Leap of faith! - GTX is in other folks' hands now (tranny/clutch swap)

[moparedtn]

The old z-bar/bellcrank that came with the car. Obviously had been hacked on and slap-welded up.
It was making the fork rod meet the fork at a bad angle.
It's now going to be a paperweight:

 

[Cranky]

I see a couple of hammers.....

 

[oldbee]

I see a couple of hammers.....

“Big Boy” hammers, indeed.

 

[moper]

And you were wondering why the old setup was having issues? lol...

 

[moparedtn]

Yeah, that pic was taken on my own workbench a couple years ago when I transplanted the last 440
in the car. I took a picture of the z-bar and sent it to Dan, who promptly replied "what the hell is THAT??"
Hey dude, it's what came with the car, I dunno….
I made it work at the time.
Current mechanic says no way Jose, get me the RIGHT one.
Yessir. On the way.

 

[Cranky]

“Big Boy” hammers, indeed.

I have a few....but nothing like I had several years ago!

 

[moparedtn]

Got the call, GTX is ready.
On the way down to fetch her, I caught a ride from my co-pilot:

That's Sasha the wonder dog (Cairn Terrier). The pound puppy nobody wanted
because she had "food anger" issues....

Side story (y'all run, Ed's gonna tell another story!):
When we got her like 8 years ago, I had just lost my dad, then my beagle of 15
years, then my border collie of 14 years that winter, one right after the other.
Those pups had been thrown out on the highway down the ridge from here and
had gravitated up the hill here, accompanied by my good old pal Bonzo (Rotty/Lab mix).
I've always had strays, dogs nobody else wanted, and they've all been great dogs, every
last one of them. Those two were no exception, so I was hurting pretty bad by then when
I'd lost all those loved ones one right after the other.
I actually asked my wife at that point if she was feeling ok; I was only partly joking. :-(

Anyways, my wife decides some time later to go to the local shelter. I told her I wasn't
up for that yet (because I'm the kind that will bring them ALL home with me), but I grumpily
finally agreed to go - but I wasn't going in the room where the pups were.
As I leaned against the door frame to that room, watching all the commotion and her playing
with this dog and that, I suddenly sense a pair of eyes burning a hole in me.
I look down into some smaller cages just inside the doorway and there was Sasha.
All the other dogs were excited and barking up a storm, but not her - she was dead silent,
staring at me like "get me out of here please."
Awww dammit...…
The attendant says "you don't want that one - she has food anger issues. Besides, she's due to be
put down tomorrow and she was picked up after running wild, we think for like a year."
I look again and Sasha has laser locked onto me, oblivious to all the commotion around her.
Awww dammit.....
I call my wife over and tell her "my Pop used to say that you don't pick the dog - the dog picks YOU".
My wife looks at my questioningly, so I nod over in Sasha's direction.
"I do believe I've been picked" I say.
Game over.
She was wild and headstrong and gave us a devil of a time at first, but she always listened to me from
the get-go. She's had her share of almost dying from a mystery infection, to thousands of $$$ of med
bills, to vets telling me to put her down - but she's still here and seemingly in better shape than ever,
because I would not give up on her - the same way she wouldn't give up on me.
So there ya go, Ed's story of the week.

 

[moparedtn]

Oh, almost forgot, about the GTX.
The fella that did the work did a fine job and was very complimentary about the car.
Even asked if I'd sell her.
Now, we've all heard that from dozens of folks, most of them with no clue what they were
asking - but from a guy like Steve (remember, he's got some seriously nice Mopars now)
I knew it was a serious question.
I politely declined, said something about not being able to get out of her what I got in her (true).

The final price? We horsetraded - he kept my old, worn transmission and even wanted the old
clutch. I agreed readily (sorry, other folks who have asked about the old transmission).
So I'm out the cost of the parts and that's about it.

I jumped in for the drive home, windows all down even though temps were in the high 50's
and dropping...
I first noticed the difference in the clutch. He had warned me about it being stiffer than the
CenterForce, but I didn't find that to be the case, really - with the CF, the stiffness is all within
a couple inches of pedal travel, whereas this B&B clutch it's spread out, aided by the pedal spring.
Not too stiff, in other words. Not much feel, though - when you're used to feeling the exact position
of pedal travel where the clutch engages and disengages, these old school ones, that's spread out
more, so I'll have to get used to that again.

Now to the rebuilt high dollar 18 spline - in a word, it's fantastic!
No more sloppy, vague shifter feel - this sucker is very precise and feels substantial.
Oh, and of course this transmission is VERY quiet compared to the old one - just the typical faint whine
when decelerating in the lower gears. Seems the rebuilder nailed it.

