Z bar mod. Track car stuff..........

[Opentracker]

To tighten up the clutch linkage I made this...............

The spherical bearings are from National Precision Bearing # 14101-5. I think they were $11.00ea. I turned down two block pivot shafts to fit the bearings, threaded the ends for lock nuts, then did some grinding on the the frame bracket so the block pivot shaft would fit the way I wanted it.


Got to have a semi-solid motor mount and a torque strap to run this stuff. The motor can not move around much. The plastic stuff the factory gave us does let the motor move around, and wears out, and makes a mess with all the grease. I don't like grease. I am trying to get rid of the parts that need grease in this car.


John

 

[65 fastback]

John,

That looks really sweet! Please walk me through each item step by step. Just pretend I'm an idiot, so please simplify as much as possible and include specifics on parts.

I am currently in the process of modifying my Z-bar, but was not taking it to that extreme.

I've bent my Z-bar so often, that I keep a spare in the trunk at all times. I've already welded the triangulation braces, but had to cut them off to fit my headers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tim

 

[Opentracker]

I've bent a bunch of clutch linkage parts in my life. So I know what your up against. The first thing I did was the heim joints at the top and bottom. That should be pretty easy to duplicate. The heim joints just bolt in place of the stock stuff. The spherical bearings get put on two block pivot shafts that have been modified to fit the bearings. If you look at a stock pivot shaft you can see where the plastic rides on it. I turned that area down so the bearing would slide on and threaded the end for a lock nut. Simple stuff here. The bearings are 3/4"OD and the Z bar is 3/4"ID. I did have to open up the ends of the Z bar a little. I welded some nuts over holes I drilled for the locking bolts. The bearings slide right in and get locked down. It's not hard to do but it does take time. I will be glad to help more, send me a email at [email protected]

 

[65 fastback]

John,

Thanks, I've got the end linkages figured out, it's the pivot points I'm having trouble with.

There's a guy on Pro-touring.com, KMCANALLY, that went with a different approach on the end linkage. - http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/forum.htm - I was considering something similar to this method.

Also, have you added a bearing into your clutch pedal hanger, a la Mustang Steve? - http://www.mustangsteve.com/clutchbearings.html

Any pics of the Z-bar installed? How much clearance do you have for your bracing?

Thanks,
Tim

 

[65 fastback]

John,

Can you give more detail on the following? I hope you don't mind that I modified your picture.

1. What is the tab?

2. What is the end cap?

3. How does it attach to the piviot fork?

Thanks,
Tim

 

[Opentracker]

1. Is a piece of carb. linkage I'm using for the spring ( not in photo ) that holds it all together.

2. Is a valve seal I inverted to keep the grease in and the dirt out. I have not worked up a heim joint for that part yet.

3. The clutch pivot fork got the bottom off a used lower ball joint welded on so I can grease that part of the linkage without taking it apart. Where the tip of the rod rests in the fork is a small hole for the grease to come through.







Some more pivot photos

Hope this helps some.


John

 

[65 fastback]

Hey John,

Thanks, man; you rock! That looks like some nice work. I'm sure I will have more questions when I dig into my Z-bar project. Who needs a cable or hydrolic clutch, when you can get bearing on everything.

Thanks,
Tim

 

[1320stang]

Hey, what's all that blobby looking stuff holding all that together? Looks like a mud dobber got loose in your engine compartment.



J/K Looks good, innovative....

 

[kmcanally]

zbar mods

I too have bent many a Mustang z-bar in my life....on a previous combination I welded 1" dia. round bar stock to the upper portion completely following the large bend radius of the bar....this worked great with no subsequent failures. Though, I have never had any problems with the radiused pivot bushings wearing much. With my new build I modified a new z-bar to work with JBA shorties but did not do any reinforcing because I assumed that the Centerforce Dual Friction clutch wound not bend like my old one did with a Zoom clutch. I did however convert all of the linkage, upper and lower to spherical rod ends to replace the thin plastic bushings as they would always wear through and destroy the rods.

 

[Opentracker]

I too have bent many a Mustang z-bar in my life....on a previous combination I welded 1" dia. round bar stock to the upper portion completely following the large bend radius of the bar....this worked great with no subsequent failures. Though, I have never had any problems with the radiused pivot bushings wearing much. With my new build I modified a new z-bar to work with JBA shorties but did not do any reinforcing because I assumed that the Centerforce Dual Friction clutch wound not bend like my old one did with a Zoom clutch. I did however convert all of the linkage, upper and lower to spherical rod ends to replace the thin plastic bushings as they would always wear through and destroy the rods.

