Clutch fork won't clip back in.

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As long as the bearing is off the fingers with the pedal up you should be good. You don't want it spinning when it's not working. Set your plate departure and make sure your not bottoming the cover fingers on the disc springs when clutch is depressed.
 
Ok, z bar in and adjusted so it's just off the fingers while clutch is up. The pedal is really firm, like shake your leg after a minute firm. I had my stepson push clutch in to check clearance between pp and disc but there is no gap?? I'm assuming that's not right. Also when depressing the clutch the whole motor moves a bit but the mounts are tight. Somethings not right.
 
1967formulaS said:
.................. Somethings not right.
Click to expand...

I'd agree.
So with the clutch rod adjustment where it is now and the pedal fully depressed you get no departure?
And when you adjust the rod to get the necessary departure the bearing is on the fingers?
What was your finger height?



A stiff pressure plate can rock the engine on the stock mounts.
 
It's morning here, so I'll be back in the Shed to have another look at it all.
At rest I have about 3-4mm of clearance between the T/O bearing and the fingers, which should be the correct clearance. Once depressed I can't get a feeler gauge between the pp and disc to get a 030", and the fingers don't appear to be touching the disc. I'll check with ram clutches what the finger height was set at and let you know. I'm.not sure what you mean by departure? Are you referring to the T/O bearing being released.
 
Adjust the clutch rod for .060" pressure plate to disc clearance (departure).
The T/O bearing to finger clearance only needs to be enough that it does not ride on the fingers while the clutch is fully engaged and the pedal fully up. There is no real dimension to set there.
 
3-4mm is .120-.160", which is much larger than the .060" being stated. Sounds like you have too much distance between the TO bearing and diaphragm at rest.
 
Well I had a non productive day on the cuda today. This clutch rod system is doing my head in..
I still can't get a gap between pp and disc. To make things worse I decided to try and fit the mini starter motor in, and guess what.. It didn't fit either. The terminal ends on the top, touch the block, which I fixed, and then the z bar touches the starter. Should I notch the z bar to clear, bend the z bar or cut where it's welded to the tube and move it towards the rail to clear... all this stuff worked fine when the 383 was in it and now with the 440 it's like making a hotrod. Modify everything.
I decided to move on, on my to do list and started installing the shifter. A hurst competition plus one with the red reverse lever. I think I have the linkages on right.
 

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The bellhousing, 130 tooth flywheel,clutch fork and fork bracket,linkages, z bar, were all off the car originally before I pulled the original 383 motor and gearbox out and now have replaced with a 440 and 18 spline 4 speed.
I put new bushes in the z bar, and new clutch and pressure plate from ram clutches.
 
I am going to venture to guess that the higher pedal pressure is normal for this Borg&Beck. They are inherently higher pedal pressure designs; the Mopars had overcenter clutch springs up at the pedal to provide a form of 'clutch assistance' for the Borg&Beck pressure plates. RAM has this same info on their website about B&B's; see here at the bottom of the page:
http://www.ramclutches.com/pressureplates.html
It advises that you may have to strengthen the linkages. So that may be your issue for the bending and the higher force. Do you have the overcenter spring installed? Did you convert from a diaphragm type pressure plate? Those require lower pressure in general.

As far as the failure to release the pedal:
- Was the trans weight 'hung' on the splines for any length of time when being installed, or did it twist downward any? The clutch hub can be bent when this happens and clutch disengagement problems will follow. (But you would still see a gap open up.)
- I have seen B&B plates needing a longer throw to disengage than a diaphragm type; I had to adjust it with very little TO bearing to finger clearance. So you may just be fighting that.
- Wear in the linkage parts can result in less total available throw. If anything is shifting sideways with pedal motion, check there. (And if the z-bar arms are of different lengths and if it can be installed backwards, that will change the throw.)
- Check here at Brewer's for a lot of application info regarding you car to see if the parts are right, like the fork length and the pivot:
http://www.brewersperformance.com/products.asp?cat=102

At this point, I would tighten up the linkage, to the point where the clutch will just barely release, and then see how much play there is in the TO bearing and linkage when released;if there is none and the TO bearing is tight against the fingers with the pedal fully up, then you have fork length or pivot issue, the clutch/PP is not going to work for your combo, or there is a problem with the parts.