About a half hour into the drive home, I noticed that the car started picking up speed, despite my not
moving my gas foot at all. I reckon the transmission was starting to loosen up a bit?
Whereas before, she liked to run about 63mph or so with light pedal, now she was in the upper 60's
and seemed to want to run 70+ if I'd let her.
Man, that's so freaking awesome....
Some of y'all know all about my trevails with this car over the last several years, as my own health failed
and I struggled to get the GTX's many and various issues resolved and get her to the point that, if necessary,
my wife would be easily able to sell her should I finally check out (leave no messes!).
Well, this is a milestone, a big one.
Should this latest improvement hold true, I'm a HUGE step closer to that goal.

Oh, and the cash I had kept aside to pay this gentleman for the work?
Yep, you guessed it - brakes next!
I'm not done yet...

 

[moparedtn]

UPDATE April 7, 2019:
Houston, there may be a problem...
I realize everything is new and has an hour on the whole thing so far, but there
is something abnormal here.
The throwout bearing makes a fuss when the clutch pedal is depressed. It goes away
when you let the clutch out.
Sort of like they do when they're wearing out or seizing or some such?
It's the throwout bearing supplied with the RAM clutch, so it's new (and you'd think,
compatible with their pressure plate).

I'm going to give it one more local trip with several clutch cycles to see if it's a temporary
thing. If not, I guess it's time to drop the inspection pan and have a looky.

 

[hunt2elk]

Does it make the noise when the pedal is pushed fully to the floor and then goes away as you let the pedal up a bit?

 

[moparedtn]

Does it make the noise when the pedal is pushed fully to the floor and then goes away as you let the pedal up a bit?

Appears to be at any point the throwout bearing is in contact with the pressure plate.

 

[hunt2elk]

I had a McLeod borg and beck start acting up like I described above. They had me send the pressure plate back and readjusted the springs. Said it was a common problem. Which seemed odd to me that they wouldn't make certain things were adjusted correctly before selling them. Anyway, sounds like yours is something totally different.

 

[moparedtn]

I would assume the disc is installed correctly (not backwards) by the fact the clutch does function, right?
I'm just hoping the new throwout bearing didn't come off the fork - or that the fork itself didn't come off the pivot clippy thing in the bellhousing.
I'll check the usual adjustments after first looking up from underneath, inspection plate off.
Heck, something might just need a little lubing...

 

[dcala84141]

I had a problem years ago when I depressed the clutch pedal I heard a god awful sound and the car wanted to roll forward, never did find out what the problem was, but I was figuring it was the pilot bearing. It only happened at the track when I brought the revs up waiting for the lights on the tree

 

[moparedtn]

UPDATE 4/24/19:
I noticed when sitting in the garage (engine off), when I worked the clutch pedal, I kept hearing
odd little snapping/popping sounds. Nothing loud, just faint little clicking...
I had found the time to get under the car and check things out and all looked fine, except
something struck me odd how the new, shiny z-bar was sitting in there.
It looked like it was too long, like it was binding/pinched between the frame pivot and the bellhousing.

It occurred to me the previous owner had done the 4 speed conversion, complete with a rather
nasty looking welding job on the pivot tab on the frame, so I focused on that area.
I did a little tweaking on that to try and free up a little spacing on the z-bar and wala, the noise
went away.
I reckon now having the correct z-bar showed this other weakness.

I hadn't had any time -or the weather was too crappy - then I got the flu real bad, which all conspired
to keep me from driving the car since that little tweaking.
Until yesterday evening, that is...
After a particularly hectic few days of job-related stuff, I needed a break. When the wife got home, I
didn't do the usual asking of what she felt like for dinner.
This time, I was all "it's time to get the GTX out. We'll go get Philly cheesesteaks."
That's about as demanding as I get, you know.
She agrees and off we go for the first drive since my little modification to the z-bar pivot...
and it was freaking glorious.

The rebuilt 18-spline transmission felt awesome. The clutch felt like, well, a clutch.
A properly working, no weird noise-making, regular ol' clutch.
The car noticeably made speed easier, went down the road smoother - as it's supposed to.
A smile slowly, silently formed on my face as we went down the highway. I must have looked
demented or something.
I couldn't help it....
As I pulled the GTX into the parking lot of the sub joint, I shut it down and just sat there quietly
for a moment, hands still on the wheel, staring out the windshield.
My wife looked at me oddly at first, like "what the heck is the matter with him now?".
…then you could see it on her face, too, as she realized what was going on.

This 7 year journey I had started on with the GTX - and the absolute race it turned into, between
trying to get the car substantially back to a properly running, driving, operating car again before
I myself was gone from this planet - is now finally, thankfully substantially over.
As many times as I thought in times past that I had actually won that race, that many times something
on the car had proven me wrong. Over and over again, I had foolishly prematurely claimed victory,
only to have some other weak link fail and start the clock again.
Then I'd get cancer again, go through all that fun again, have another surgery again, try to recover again...
And having dodged yet another bullet, set back to the car again, the race (and my own countdown clock)
resumed.
This time? It just felt right...for the first time if I'm honest.
The GTX now feels like a by-God Mopar. I actually relaxed and enjoyed the damn drive home afterwards.
The weight of the world had come off my shoulders.