'Damn nice work. I love this stuff.'

A shot of the brace I made for the firewall.


John

 

[D.Hearne]

John,


I've bent my Z-bar so often, that I keep a spare in the trunk at all times. I've already welded the triangulation braces, but had to cut them off to fit my headers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tim

You don't need those gussets on the Z bar. All that's needed is to weld a similar size and thickness flat bar to the existing flat bar on the Z bar. I did this on a big block Stang back in the 80's because of bending the Z bar with a high pressure clutch setup. Worked like a charm. Never bent it again.It also worked with the Hooker long tube headers on the big block ( 390 and 427) Also rebuilt the COMPLETE clutch linkage system from the pedel support to the clutch fork. If you don't like "grease" , then use a different lubricant on the nylon bushings.

 

[kmcanally]

Tims z-bar

Tims car has JBA shorty headers and they are not designed to work in cars with a standard trans...if you look at the pic in my previous post you will see that there is not enough room to double up on the material to increase its strength as there is very little room between the headers and the steering box...one reason the stock zbar is such a wimp is because of the large bend radius Ford designed into it...so by refroming the upper part of the bar (it also has to be relocated for the JBA's) to have a "sharp" bend it makes it a little more resistant to twisting under the pedal pressure. And unfortunately when you do this the connecting point for the pedal rod comes up short. That is why I added the welded on extension to the bar and then tapped it to easily accept the spherical rod end. So these changes along with using the Centerforce Dual Friction clutch (not much more pedal pressure than a stock clutch) I hope to not need any additional reinforcement like I needed with my previous Zoom clutch required whe I was also running long tube Hedmans. This setup allows enough room for doubling up on the zbar material as you suggested.

 

[WORTH]

My 2 1/2 cents, it looks like you are relying on teh set bolts to hold the bearings in, if you don't spacer the crossbar so it can't move side to side, if one of the bolts loosens it will fall out. Just an observation.

 

[1320stang]

Are these being bent to to the high pressure springs in the clutch pressure plates? With todays new materials, you don't need to run as high of spring pressures.

 

[Opentracker]

have you added a bearing into your clutch pedal hanger, a la Mustang Steve?

Yes.....I also modified the upper push rod to use a heim joint where it mounts to the clutch pedal arm. The kit sold by MustangSteve is nice.

Any pics of the Z-bar installed? How much clearance do you have for your bracing?

No pics of it in the car. This '65 coup runs a Cleveland motor. The headers are from www.fordpowertrain.com and give plenty of room for clutch linkage.

You don't need those gussets on the Z bar.

True.......I did that many years ago. The work done by kmcanally is the best I have seen. The sharp bend makes it much stronger.

Hey, what's all that blobby looking stuff holding all that together? Looks like a mud dobber got loose in your engine compartment.

Your right.......that is mud dobber blobby stuff. I got it from the blobby shop down the street. Got to have it if you want the car to stay together!





John

 

[Opentracker]

I was at the Nor-Cal SAAC and stopped by the driveline tent where the clutch cable set up was. They had one on the table for us to play with, and I did. I was asked if I had seen one before and I asked if he did any if work on the piece. He did. I told him I do some work like this and if he ever thought of pulling on the Z bar to work a 5-speed instead of pushing it? I said we had a C in our '65 and there was no way to fit a cable in that car. If I wanted a 5-speed set up I would have to put a hole in the firewall west of the MC for the upper 'pull rod', heim joint the whole thing to make it work with a bracket much like the one on top of the pedel hanger he had, just turned the other way. This photo of the work done by kmcanally showes that a Z bar can be made to move either way. Damn nice work BTW. With the pedal pulling the rod through the firewall instead of pushing it, would it work a modern 5-speed shift fork. Yes/No?


John

 

[kmcanally]

more zbar pics

Here are three more pics of my zbar mods. The first two show how tight the clearance is with the JBA shorties. The third pic shows the spherical bearing modification made to the lower linkage much like that done by opentracker but without his very innovative grease system.

 

[kmcanally]

third zbar pic

OK now I am having short bus problems...I need to figure out how to upload more than 2 pics per post and also how to embed the pics in my post instead of attachments...

 

[1320stang]

How do they say on the McDonalds commercials?

I'M LOVIN' IT!!!

 

[D.Hearne]

Hey Larry, got any Tee shirts left?