Man.......these clutch disengaging problems seem all to common these days.:( Here's the deal everything is new. I had some grinding issues prior with the old setup but it was minimal compared to what I have now.

Here's some possible issues..........

I didn't use the CF bearing, I used the same one I had before, BCA 614018. It's the short one, looks just like the one in the CF tech bulletin. CF tech said that's fine.

Z-bar is the original, car had a six banger. There is only one hole for the clutch adjusting rod and it's all the way at the bottom of the lever, no room to drill a lower one. Even if I adjust out all the free play, I still can't get her in gear with car running.

Clutch fork is new GM 3092632, prior one was auto parts store piece that was not listed for 70 Chevelle but was pretty close to the new one.

Clutch linkage is speeddirect spherical rod end. If I adjust the upper pedal rod can I gain mechanical advantage or will this eat up free play?????

Flywheel is Hays steel, it had the normal 10.5" and 11" mounting holes but also looked like it had a second set of 11" holes. It measured 1.010 instead of .960, so I added .050 to the clutch ball height = 4.80 CF tech said this was correct.

My drive has a slope to it. With the car off and in gear I can hear the clutch disengage has the car begins to roll but I always hear a dragging sound.

If this keeps I'll have to rename the Velle......................"Chevelle Hell" Lets see........do I check out the Drags.....relax....... slam some cold brew...... or wrench on this madness and get sore and tired:clonk:

Update guys, I think the disk might have been stuck after doing the roll test with the engine off it might have broke free????? I'm able to get all gears and I even tried the reverse test after holding the clutch in for 15 seconds and it passed:D

Still would like to know if I can gain mechanical advantage by adjusting the upper pedal rod length or it will it just eat up freeplay???? I'm at the end of my adjustment and I only have about 1" of freeplay tops!

Thanks!

that 1" is right where it should be. You could adjust the upper one, but then you would have to adjust the bottom one to keep the proper adjustment. If you adjust the upper one to much, you could be pressing the TO bearing aganist the fingers, which you don't want.

Well after driving around today looks like I have the exact same problem prior to replacing everything. When it warmed up I get the evil CF release gear grind at every red light:mad:

Guess I'll try an aftermarket Z-bar, but it looks like the fork is moving a decent amount. I do have a liberty pro shift ST-10 but If I remember correclty it still had the first gear synchro.

What about too stiff of a return spring it's a mother to get that SOB on???

I hear those kinda of problems can also be related to a bellhousing misalignment. I just put a new CF DF in my car (conversion) and it works great at all temperatures.

I hear those kinda of problems can also be related to a bellhousing misalignment. I just put a new CF DF in my car (conversion) and it works great at all temperatures.

New Mcleod bellhousing with about three weeks aligning the damn thing. First one they sent me had half the fork ball threads gone. Second one had 2/3 of the threads, so I kept it.:sad: The finish on the old Lakewood I have was fare superior, but the Mcleod parallelism was close to spec and that's the hard part. Gear box went right in, no fudging. The old pilot bushing had minimal(1500 miles) even wear and looked good. So I'm pretty sure I can rule out alignment problems. My old Lakewood had good alignment out of the box, except the parallel was a little out.

I wonder if the cam on the throwout bearing has to go a certain way, I doubt it???

I wonder if the cam on the throwout bearing has to go a certain way, I doubt it???


Wrong!!!!!! The Notch has to point towards the clutch fork!

Hmmm.........interesting! I just asked CF tech and he said they like to see it in the center of the fork but said it works anyway. I'll give it a try.....can't hurt anything except my muscles.:D

I just looked at a factory 69 SS Z-bar and the clocking of the arms is a little different, but looked pretty much the same.

Adjusting the upper rod (or lower for that matter) will NOT gain any mechanical advantage, it will only reduce the free-play. To change the mechanical advantage, you would need to re-position the holes on the Z-bar (or maybe the factory SS bar would be slightly different, but probably not)... The "clocking" of the arms is different, aminly because the location of the BB oil sending unit... SB Z-bars usually don't clear those too well...

I used to have slight grinding issues with my Muncie, but only when trying to speed shift... Turns out it WAS the bellhousing alignment... Not out too bad, but just enough...

Adjusting the upper rod (or lower for that matter) will NOT gain any mechanical advantage, it will only reduce the free-play. To change the mechanical advantage, you would need to re-position the holes on the Z-bar (or maybe the factory SS bar would be slightly different, but probably not)... The "clocking" of the arms is different, aminly because the location of the BB oil sending unit... SB Z-bars usually don't clear those too well...

I used to have slight grinding issues with my Muncie, but only when trying to speed shift... Turns out it WAS the bellhousing alignment... Not out too bad, but just enough...

I always wondered what the difference was with the Z-bars! Thanks:thumbsup: Speed direct also sells two different kits and I always wondered why. This morning I actually held an OE SS BB Z-bar in my hand and the clocking was different but figured I wouldn't gain any mechanical advantage with it. I already tried the upper rod and your right, just wishfull thinking on my part!

Tony you feel like test driving my Velle:D I sure would like a second set of eyes right about now!

I'm gonna try a new throwout bearing and see what happens.

Make sure the arrow on the throw out bearing faces towards the clutch fork. do you have a spungy feeling when pushing in the pedal (just doesn't feel quite right?) If so, this might be your problem. Poor example below....

===<O

Actually I just pulled the throwout bearing 10 minutes ago, the arrow was correct, towards the fork:(. I was hoping NOT! Time to pull it anyway, started to hear transmission bearing noise yesterday. Looks like I'll have to rebuild the trans before going any further with my release problem.

I have two 4-speeds and I've tried both so I don't think it's related.

I know I had problems with a Hayes Flywheel, where the flywheel bolts hit the disc hub springs... I never actually got it installed that way, but noticed when bolting the clutch up... It was the "cheap" hayes flywheel ($190 through Summit).

Maybe if you already got the trans off, maybe pull the bellhousing and clutch to see if an signs of rubbing between disc hub and flywheel/bolts...


I'd love to come up and take a look, but right now I am too busy. I'll see if I have any free time coming up...

So, you tried two different transmissions, and have the same problem?

Tony