemade welding of the previous owner was not an exact science), but it works AND all components are in place on the linkage now.
I did some initial adjusting, basing it on what the pedal was doing inside the car and wound up about halfway on the adjuster rod. New spring in place as well.

That left me with the clutch pedal about 3/4 of the way up when resting.
The clutch engagement occurs between 1/3 and 1/2 way up the travel from the floor, just like the instructions say.

Do I worry about this resting position? Should I put a light return spring on the pedal to bring it up all the way?

At this point, it was time to wrap up what I was going to get done under the car for today; the z-bar had been a royal dogfight to get in place and had taken a lot out of me, but once in place, it operates smoothly and feels pretty good.
Time to fill the transmission fluid!

 

[moparedtn]

Ok, well that turned out to be a bear as well. Of course.
Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE these headers?
To top it all off, that fine Chinese fluid pump they sell at Advance Oughta blew apart on me, so I wound up using an el cheapo gas siphon squeeze bulb thingy and that worked.
Got the problematic left side header collector all sorted and bolts started (but not tightened - not until the headers are final mounted on the engine).

Time to get her down off those jack stands for the first time in weeks:

Back on all fours.

Installed the shifter handle real quick and jumped in to check out the donor transmission. Clutch works right about where I like it and the transmission feels SO much better than the old one - it even makes those cool "snick-snick" sounds when rowing the gears.
Reverse is also wonderful to engage. I must have gotten the adjustment right on the shifter. Yay me.
That was the sort of reward I needed for todays' efforts, so I shut everything down and hobbled off to the house....

 

[Ladysmith Bob]

 

[Fran Blacker]

Ed you could lengthen the rod going to the torque shaft from to clutch fork. The problem would be I think clutch would engage further from the floor. Might cause over center problems? So why bother, if it work good keep it the way it is.

 

[Cornpatch MO]

View attachment 414266
Obviously not the ideal z-bar (apparently the homemade welding of the previous owner was not an exact science), but it works AND all components are in place on the linkage now.
I did some initial adjusting, basing it on what the pedal was doing inside the car and wound up about halfway on the adjuster rod. New spring in place as well.

View attachment 414270
That left me with the clutch pedal about 3/4 of the way up when resting.
The clutch engagement occurs between 1/3 and 1/2 way up the travel from the floor, just like the instructions say.

Do I worry about this resting position? Should I put a light return spring on the pedal to bring it up all the way?

At this point, it was time to wrap up what I was going to get done under the car for today; the z-bar had been a royal dogfight to get in place and had taken a lot out of me, but once in place, it operates smoothly and feels pretty good.
Time to fill the transmission fluid!

Do you have the rubber pedal stop ( when pedal is all the way up) If not, that may give you a little extra clutch pedal play .........................MO

 

[moparedtn]

Do you have the rubber pedal stop ( when pedal is all the way up) If not, that may give you a little extra clutch pedal play .........................MO

I have whatever these cars came with.
Not to repeat myself, but where I have the clutch adjusted right now the pedal doesn't "rest" all the way back up when released.
You can grab it and pull it the rest of the way back up, though.
Are you saying I should continue adjusting the clutch until the pedal does rest all the way back up?

 

[moparedtn]

Ed you could lengthen the rod going to the torque shaft from to clutch fork. The problem would be I think clutch would engage further from the floor. Might cause over center problems? So why bother, if it work good keep it the way it is.

I could, but I don't want to go there just yet.

When I was under the car adjusting the clutch, I had my wife inside the car watching the pedal. As I continued running the clutch adjuster nut towards the fork, she watched the pedal come up off the floor until it reached the point it's at right now (about 3/4 of the way up).
The pedal stopped rising off the floor with further adjustment at that point.
When she would grab the pedal and pull it the rest of the way up, I saw no movement in anything down at the clutch fork.
What did keep moving when she did that was the pivot at the top of the z-bar where it connects to the clutch pedal rod that pokes through the firewall - the hole in the end of that rod is oblong shaped, just like the one down at the clutch adjuster.

I suppose I could keep adjusting, but that would mean the point of engagement of the clutch would keep raising off the car floor as well.
Do I simply continue to adjust until the pedal is all the way up?

 

[khryslerkid]

Did I miss the part when you fired this engine for the first time?

 

[Fran Blacker]

After your description doesn't sound good to adjust it more. If that's a cobble together z bar, wonder what correct z bar would be like? I would wait until end of driving season to mess with a stock z bar. Could open another can of worms.

 

[moparedtn]

Did I miss the part when you fired this engine for the first time?

I don't understand the question, unless you're trying to be trite.
If anything, this thread has been very detailed in where I'm at in the process.
Current status is the replacement driveline is in place in the car and most all underneath work was completed today.
All the engine compartment work is left yet to do now.
The "new" engine was purchased as a replacement runner with about 1000 break-in miles on it - I have posted video of it running that was made for me by the seller.

 

[moparedtn]

After your description doesn't sound good to adjust it more. If that's a cobble together z bar, wonder what correct z bar would be like? I would wait until end of driving season to mess with a stock z bar. Could open another can of worms.

This z-bar was a perfectly functional one with the old 3-finger style clutch. Although it was a modified unit, it was done so that all stock critical points worked in the car as they're supposed to.

The stock over-center spring on these cars is not only in the car to assist in depressing the clutch, but it also pulls the clutch pedal the rest of the way back up to the stop when you take your foot off the pedal.
With that spring unhooked per Centerforce instructions, we lose that obviously.

Where the clutch is adjusted right now, the engagement point is pretty much as their instructions say. Problem is, there's nothing to continue pulling the pedal the rest of the way up from that point.