Howdy. I just signed up and thought I would post a pic of my latest toy. I recently picked up this 83 Z28 from a friend I met thru our local camaro club…at one point in time (before the new one came out) they had all 4 generations of the camaro. My girlfriend has a 78 and she really likes the camaro. I’ve always liked the 3rd gen body style and when my friend decided to get rid of the car he gave me a call first…I heard that if I didn’t take the car it was going to the scrapper. . My friend installed a rear end from an 85 IROC which gave it posi and disk brakes in the back and he installed most of the IROC interior too.

Anyways, it’s a 305 with a 5 speed and t-tops. The tops leak and I’m trying to figure out what to do with the z bar and clutch linkage. The top arm of the zbar was welded up once and I think it was done wrong because it looked like the lower arm was pointing too far towards the front of the car…the clutch would not disengage at all. I cut it and rewelded it but now I think the lower arm is too far towards the back of the car…the adjustment rod doesn’t line up right and the pedal feels like it is binding. I did drive it a little this way and discovered the tranny doesn’t shift very well…I have a spare trans in my shop. I would like to find another z bar but I’ve heard that’s almost impossible. I’m thinking about buying a new clutch and installing a hydraulic throwout bearing and then figure out how to hook up a master cylinder for it. I know another option is to find a donor car and swap out the parts, but I really don’t want to pull apart the dash to swap out the pedals….did that on my suburban and I really don’t want to go thru that headache again. For now I might play around by cutting and rewelding the z bar again to try and make it a little better until I can afford to go hydraulic.

Another option I briefly thought about was converting it to a 700R4. I'm buying the trans and driveshaft from the IROC my friend had but I think I might save that for another project.
Is there a write up for installing aftermarket clutch hydraulics? Any tips, tricks or info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!

 

The swap to a hydraulic system is BEYOND easy.

I did it to my 83, the INSTANT I ran across one in the boneyard; would have been in about 86 or so.

You need the hydraulic system (duh), the bell housing that goes with it, and the COMPLETE pedal assembly. All of that stuff is the same from 84 to 92. BH has to come from a V8 car but the pedals can come from a 6-cyl car as well if you don't mind touching one. Your linkage pedal won't work, and it's much eeeeezier to just change out the whole pedal assy, including the brake pedal and the brackets that goes with it, all at once.

The hydraulics are available NEW at the dealer, probably $125 or so these days, for the complete assy, completely assembled, filled with fluid, and pre-bled.

The only modification you have to do to the car is, elongate the hole in the firewall where the rod goes through, about ¼" downward and toward the center of the car; and drill the 2 holes for the U-bolt thing that holds the master cyl to the firewall.

Make sure your pedal assy includes the 2 braces from the pivot bolt down to the U-bolt, they are ESSENTIAL and your car will not work right without them.

 

Thanks! I know the work is easy. I have an 85 4x4 diesel burb that I converted to a manual (got rid of the 700R4) and then converted it back to a TH-400 so my girlfriend could drive the burb painlessly...she has joint issues and the 12inch clutch requires a bit of effort.

When I get some extra cash saved up I will look in to converting to hydraulic, but for now I'm going to try and make what I have work. My eco-beater started acting up last night and I may need the camaro driveable very soon.

Hopefully I can get the clutch working right and then I'm going to try and find some low-buck ways to wake up the 305 that's in there. I have a nicely built 350 with vortec heads, but I'm wanting to put that in my 72 ventura...decisions, decisions.