Still on the hunt for the frame bracket (14078558) for the mechanical clutch linkage. Anyone? It's the 2 piece one, 2 bolts, bolting it to the top of the frame.
Thanks for any info, to a possible purchase.

 

I converted my 82 auto to a stick in 97 and the linkage was hard to find then. When in swapped to a t56 in 2020 sold all the mechanical clutch parts. The guy who bought them had been looking for years. I wish you nothing but good luck finding the OEM parts. The piece your looking for had a habit of cracking as does the bel crank/z bar. If this isn't a show car/original car I'd consider a hydro setup or fabricating a bracket. Again, not trying to be a jerk, these parts were rare in the late 90s. You could reach out to hawks or david Ts.

good luck w the search!

 

I've heard all about the horrors of the 82 set-up, and haven't really known what actually is problematic, until...you. Thanks for the tips. I have everything, except that one bracket, and I can see why people aren't crazy about it. Trying to adapt the early eng. ball location on the block, to fit the 3rd gen chassis wasn't GMs best work. Appears the reason for the "S" shaped Z-bar relevant to the frame bracket. Also the cowl components are so squashed, there's hardly any room for a mouse. Maybe the reason for the bell crank pedal lever to be offset, and only a couple inches tall. I'm hoping to beef up the frame bracket, but looks like I'll be fabbing my own. Maybe I can double wall the ball ends of the tube to beefen it up. And I believe the ***** are still available, but I haven't looked lately. And thanks again for your reply.

 

Ive had 2 82 cars and both never had a problem with the parts cracking. That said, I've seen some crack. If you have most of the parts fabricating the bracket should be pretty easy. Another issue is the bell housing/clutch fork location. The 82-83 cars have the fork come out of the bellhousing @ 7:30 and most cars the fork is @ 9:00. The whole firewall z bar area is super tight. The hydro setups are really easy tonget in the area. What trans are you using?

 

Wow. You were able to come across "2" stick shift 82s? Was that many yrs ago, and were they both V-8s?

This is my 1st 3rd gen, and it was a gift almost 10 yrs ago, given because of a wiped out TH700. (Long story I won't bore you with). And because I also had left over, a 1980 301Turbo motor, I decided to marry the 2. Some say I'm crazy, (probably true) another long story I won't bore you with. But along with the Pontiac V8 swap, I also make it mandatory for any of my performance cars, to have a clutch. Maybe it's just me, but it's a "generational" thing. Anyway, I finally opened up this project just a few yrs ago, but with-in a few months, had -ta put it on the back burner, due to house priorities. And because I'm not gettin any younger, and neither is my 100 yr old house, I've realized the house will "never" be done, so I'm back to putzing with this 84 project... in my "spare" time. (LOL).

So you asked which tranny, and I'll tell you it's a WC T5. And there's story's about that too, but I think it would be easier, if you checked out the section of this forum titled "eng. swaps...Pontiac V-8s". I started posting at post #558, and have some pics in the following postings. #607, 612-613,618, 656, and 664. If you're interested, (or horrified) you can check them out. Beginning then, and in it's current state, I'm just trying to "roughly" configure the swap, before I spend too much money on it, until I have the clutch, and other swapping items figured out. I've just about finished the "tilted" T-5 tranny conundrum, and am concentrating on the clutch linkage right now. But progress is slow, due to other home projects, scheduled maintenance, (unscheduled maintenance), and other distractions that take me away from it. And lastly, I've got a yr or 2 before retirement, so that takes away my time too. (Working for a living sucks.) I have other sites I'm a member on too, and started a more detailed thread on this project over there, cause I don't think most here appreciate it. But because here they have a dedicated category for this type of swap, I have done some postings, for the 3 that "are" interested. Some members have been helpful, (like you), and I appreciate the efforts from them, and the 3rd gen site.
And below, I'll stick a couple 3 pics of my grungy progress.

