8/8/22:
Car is out of commission for a while as I was Not happy with clutch actuation / pedal feel while I had the car at Carlisle in the middle of last month.
I returned from Carlisle (180 Miles from me) and took the interstate so that I could just put the thing in 5th gear and not use the clutch pedal for the better part of a 3 hour drive.
I made it home successfully without the use tow truck or a flatbed.
I first suspected a Linkage /Z Bar failure beginning to happen.
Took all of those apart inspected everything, Fork arm, Linkages, Z bar etc. Could Not find anything amiss, so I reinforced the Body /Frame Rail Ball Stud Pivot.
Put it all back together and adjusted up the clutch - It was worse!!..This is crazy, so the Transmission had to come out for some inspection.
My next suspicion was a broken Input Bearing retainer /TOB Support -Known to break on the T-5's
I ordered up a steel one.
Got the trans pulled out and found the culprit to be a broken finger on the Pressure Plate.
I will rebuild the Pressure Plate myself. I have about 7 Core /Stockish 9 1/4" Borg and Beck Slant 6 Pressure Plates in stock from various cars and Projects.
I wanted to keep the pressure of this one and found some interesting variations, which I will share elsewhere.
Broken Clutch Fingers do not allow shifting to occur: :shock:
Also found Stress Cracks on the other 2 fingers:
:shock:
Hot Rodders seem to keep parts around for that time of need..
Found that some Borg&Beck PP's have Solid Fingers, while others are slotted:
The one I am working with had the Spring Pressures and Other Trick Parts setup By McLeod Back in the Day. This would be a long gone Part #/ Application that would be difficult to get again, Since the ownership Change in 2008.
I found that the Pressure Ring is thicker than the stock replacement PP as well as utilizing Larger 7/16"-20 Clutch Eye Bolts (like in the V8 Borg & Beck Pressure Plate) vs the Standard 9 1/4" Pressure Plate which uses 3/8" eyebolts and Nuts to set finger height.
3/8" eyebolts on the Left, whilst 7/16" eyebolts on the right.
The ones I had to take out were pretty crunchy as the rebuilder had welded the fingers to the adjustment net to keep the finger heights from changing, like this:
So I had to really Grind a bunch of material off to get the nuts loose to disassemble the pressure plate from the cage.
Usually they are peened over to keep the adjustment, But I suppose that cann come loose over time.
I called Kentucky Clutch and they had spares of the 7/16"-20 Eyebolts and Nuts (shared with V-8's) to sell me. - The 3/8" ones are no longer in production, from what the gentleman on the phone had told me.
The Larger 7/16"-20 Eybolts and lever height adjustment nuts can also be found on the Slant 6 10" Pressure Plates - Listed for the Truck Application.
Getting things cleaned up while I am waiting on the Parts to arrive:
Greg
