Throw out bearing

With the pedal OUT, the air gap is zero.

So theres 2 pedal sets 67-73, one for 3/4 spd economy non performance..and another for 273 4brl/340/383 etc performance models..so somewhere having trouble catching gears while racing around and so they would tighten it up so that there was always some tension on the throwout bearing... some those folks have premature failure.