 

So my dad bought an 82 TA new and it had a 4 speed. It was an awesome car and eventually he lost interest and he gave it to me. It was an awesome car and in great shape w 43k miles on it. I was driving it in june of 96 and someone hit me in it. Then i got my current 82 and converted it to stick in 97 w all factory parts. I had a friend w an 82 z28 w a factory 4 speed and another friend w a 83 ta w a HO and 5 speed. So all mechanical clutch w v8s.

ive looked at your thread in the past. Your turbo 301 swap is awesome. I really hope you have a turbo bulge hood to get the carb/turbo under like the 81 cars. I feel like your so close to done w the mechanical linkage. I do wonder if its gonna be reliable or not for you. A hydraulic release system would probably make life easier and more reliable but your 95% there. I kind of feel like you need to see it through! I really hope i see your car ripping around CT at some point! The turbo 301 is what Pontiac wanted to do when they made these cars.

 

Glad to hear you made it thru the crash of your 1st 82, and now have what you wanted, 6 speed and all. Very cool.
You mentioned the "Power Bulge" hood, and is the main reason for my project. I already had the 301T, and it was the perfect addition to fill up the hood bulge. Not sure if I posted it here, but here's a few pics of it, in its "preliminary" stages. Everything to be worked out...as I go along. As for the clutch, I started off installing the factory hyd. system, (reluctantly), then came across the mech. parts, that I totally forgot I had, buried away. 40 yrs in the same garage, you tend to accumulate more than you need. But I'll bet you can relate.
(Why are these photos so "HUGE". I tried posting from Photobucket, but it wouldn't allow it,,,for some reason. So I did it thru these attachments. Maybe the staff here can help.)

 

Thats really awesome.

so hawks and american powertrain make a hydraulic release system that are not factory style. The master bolts to fire wall w stock hardware and connects to the stock pedals. The release bearing replaces the slave cyl. This enables you to use any bellhousing like your BOP style. So worst case, you have options.

What you've done here is really cool. When i put the supercharger on my car i mounted it up under the buldge and have the air filter up where yours is. The buldge is the perfect home for something cool.

 

Interesting, with the supercharger. Wondering how it's offset, under the hood bulge. Any pics? Better yet, do you have a build thread?

As for the hyd. clutch option, I've seen and heard about the many different set-ups out there. I had-ta put bearings in my daughters 2014 Scion 6 speed that had less than 100K on it, a few years back. (Pretty depressing). Anyway, of course being that new, "ALL" manual trannies have hyd. systems. Basically because of the ease of designing a system, compared to a fixed mech. set-up. Not because of reliability, or cost, but with a flexible tube, you can mount the systems components almost anywhere. I will give the Toyota engineers a pat on the back, in that they mounted the brake master cylinder and hyd. clutch MC in the same reservoir. Pretty clever. But it also had one of those "internal" TOB/ slave on the input shaft. I would've replaced it, till out found out it cost over $350, so because the car wasn't too hi a mileage, I decided to pass. And now it has over 200K, and still is in there. I dread having to pull the tranny to change it.

So I appreciate the advice and opinions from everyone with the hyd. linkage, but I still enjoy things mechanical, and if I can make mine "operational", even with extra preliminary labor, that's the route I'll be on. The reason I removed the power windows, and installed hand cranks. Also the reason, (being from the north) I removed the AC. And if there was a way I could remove the throttle cable, and put in a steel rod, I would. (But I don't see a method for that). So now, I should get out there, get out my plasma cutter, and start making a steel bracket for the bellcrank. OFN. (Unless someone has a factory 14078558) bracket they would part with. I would pay an inflated price for 1.

 

no build thread. Thats a world of organization i don't have!

 

LOL. Wow. Talk about cuttin it close. Looks like we both have a few thousandths to spare. Radical ride, dude.

 

these are taken pics from just out of the opening in the bulge by the wipers, i used my kids modeling clay to gauge clearance. Yeah, it was tight.

 

I'm not familiar with the specific piece, but thought I'd share this in case it contains what you need.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1HqasaECWc/

 

someone should jump on these parts!

 

I'm not on FB, so i couldn't open the link.

 

Located in Saddle Brook, NJ

 

Man this little plate looks simple as hell. If anyone can take a few key dimensions off a real part, I'll model it up and post the design drawings for free.

 

Thanks cody, but I already made one. (Wish I didn't have to) And @ CamaroZ, you have a photo of what I already have. Needed the other bracket, missing from the frame end of the Zbar.
Nothing is pretty yet. Just roughing things in. Thanks for the replys.