Major Setback

"MM54" (mm54mk2) 09/19/2017 at 22:04 • Filed to: '71Chevelle

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After an exceptionally shitty day at work, I came home and was able to mock up the clutch linkage for the chevelle - or at least try to. In short, the whole “finish this month” and probably the whole “finish before winter” thing is out the window.

Disregard the old drum brake distribution block. It’ll come out next time I can actually get to the bolt. I know the felt washer is missing on the ballstud. This is just a mockup.

That’s right, the collector of the headers that I just put on it last year and the Z-bar are doing their best to occupy the same space. You can see on the left just how much further in it needs to go, too.

Financially it’s been a huge stretch to gather the rest of the parts (which as of today I have all the parts I know I’ll need for the rest of the swap) which means another set of headers (not to mention then needing to tie them into the rest of the also-brand-new exhaust) is out of the question for quite a while. I have no way to remove that much material from the collector to make it clear, either, so I’m pretty well stuck.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MM54 09/19/2017 at 22:34

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Maybe just use a robust automatic and call it macaroni?

MM54 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 09/19/2017 at 22:44

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Uhhhhhhhhhhh no

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MM54 09/19/2017 at 22:56

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You could install one and drive it for a season and deal with the other another year. Just a thought.

Hydraulic clutch?

MM54 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 09/19/2017 at 23:00

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I don’t have money available for another set of headers, where would I come up with everything to make another auto work? (or the trans itself)

Besides, if I wanted to keep driving it with an auto I’d have left the powerglide in there. It worked fine, just leaked a bit and was miserable in only having two gears.

This was supposed to be the spring project. Lack of time and motivation has left it until now.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MM54 09/19/2017 at 23:01

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Oops; I see that this entire thing is about getting rid of the automatic. PowerGlide? Two-speed?

MM54 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 09/19/2017 at 23:01

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Yeah (see above, I think we posted at the same time)

Nothing > MM54 09/19/2017 at 23:06

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I’m looking forward to eliminating the z bar linkage on the Cougar, it takes up so much premium space. Sorry for your troubles, that sucks.

MM54 > Nothing 09/19/2017 at 23:12

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The plan was a quick factory-auto to factory-4-speed swap. If I knew 6 months ago that it was going to drag out this long I’d have probably gone hydraulic. At this point it just needs something

Die-Trying > MM54 09/19/2017 at 23:31

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i see that you are using the boss in the block for the pivot ball. is it possible to use the one on the bellhousing instead?

crowmolly > MM54 09/20/2017 at 09:32

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Couple of things if you don’t mind:

1.) What brand/part number are the headers? Are they long tubes or shortys/mid lengths? A new set of summit long tubes will run you around $130.

2.) Did you confirm that this Z-bar is in fact the one you needed?

3.) Can you post an overhead shot of the z-bar not fitting?

crowmolly > Die-Trying 09/20/2017 at 09:45

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Bellhousing mount will be too far back by an inch or two I believe.

Should look like this:

Dave the car guy , still here > MM54 09/20/2017 at 10:11

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Is there any room to relocate the frame and engine side pivots for the Z-bar? Maybe some sort of offset bar at inside and shift the bolt down for the frame side to a newly tapped hole? Would take some engineering but might be possible. the alternative is have the header on that side altered at a good welding shop.

Die-Trying > crowmolly 09/20/2017 at 15:34

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yeah, that looks about right.

its just such a tight fit in the picture where its not fitting. its hard to tell if there MIGHT actually be nearly enough travel there to make the clutch work...

when i have had these issues, i usually break out the torch, and move an arm to make enough room to clear, or a crescent wrench to tweak an arm into clearing.

i wonder if the back of the engine is supported in the picture.....

at least Frieburger was able to show that you can get mean with headers, clearancing, and not lose much power.......

crowmolly > Die-Trying 09/20/2017 at 16:54

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I’m concerned that he has mid tube or shorty headers that are specifically designed to be for automatic engines only.

MM54 > Dave the car guy , still here 09/20/2017 at 20:01

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To have the z-bar in the right spot would require it passing through pretty much the center of the collector, it’s beyond modification possibility.

Moving the z-bar is a physical possibility but to maintain the correct geometry would take so much fabrication (not to mention having to pull the fenders, etc) and time that it wouldn’t be worth it to do vs. different headers.

MM54 > Die-Trying 09/20/2017 at 20:04

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I had been under the impression that was the right one (and thus not worried about header clearance) until recently when I reviewed the assembly diagram and realized that chevelles use the block pivot point (I think full-size cars used the pivot the bellhousing).

MM54 > crowmolly 09/20/2017 at 20:13

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Had to go looking through my records for the part number, headers are Hedman 68600 shorties (ground clearance is nice). Cheap-ass long tubes are a possibility once my wallet recovers if they’ll get it back on the road.

I got the linkage from ground-up specifically for chevelles, and the measurements I’ve been able to find match up so it should be the right z-bar.

The rear of the engine is supported but not fully ‘up’ - it’s maybe half an inch down so it would be a little closer once the trans is in, but not a whole lot.

Overhead view is pretty well obscured (the whole front clip is still on, including hood, and the top end of the engine is all there so there is a lot in the way. The picture in the original post has the engine end in place and the other side just sort of sitting there, below I have the rod from the pedal attached and the frame side pivot ball nearly in the slot. The linkage pretty much would have to go through the middle of the collector to work.

crowmolly > MM54 09/20/2017 at 21:08

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Sorry to be the grim reaper dude but those headers are specifically listed as incompatible with a manual transmission.

Long tubes in an A-body really aren’t THAT bad, ground clearance wise.

Die-Trying > MM54 09/20/2017 at 21:36

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yes, after snooping around google for a while, that does seem to be the right boss (in the block)..... you might just have gotten the auto only headers.....

MM54 > crowmolly 09/20/2017 at 22:08

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I’ll have to hop in my time machine and go back 18 months to inform myself that not only is the powerglide way more miserable to daily drive than I remembered, but also not to use those headers! :)

My plan for now is to finish putting it together sans z-bar and see where I find myself. In terms of tying into the rest of my still-shiny exhaust, cheap long tubes might be safe bet.