74 Duster 4 speed adjustments

67Phish said
No offense; I'm not understanding your statement. "If the Z-bar runs at some other angle than stock, then so be it." BUT, "If the inboard ball is too high, it will steal ratio, by moving in an arc instead of fully longitudinally. So, I would look to the ball height first. It should be the same height from the ground plane as the outboard one, and in plan-view, on an imaginary line 90* to the centerline of the vehicle, and ending at the outboard ball."

Believe me, being a tool and die maker, I visualize and want that Z-bar straight. I personally think that when I get the car driving, the engine and motor mounts will all "settle in" and it will probably look a little straighter. Which will, of course, necessitate another clutch adjustment, AND lead me to believe I'll wind up modding the Z-bar like I've read so much about. OR, the engine doesn't move at all, I buy the correct ball stud bracket for the bell housing; then I have to mod the Z-bar anyway. I have no problem with doing that, It'll take me an hour to do at work; it's just upon mocking it up in the first place, I actually had enough clearance between the headers and starter. The motor mount bolt and washer centerlines look to be in the same place as before any changes, so we'll see. Today, I'm gonna take some stuff back apart and check some other stuff. Thanks again everyone!

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here's the deal, When you launch at 2500 and the tires hook, the engine is gonna torque over CCW from the front,to the passenger side, and pull that Z-bar into a new relationship. The TO bearing better stay off the clutch during this. And when you shift, the engine is gonna flop back down just long enough to make the shift, and then;streeeeetch, up it goes again,and dragging the Z-bar back up with it. So My thinking has always been that the angle at rest is not all that important.
But you can't have the inboard lever running laterally across the chassis, from inboard to outboard and back while clutching, cuz that steals travel. And your set-up doesn't seem to have enough of it. Either the pedal is not returning to the top, or the pedal ratio is wrong, or the Z-bar inboard lever is too short,or the fork is too long, or the clutch is not made for a Mopar.
Since you didn't have this problem with the old clutch........OK kidding on that one.
To repeat; I would look to the positioning of the inboard ball-bracket.
It appears to me that, the spool-mount K-frame takes a late bell #3515734 with it's own bracket, and
It appears to me that the Bisquit mount K-frame takes an early bell #2843887 and it's bracket.
And Brewers has nice pictures of those brackets. Your solution may be as easy as verifying the bell casting numbers.

BTW, My oem set-up has enough pedal-travel that I do not have to push the pedal anywhere near the floor, to achieve adequate plate departure , WITH the freeplay set to 1inch.