Yep, last night i was about 10 miles from home, in the fry's electronics parking lot, and i push in the clutch hear a SNAP, and the clutch sinks to the floor, so between starting the car in gear, and shifting w/o the clutch, i managed to get her home without much fuss.

so after taking a look at it, under the driver side hush panel, right where the clutch pedal connects to the next piece of linkage is where it broke('82, mechanical clutch) there is a hole in the clutch pedal, and the next piece of linkage goes through the hole and is held with a cotter pin on the other side, well the hole in the clutch pedal broke open?!? its about 2x the size it needs to be, so the clutch on has about 1/4 of its travel right now. the other 3/4 of the pedal travel is taken up by the larger than normal hole that i guess i heard snap in the parking lot.

either way i think finding a 82-83 mechainal clutch pedal is like finding a needle in a hay stack, so i think im going to maybe have a welder see if he can either weld a small piece of pip in there, to act as a sleeve, or just weld on a little extra material.

here is a picture i did up in paint that best illistrates what happened

 

You could just do what I did.... get rid of all that Stone Age stuff, and swap in a hydraulic system.

 

There is (or at least, WAS) a bushing in the pedal arm through which the clutch linkage rod would attach. Apparently, your bushing is long since gone, and the linkage rod is wearing it's way through your pedal arm. Simply welding a pipe through it will not solve the problem, and likely further weaken an already damaged arm.

If you don't want to perform the complete hydraulic conversion (for whatever reason). The appropriate method would be to replace the arm, or weld in a hardened sleeve, sized to accept the factory bushing. You can find the plastic bushings at either the dealership parts counter or at many parts stores that have a Dorman/MotorMite display. They have all manner of hard to find parts.

If you weld in a sleeve (other than soft pipe) you should also weld a stiffener along the top/rear edge of the arm so it extends at least twice the width of the pedal arm in either direction from the hole. This will prevent the arm from distorting under the force of normal use.

 

if you guys know of a clever way to swap to a hydralic setup without changing transmissions (saginaw 4spd) i'm all ears.

here are some real life pictures of the pedal arm, the bushing was still there ( i took it out for the pictures) but it was broken through on one side.

im going to take it to a welder, and see what he can do, and bring the right size bushing with me. i kinda need to get this car on the road like, tomorrow

 

Check you PMs Scottland.

 

Have you considered changing to a T-5? It's no weaker, shifts better, has overdrive, better gear ratios, weighs less, supports the hydraulic arrangement for which you can acutally find parts; and besides all that, I'm sure there are some advantages too.

There's at least one complete (or at least, advertised as such) changeover "kit" in the classifieds on this site right now.

 

meh, thats really easy for anyone with a welder and a drill press to fix.

Just weld up the part where it is out of round, and then re-drill the hole.

Probably will take like 10 minutes.

 

or you could check ebay. Not much right now but I found this. Looks a little ratty.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2460153656

 

That's what I would do!! Definitely, 10 minutes, maybe 15 if they are really slow!

Go to the dealer and get a replacement bushing though. Will last longer, and move smoother.

2 more pennies...

 

well i got the pedal fixed, my uncle is a metal worker, he made quick work of it. got it back together for find that its not the only problem. the bigger problem is that the Zbar is broke.

I think i am the black angel of death, because i have the carma of a serial killer.

either way it broke where the rod that comes out of the firewall attaches to the Zbar( i think thats what its called.) but it didn't break at the weld, about a half moon shaped piece broke off with it. thats what i heard snap last night, i guess the problem with the pedal arm is what caused the undue stress on the Zbar.

either way, how do you get that thing off.

i can't seem to pull it off the stud attached to the engine, or the stud on the body. we did it before when we swapped engines out of the car, but i was working under the car while my friend disconnected it, and i never bothered to figure out how.

RB, at the present time, i just don't have the money, or time to mess with a T-5 swap. and if im going to cough up any money at all toward a transmission, im just going to save up for a T-56 or a TKO. but good idea.

 

I do the same but weld the whole thing in then grind it flat then redill it.

 

You need to unbolt the bracket that holds the ball stud to the frame rail, then the bar can be removed.

 

thanks thats what i needed.

now i have to take it back down to my uncles shop to have him weld that bad boy up.

gawd, i can't wait until i can afford a T-56. mechanical linkage is for the birds.