Was poking around my 65 dart today, and discovered that my z-bar is a bit crooked and one side sticks farther foward than it should. ( clutch motion has felt off since purchasing the car a month ago or so)

upon further inspection seems that the bracket that holds the linkage to the bell housing isn't on correctly. using 2 bolts instead of the supposed 3 causing the bracket to twist up and out (forward) pushing the z-bar up and out (no wonder it fells weird.... still works though)

without a supply of spare bolts kicking around i decided to take out the remaining bolts and try to install them on the lowest and highest bolt holes to see if that would cut down on twisting etc.

but seems that the shift linkage interferes with where the z bar should be to be level and have the brakcet lined up with the holes on the bell housing. not sure where to start on this one. any ideas?

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Franklyn
1965 Dart GT - 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe

Sounds like you have a later bell housing then one for a '66, so the Z bar dosen't line up correctly. Time to fabricate a new pivot point for the bell housing.

maybe so... that possability never occured to me.

Not sure how I would do this as it seems weather or not the bell housing is stock, the clutch foot pedal linkage is original, therefore (looking from the front of the car) the right side of the Zbar (driver's side) is seemingly too far back to have the zbar straight, too far back, but in its original position. so seems that a shift linkage clearance issue would be aparent even with stock bell housing.
wish i could get a picture of it to explain better.
maybe i'll try with some daylight tomorrow.

I may be under an incorrect assumption, that the pivot point on the driver's side of the zbar is not really movable. It seems upon a novice' inspection that if I moved the right side (driver's side) of the zbar forward to clear the shift linkage (to obtain a straight/level zbar) the whole works would be too far forward to function properly.

I really do hope i'm not making this more complicated than it needs to be.



any help is appreciated:)

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Franklyn
1965 Dart GT - 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe

-bump-

curios if anyone has any ideas/similar experiences on this.
I think this will be the next thing I address on my dart.

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Franklyn
1965 Dart GT - 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe

I see this all the time...
Mopar used a number of different bellhousings thru the years and installed them in a lot of different chassis so there are a lot of different pivot brackets.
Which bracket do you currently have?
Do you have access to a welder?
DD

i've circled the ones that look closest to whats on my car




in the first photo here the red arrows point to two holes that i believe ought to be lined up, bringing the zbar closer to straight again.
the yellow arrow is point to a third hole on the braket (obstucted view in this photo) but looks like it had been added on later with a shoddy weld job.




third photo to show how crooked the bar is, and that there is NO clearance between the shift linkage for the bar to go back any



any thoughts?

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Franklyn
1965 Dart GT - 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe

Due to the dart being parked for awhile on account of bent drums, I've been poking around elsewhere.

I had a thought that may get shot down quickly (please do if this idea isn't feasible)

With the shift-linkage/clutch z-bar interference issue, I wonder if one could convert to a cable operated clutch???

Seems like an easy enough concept, and would effectively get rid of any linkage interference/mismatched bellhousings/bent z-bar brackets etc..

Does anyone have any knowledge about this idea? will it work? will it be a disaster?

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Franklyn
1965 Dart GT - 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe

What shape are your motor mounts in? I had a similar issue with my valiant it turned out to be the mounts. They were original and deformed the motor sat forward and turned clockwise just a bit. I put solid mounts in and it lines up really nicely now.theres also a bushing in there that wears out.

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1966 Plymouth Valiant, 225, 3 on the tree, 8 1/4 3.21 sure grip, hyperpac, holley 650dp, holset h1c

I appreciate your comment Junior.
Seems though that if that was the case and the engine position was corrected in this way, there would be even LESS room for the column shift linkage.
I'm stumped on this one, and open to all these ideas, just cannot see the geometry.

seems that the drivers' side of the z-bar is further rearward than the passenger side of ther z-bar... that being said moving the passenger side of the z-bar rearward would make the most sense to line things up, as it's really the only "moveable" side, right?

if this is done though, it eliminates any room for the shift linkage
(even if a diffeent bell housing is present, or engine position was incorrect)
I dont get it.

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Franklyn
1965 Dart GT - 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe