I have an 83Z T5 with a manual clutch. Soon after I bought the car (2 months ago) the clutch pedal would hang up on release, so I got away with shooting some lithium grease up onto the throwout assembly and it would be OK for a week or so. Well I just pulled the tranny out and found that the bearing retainer shaft that the throwout bearing rides on was all scratched and pitted. So I replaced it and the throwout bearing. The tranny shop said to put just a small amount of lithium grease on the bearing prior to installation, too much would collect clutch dust. Well it is all back together, all else had looked good. Now my clutch pedal is still hard to engage and sweaks on release, my tranny guy isn't sure. Would a worn clutch fork do this? Or do these manual clutches just suck this bad? Any advise would be great, Thanks

 

The mech linkage does bite pretty bad...

I swapped a hydraulic into mine to improve it. I've had linkage clutches since I started driving, and never have had one that really worked very well. The first time I drove a car (one of these actually) with a hydraulic setup, it was so massively better I started looking for ways to put one in my car. Fotunately it's not too difficult.

The ends of the Z-bar, where they go to the frame at one end and the block at the other, are probably your problem. They put a hole for a grease fitting in it, near the engine end, but no fitting. Put a zerk in it and fill it with grease, see if that helps.

It may also be that the place where the fork rides on its ball inside the bell housing is worn.