Hi all! I’ll try not to make this too long; My main question is how exactly is/are the spring/s supposed to be setup on the z-bar going to the clutch fork? I’ve rebuilt the T5 a couple weeks after researching and watching videos for hours and hours. Everything turned out great (for only the first day), now I have that dreaded cricket/metallic/scratching noise coming from right around the TOB. Although I know it isn’t the bearing cause it’s brand new and also tested cause I know they can come sometimes a little wacky. So after researching and tinkering the sound goes away and everything works great if the clutch fork is just a hair tilted up or down. But where the springs are now it has the tiny chirping noise when the pedal is resting. So my theory is the last owner just either had wrong springs installed or had not enough/too many. **I’ll add now that i’ve put lithium grease on the fork pivot ball, quadruple checked with a borescope that the bearing is seated properly, and the bearing is good** But when it comes to finding 1983 clutch return springs I haven’t found any replacements or even pics of the whole thing set up on a car for reference.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Ah then he did put too many. He had 1 spring like you said but the other going to the control arm bushing for some reason.
How would the pedal return then if no tension is pulling back on it?

Interesting, so it pretty much makes continuous contact with the pressure plate? Wouldn’t that wear it out? ***Not disagreeing with ya i’m just curious***

I’m sure there are some kind of upgrades available from some company but as far as I know people opt to just change from mech—>hyd. Also quick question; My fork spring is bent and stretched for about 4 coils. I’m looking around for another but thinking about it now i’m not even sure this is the correct spring. (Also there seems to not be ANY fork springs for the years ‘82 and ‘83) The closest I found is ‘81, did 81, 82 and 83 share the same style spring?
Mine currently looks like this one:
http://www.firebirdcentral.com/mobil...uctCode=CLU-25
But the ‘81 style looks like this:
http://www.firebirdcentral.com/mobil...uctCode=CLU-27

Most engineering changes like this have a heavy push from new car assembly ease. One less adjustment when building a new car or truck meant saved money for the OEM, and ease of repair later too. Upgraded clutches are available for third through current gen Camaros; not sure I get that question,

I just hit the Dorman HELP section, and find one that will slide over the lower linkage pushrod, and reach from the Z-bar to the fork. The second one you linked is probably correct, and is a retaining spring, but incorrectly labeled a return spring.

Thank you kindly, also UPDATE! So I ordered the spring linked above and while i’m waiting I tried getting the bent one straight again, being stretched doesn’t matter due to the correct spring being longer anyway. I put it on and adjusted til about 3/4” of play and the whining sound was still there but DEFINITELY way less. I have a feeling the new spring will do the trick, i’ll let you guys know how it goes.

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

So a family friend who works on old Chevy’s gave me a spare spring he had (should’ve asked him before) and the sound now had ceased when the car is on. I wanted to really know exactly what was up so i kept playing with the old springs and found out the slight screeching sound was actually the clutch fork clip! That said it’s the double ended clip on the bottom side of the fork that holds the bearing and clips onto the ball-pin. That clip was slightly loose and the scraping sound was the clip rubbing against the ball-pin when the car was idling (little shaky and since no pressure on it when clutch is engaged the clip would just wriggle all around the ball and make the sound. Thank you guys very much for the help.