Mustang Dad

I need some big time help on our 302 '65 coupew/4 spd manual guys. We just finished up the new clutch installation, got all the exhaust pipes hooked up, filled the radiator and oil and........pushed the clutch pedal in.....cranked the car and it started moving down the driveway!! I checked the clutch linkage (its mechanical) and from what I can see we only have about 1/4 inch travel at the clutch arm. The equalizer bar is adjusted all the way out on the upper pedal-to-equalizer bar adjustment. Thats the only adjustment we have on this setup. It looks like I need to fab up an adjustable equalizer-to-release arm rod. Has anyone got a setup like this and if so....how did you make it?? If I can purchase one....where?? Like I said.....HELP!!

Starfury

65-66's should have an adjustable lower rod that looks like this:

and is available from most mustang vendors

Stepman

The stock pieces never seemed to work for me either. Always seem to come up...short. How much "free-play" do you have in the pedal? I came up with a piece that uses a length of "all-thread", cut in half and a few large nuts (about 3' in length)with a "rounded nut on the end. I can maybe take a pic of it later if you need it.

Tims65

On a '65 the upper clutch rod is adjustable and the lower clutch rod is fixed.
On a '66 the upper clutch rod is fixed and the lower clutch rod is adjustable (like the one in Starfury's picture).

One thing to do is use the upper adjustable clutch rod from a '65 with the lower adjustable clutch rod from a '66 to maximize your adjustment. Another option is to buy a '66 lower rod and a section of all thread and make your own lower rod with a hemispherical rod end. You can, also, make a custom upper rod with two rod ends.


One other thing to consider is the Z-bar. If you have a heavy clutch, the Z-bar is prone to flex. See the picture above to see how I had my Z-bar braced.

And here's a diagram for reference.


Tim

Stepman

That's a good idea, I like the "heim" joints however I don't think it matches the other pic. (just being picky). Your brace also depends on weather it has to clear the steering box....

Mustang Dad

Free travel on the pedal?....Something in the range of 6 inches!! Before we replaced the clutch disc the clutch didnt start to disengage until it was about 3 inches off the floor. I'll have to check with the guy we got the car from and see if he has any of the '66 style laying around, either that I'll break out the cutting gear and make something up, but this has to get fixed this week so the son can work on thursday. We'll see waht happens.

Mustang Dad

Well we pulled the tranny again today and checked everything out. We didin fact have all the splines on the tranny input shaft and clutch disc lined up and not mis-aligned as I had thought. Wepurchased an adjustable '66 lower equalizer bar-to-release arm rod and installed it. Got all the slack and slop out of the system and then pushed on the clutch pedal while watching the pressure plate fingers. Guess what......the unner portion of the fingers bent forward towards the engine but didnt release the clutch disc. Looks like a frozen pressure plate. Unfortunately during all this work and wth the pressure plate being frozen, the excess pressure on all the system linkage caused the equalizer bar and pedal-to-equalizer bar rod to bend!! We put everything back together and left the car at the base hobby shop. So looks like sometime this next week we are going to be tearing it apart again and replacing the pressure plate again along with the system linkage. Dont ya just love it when a plan comes together........errr....turns to crap.

WD0AFQ

Oh man, I hate that. I used a setup from a 64 Cyclone GT when I swapped out the c-4 for the toploader. Of course my clutch would not fully engauge so I cut the upper rod and welded in a piece to give me more "push". Been holding now for over 30 years. I should fix it right one of these days. Can't really see it anyway so may just leave it.
dan
getting ready for the Birmingham run in the Spring.

UH60LCHIEF

Convert it to a cable. IMHO they just work better than than mechanical setups.