i own a 68 mustang with a 200 inline 6 which I've recently rebuilt, including a new clutch plate and pressure plate. we dropped it in, hooked everything up just like it was and it had no problems for about a month or 2. Then I noticed it was getting really hard to put it into gear when the motor was running, even if I was just sitting still. I figure the clutch isnt disengaging all of the way. I looked under the hood and had a friend of mine push the clutch pedal down, and I noticed that the equalizer bar isnt pivoting against the block, and is in fact pushing up against the engine, moving it. The motor mount bolts are tight. I replaced the ball bushings in the equalizer bar on the block side, still isnt pivoting. also we did not replace the throwout bearing, but i was told it shouldnt matter.

anyone out there ever have this problem/know what Im talking about?
im in college and im poor, and I also hate it that my car is sitting next to my house under a cover because it wont drive, especially after i just dropped about 2000$ rebuilding that motor.

if anyone can help i'd appreciate it

 

I think I get what you are saying, you need to determine just where your issue is at.

Unhook the pushrod that goes from the Bell-crank to the clutch releasearm and see if the bell-crank (equalizer?) will turn freely at this point, if so, you may have an internal clutch issue, or the clutch release arm may be dislocated....

The removal of the rod shouldhelp in determining just where the problem is.

 

Don't know if you checked but perhap the springs to the zbar/clutch return are worn or missing. This might prevent the zbar from rotating. Picture has the zbar and arrows to spring locations. The small spring sometimes can pop off on you and may cause problems. Hope this helps...keep us posted on your progress...



[IMG]local://upfiles/19071/2F172B6DC3CB4DF790558375AA27BEC1.jpg[/IMG]

 

ok thank you, i will check all of that. Those two springs are in, and that picture is exactly what I have going on, where the zbar (yes, what I called the equalizer bar earlier) connects to the block, it fits over a smaller diameter part that screws into the block. What i've seen it doing is instead of rotating on it, its just moving back and forth, as if there is space in between the two so it wont rotate properly. Also with that rod, its adjustable. When we pulled the motor the mount point for it to the zbar was about in the middle. When we dropped the motor back in it, I had to back the mounting point all the way to the end of the rod to get enough thrust because the clutch wasnt disengaging at first. That fixed it, but now its just not disengaging. I hope that clarifies something. thank you both for the advice, im out of town right now but when i come back home I will try check both of those suggestions out.

thanks again for your help

 

Perhaps a new bushing for the zbar...here is a kit for that model...

http://johnsmustang.com/Parts/details-3535.html