I have never enjoyed a Philly cheesesteak so much in my life.

 

[threewood]

UPDATE 4/24/19:
I noticed when sitting in the garage (engine off), when I worked the clutch pedal, I kept hearing
odd little snapping/popping sounds. Nothing loud, just faint little clicking...
I had found the time to get under the car and check things out and all looked fine, except
something struck me odd how the new, shiny z-bar was sitting in there.
It looked like it was too long, like it was binding/pinched between the frame pivot and the bellhousing.

It occurred to me the previous owner had done the 4 speed conversion, complete with a rather
nasty looking welding job on the pivot tab on the frame, so I focused on that area.
I did a little tweaking on that to try and free up a little spacing on the z-bar and wala, the noise
went away.
I reckon now having the correct z-bar showed this other weakness.

I hadn't had any time -or the weather was too crappy - then I got the flu real bad, which all conspired
to keep me from driving the car since that little tweaking.
Until yesterday evening, that is...
After a particularly hectic few days of job-related stuff, I needed a break. When the wife got home, I
didn't do the usual asking of what she felt like for dinner.
This time, I was all "it's time to get the GTX out. We'll go get Philly cheesesteaks."
That's about as demanding as I get, you know.
She agrees and off we go for the first drive since my little modification to the z-bar pivot...
and it was freaking glorious.

The rebuilt 18-spline transmission felt awesome. The clutch felt like, well, a clutch.
A properly working, no weird noise-making, regular ol' clutch.
The car noticeably made speed easier, went down the road smoother - as it's supposed to.
A smile slowly, silently formed on my face as we went down the highway. I must have looked
demented or something.
I couldn't help it....
As I pulled the GTX into the parking lot of the sub joint, I shut it down and just sat there quietly
for a moment, hands still on the wheel, staring out the windshield.
My wife looked at me oddly at first, like "what the heck is the matter with him now?".
…then you could see it on her face, too, as she realized what was going on.

This 7 year journey I had started on with the GTX - and the absolute race it turned into, between
trying to get the car substantially back to a properly running, driving, operating car again before
I myself was gone from this planet - is now finally, thankfully substantially over.
As many times as I thought in times past that I had actually won that race, that many times something
on the car had proven me wrong. Over and over again, I had foolishly prematurely claimed victory,
only to have some other weak link fail and start the clock again.
Then I'd get cancer again, go through all that fun again, have another surgery again, try to recover again...
And having dodged yet another bullet, set back to the car again, the race (and my own countdown clock)
resumed.
This time? It just felt right...for the first time if I'm honest.
The GTX now feels like a by-God Mopar. I actually relaxed and enjoyed the damn drive home afterwards.
The weight of the world had come off my shoulders.

I have never enjoyed a Philly cheesesteak so much in my life.

Ed, that is fantastic!! Your persistence paid off and now you can reap all the joy out of enjoying life and driving your car.

 

[beanhead]

Congrats Ed! Glad you got it nailed.

 

[moparedtn]

Ed, that is fantastic!! Your persistence paid off and now you can reap all the joy out of enjoying life and driving your car.

Congrats Ed! Glad you got it nailed.

I appreciate the kind words very much, gentlemen.
It's a great relief to know whatever happens to me now, at least the wife won't have an unsellable car on her hands.
I'm still working on the "happy/enjoy" part, honestly - since the first time the cancer hit, it's always been about
beating the clock and getting the thing to be streetable.

Now I'm actually thinking about frivolous stuff like doing a front disc conversion or some such.
Kinda cool.

 

[NJRR]

Glad you're enjoying the X and enjoying your victory !!!!!

Funny how you mention the torque rod pivot weld onto the frame. That was the major reason I didn't do my own auto to 4 speed conversion on my 70 RR. I knew I would screw up the welding and forever be having problems.

 

[moparedtn]

Glad you're enjoying the X and enjoying your victory !!!!!
Funny how you mention the torque rod pivot weld onto the frame. That was the major reason I didn't do my own auto to 4 speed conversion on my 70 RR. I knew I would screw up the welding and forever be having problems.

Thanks!
There's actually a little room for error when doing those pivots, apparently.
I've seen diagrams and such on how to measure and locate it properly, so there's that.
It's no doubt more important to get it located on the same axis laterally as the ball pivot on the bellhousing
than it is to get the distance side-to-side is - because you can always machine a little off the z-bar if things
get pinched.

The alignment, looking front of car to back, between the two ball pivots is more crucial for smooth operation.
Mine, for example, is off a bit in that regard. Previous owner got it in the ballpark, but being an amateur welder,
it's not what you'd call "pristine" work.
It's close enough though - I just needed to make a little more space between the ball on the frame and the one
on the bellhousing so the z-bar wasn't so bound up.