BTW what model/Part number of RAM clutch did you get?

Also see if the clutch pedal is returning fully up and not hanging on the pedal shaft or anything up there. A properly installed overcenter spring will help pull it fully up.

Also, do you have an anti-rattle spring installed in parallel with the fork rod? There should be one there, to pull the TO bearing off of the fingers; it should attach between the fork near the fork rod hole (see that little notch on the fork's edge?) and to a hole in the block or bell housing at the other end. This spring is there to positively pull the TO bearing off of the fingers/diaphragm. It is typically about 1/2" or 5/8" diameter with a maybe 2-3" long inches long coil with long ends and fairly thin wire; it can be fairly light and do it's job. You can pick up substitutes at many auto parts or hardware stores over here.
 
Looks like the Z is in the right way. If you "notch" it for starter clearance at least weld a gusset across the inside bend.
Is your reverse rod contacting the trans cross member? Maybe the tab on the trans is backwards and flipping it around will change the slot index.

Did you bend the clutch adjustment rod?

You will need the over center spring for the B&B.

I think this is kinda' sorta' what your looking for on the initial clutch adjustment......
 

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Thanks guys for your advise.
My answers for your questions are -
Yes- I have the little clutch fork return spring, it's a new genuine one.
No - I don't have the overcentre spring, it was missing when I bought the car, but I will order one today.
It did have a Borg and beck clutch in the car when I first bought it, but it was trashed.
I now have p/N 88503hdx ram clutch kit.
I was very careful not to hang the gearbox so I tilted the front of the motor up and used a couple of jacks and the box went in without any problems.

I will check out those links and see if I can see anything I missed.

I'll also look into the clutch fork bracket.
 
fklskv said:
You sure you have the correct pivot mount for the clutch fork you have?
Click to expand...

X2 I mentioned it in post#23
I would call Wayne at Brewers in the morning and order a new clutch fork and pivot bracket.
Once a cluth fork is bent its junk, kinda like a nail....
 
Ok, clutch fork is fine, not bent.
I ordered an overcentre spring which should be here in a couple of days, so I'll see if that improves things.
I spent the afternoon doing some clearancing on the crossmember for the shifter rods and reinstalled my hurst shifter. All worked well, and I was able to get all gears shifting smoothly. I'm glad something has gone right this week. Lol.
I'll give Wayne a call and see what he thinks.
 
recently had what sounds like the exact problem and I chased everything and on mine it turned out to be the pivot was bent.

It was bent enough to create a problem but not bent enough to be obvious at first glance. It wasn't till I put it next to another known good pivot that I could see how it was bent and where my whole problem was rooted. As soon as I swapped them out, everything went in as it should and I have been driving it with no problem.

maybe bend your pivot in towards the input shaft a tad and see if it helps any.....
 

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The proper procedure is to assemble it all on the bellhousing and then install it. Followed by the transmission. Removing material from the clutch fork will in all likelihood not give the proper amount of travel to completely disengage the clutch.
 
There are maybe 3 mopar shops in this country that will do parts for big block a bodies. I called around and noone has the clutch fork bracket, so I'll have to wait 10-12 days for one to arrive from summit or brewers etc.

This is my plan B.
It's been sitting on my shelf for 2 years as I wanted to keep the linkage system in the car, just because it's way cooler and period correct . However with all the clearancing issues I might end up using it.
 

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Ok spoke to Wayne at brewers, super helpful guy.
He was saying that the z bar looks like it's slightly higher on one side and not parrallel Like it should be.
He said that since all this setup worked in my 383 and I have all the correct bits which we went through over the phone and email pics, he said the 440 must be sitting slightly higher on the drivers side because that's the mount you change when putting a 440 in an a body or the new gearbox mount is a bit taller than the original one.
Changing either the drivers side mount height or gearbox mount height should give me the clearance between the starter and the z bar. I will check this out tomorrow and post my findings.
We also discussed my clutch and pressure plate clearance and I'll wait till I get the overcentre spring installed and do a retest. He seemed to think that once that's in and the z bar is parrallel, all will work fine.
 
Wayne is a super helpful guy.
He does not bs you into buying parts, just gives advice on how to fix it.
 
X2 Wayne and the boys are top notch in my book. They have helped me out a few times. I always stop by their booth at the Nats to chat. Great people.
 
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