67 GTS 4-Speed: Daily Summer Driver
This past weekend was a bust... After screwing around with the Z-bar and how to get that in and mounted I finally got down a process to get that in. It fits great side to side but I have no idea if it has enough travel.... As I was trying to connect the Z-bar to the rod that connects to the clutch fork I noticed with the hardware attached there is interference with one of the header tubes... This I think is due to how the tubes were bent and not just me. So out comes the Z-bar (again)(which was okay because I saw the Z-bar could hit part of the ball mount, so with the ball mount out I ground down the edge a little bit more to hopefully prevent that) and up goes the engine. So I disconnected the header from the engine and positioned the header just enough that I could start dimpling one tube to allow enough clearance with that lower rod and the header tube. Unfortunately like most of the time I run out of time before Im needed for other things going on.
I dont know how much pedal travel is needed to disengage this diaphragm type clutch. Which will also dictate what else needs to be modified to get this to work properly. Only time will tell if I have enough room for that.
In other news I got the restored wiper motor for the charger installed so I dont have engine heat flooding the interior while driving and got the radio hooked up.
It definitely is difficult trying to work on multiple project cars at once when I only have a partial day out of a weekend once a month to get stuff done. So I figured try and get the GTS to the point I am waiting on funds, and not time, as soon as possible and only doing one little thing to the charger during that time. Once I am waiting on funds for the GTS focus on getting the charger list done, fix some lighting issues on the polara and start the Packard restoration.
But once I can get this header dimpled I can finish hooking up the clutch linkage to see if it appears I have enough travel, figure out my issue with the steering shaft and get that installed. get a new dip stick on order from mancini, and finish connecting the exhaust. Once that is done, put fire to it to make sure the exhaust sounds good then get the rear end rebuilt with new gears and bearings, rear brakes, master cylinder, get the remaining parts for the console, chroming the bumpers, seat foam, tires and head liner. With any bit of luck and help from God I should be able to drive it next summer!