Pedal has to go to floor and still get some grinding

Could it have something to do with the Z-bar I had to fab up and not having enough throw???

It certainly could. If you're saying that you're out of adjustment on the clutch pushrod, that tells me your lower arm of the Z bar is probably too far away from the clutch fork. For whatever reason.

I was very careful to assemble mine with all new bushings, roller bearings in the pedal pivot, etc. and it still works like crap. Time to fab up a new setup with heim ends... :-(