Passon 5-speed

UPDATE:
I got the McLeod Street Twin back. It's all rebuilt and looks brand new. they changed virtually all the hard parts, and Blanchard ground the flywheel and center plate. They are a great company to deal with, and even saved me some money on shipping by letting me buy a UPS label from them to get it down there. The cost is about double for me as a private, non-business entity to ship it.

Backtracking the oil downward and back, I found that the 3 small bolts that hold down the back of the Valley Pan on the China Rail were all over a turn and a half plus loose. I cinched them down tightly and hope that solved my mystery oil leak. The oil was mixing with the clutch dust and making it more viscous and black, which made it harder for me to tell it was motor oil.

I also ran a bead of black Permatex Ultra Seal along the back of the block and along the face of the block-saver, so any oil would go around the scattershield instead of down onto the clutch.....just in case. The scattershield does make the install a bit harder, but if you are running a stick shift of any kind on other than a bone stock motor, you should invest in one. I've seen pictures of cars where the flywheel let go at high rpm. It was like a bomb went off right next to your feet and lower legs.

I snapped the Z-bar ball stud that bolts to the chassis on Friday night, and was on the phone with Summit by 5:15pm trying to get the z-bar rebuild kit. They said even though they had one in Reno(about four and a half hours from me) They could not get me on Fed Ex'd next day air. Fed Ex is one of the few that deliver on Saturday. They said the earliest I could get it would be Monday or Tuesday. Hmmm?

I called Jegs in Columbus, Ohio just before 6 pm. They had the kit, I paid the extra $42 and it was at my door before 11 am Saturday morning. Amazing job, Jeg's!

Anyway, I finished installing the clutch, the scattershield, part of the Z-bar and my reverse lock-out rod bar by 1:30am.

With all the parts I needed I finished putting in the Passon 5 speed, I stuffed it up into it's new home. It's a bit lighter than the A-833, but working alone, I still had to use a floor jack and balance it carefully. It went right in. I bolted it up, put on the speedometer drive with new seals and hooked up and replaced the new-longer speedometer cable that comes with the kit.

I need to pick-up some heat insulating sleeve and cover the Speedometer cable for about a foot and a half where it comes out of the transmission, as it is at too sharp of a bend right there. Moving in to straighten it out will bring it very close to my right exhaust collector, so it will need some heat protection. Other than that, the cable is routed up over the transmission near the scattershield and then resumes it's normal path to the speedo.

I installed the cross-member and rear trans mount bolts and removed the jack. I then carefully installed the shifter and shift rods making sure that everything stayed lined up using a home-made too to keep the levers aligned. Jamie had it all set-up before hand, and I just verified the alignment and bolted it on. As most of you know, Mopars like their shift rods and clutch Z-bar linkages angled and adjusted perfectly. I used Synthetic Disc Brake Grease on all my clutch linkage connections, because there is really nothing out there that is better.

The only thing I noticed was that the little extension for the Reverse Lock-out Rod was not on the reverse linkage. It's apain, but it does keep people from being able to shift your car out of reverse when the steering is locked. I didn't want to use my original part, so I ordered another one from Brewsters, the only place I could find one. I hope the threaded rod portion is the same as on the Passon unit. Since the rod was just just hanging down without it, I pulled the pin on the opposite side of the rod, and removed the it until the replacement part shows up.

I finished up the day by putting in the driveshaft, bolted up, and installed my exhaust cross over with electric cutouts using fresh Remflex collector gaskets. Those things are awesome!

I have a full TTI 3" exhaust with crossover and stainless 1970 through the rear valance tips. Since putting Hooker Aero Chambers on my '68, I fell in love with how they sound, so I'm switching from the TTI supplied Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers to the little bit shorter Hooker Aero Chambers. I had to buy a short 3" by 12" extension I'll have to cut down to a few inches to get the exhaust to fit right.

I'm hoping this will stop my car from pulling the driver's side tip back into the valence every few weeks. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the motor leaning over to the passenger side when I hit the go peddle for some reason...:thumleft:


Ok, I'm out to hook up the exhaust, touch up the new mufflers and extension black VHT High Heat paint I used on my full exhaust system, and hopefully take her out for a test drive this afternoon.

I have to break the clutch and gears in for 500 miles and the trans for a touch over 720 miles. I figure I'll change all the fluids at 500 miles and again at 720 miles, just to be over cautious.