z-bar question

[ashman]

I ended up breaking the frame ball stud on my z-bar the other day basically because i was trying to beat it into position. /sigh

the problem is, it seems like my z-bar is about 1/2" too long, although I know its the right one. every time I have to put it in or take it off, its a royal pain in the ass.

at this point, I'm considering grinding off the rivets that hold the frame mount in place and trying to make it adjustable or something.

any hints/tricks or something obvious I'm missing? (yes, the block bolt is in all the way. :P )

 

[K85 Octane]

whats a Z bar?

 

[ashman]

I believe the real name for it is a bellcrank. its the bar that connects between the block and the frame that provides a pivot point for your clutch linkage.
here is a pic from classic truck:

 

[ashman]

I had a chance to look at the parts images more closely today and it looks to me like my bellcrank may have been redone before with the wrong parts.

on classic chevy, they list different parts for '73+ ball studs and seats, but the images look like what I have in mine. obviously they fit into the z-bar, but maybe they are slightly longer?

anyway I ordered a new ball stud, plastic seats, retaining ring and felt washer for a '72. I'll compare them to what I have installed now and see if there is any difference.

 

[ashman]

I'm not sure if anyone else is interested in this, but I'll upload my findings anyway. :P

in the first pic you can see that the correct ball stud is indeed much shorter than the '73+ stud (although that one is broken).

in the 2nd pic, is the plastic seats for the studs. the black one is the '73+ ring. although they are the same size, so should work fine, the '73+ one is cut in order to be able to place it on the wider flare of that ball stud.

the last pic shows the correct ball stud in place. one of the issues I was having is that the '73+ ball stud would not go all the way into place. as you can see, the 67-72 stud is actually flattened on 2 sides so that it fits in the notch correctly. with a washer on the back side, it went together perfectly.

anyway, maybe no one else has ever had this issue, but it was a pain in my ass, so I figured I'd share for the next guy.

 

[NV_K5]

This is good information - thanks for sharing. do you also have the source for the parts? I ass-u-me LMC but you never know.

 

[sponsoredbydad]

I too will thank you for sharing. I run a automatic so it did not apply to me but you never know what issues one will see in the future.

 

[ashman]

This is good information - thanks for sharing. do you also have the source for the parts? I ass-u-me LMC but you never know.

I got them from LMC, but classic truck had them as well. price was comparable between the two.