With a diaphragm clutch in my 66 and the over-center spring installed, I had a hitch point in the pedal movement about 1 to 1-1/2” from the top. The pedal would rest there unless I adjusted the clutch to where it was fully engaged just above that hitch point so the clutch fingers could push it over the hitch point, or I put my foot under it to lift it past the catch. That meant the clutch didn’t even begin to bite on release until the pedal was about 4” or more off the floor. If I adjusted the clutch below the hitch point, the pedal would just stop its return at the hitch point way off the pedal top, and felt like it was letting the TO bearing ride on the clutch fingers.
I have the spring in down at the fork but it’s just an anti-rattle spring that pulls the fork together with the push rod and the Z-bar. It does nothing to return the pedal. From the forum many suggested that the over center spring should be removed with a diaphragm clutch but they admitted that will increase the pedal stiffness and I like the pedal effort just fine just as is.
So I got to looking to see where I could mount a second spring to return the pedal over the hitch point. No room under hood as the z-bar is so close to the firewall and it’s crowded enough under the dash already and besides the pedal has such a long travel, tying another spring to it would probably increase the pedal effort due to the amount of stretch. So that left down by the shift fork and I got an idea from looking at it and possible anchor points forward of it.
The Hemi exhaust manifold to H pipe bottom bolt was in reasonable good alignment and distance from the fork. So I made a little bracket up out of bar stock to fit under the bolt, with a small hole to hook a spring into. On the fork, it looked like actually bolting a short bracket on to the push rod stub behind the fork would give me a better alignment and allow using a longer spring for tension. So I took a washer, drilled it for hooking a spring to, and double nutted it on the section of threaded push rod extending through the fork. I cut a spring down to 6” - started out with 7” which worked but I thought 6” would give a little more positive return. Parts were simply this.
Installed the whole thing looks like this.
I readjusted the clutch to let it start to engage now about 3-4” off the floor and leave a couple inches or maybe a bit more freeplay at top which feels much more natural. The spring pops the pedal all the way to the bumper and since the fork and rod cycle is pretty short the spring doesn’t have to stretch much and I can’t tell any difference in pedal effort. Feels great now - no more having to ease off the pedal for 4-5” off the floor before I start to feel the clutch bite.
On a wedge someone who wants to try this will have to find another anchor point if one of the manifold to H-pipe bolts isn’t aligned similarly.
I have the spring in down at the fork but it’s just an anti-rattle spring that pulls the fork together with the push rod and the Z-bar. It does nothing to return the pedal. From the forum many suggested that the over center spring should be removed with a diaphragm clutch but they admitted that will increase the pedal stiffness and I like the pedal effort just fine just as is.
So I got to looking to see where I could mount a second spring to return the pedal over the hitch point. No room under hood as the z-bar is so close to the firewall and it’s crowded enough under the dash already and besides the pedal has such a long travel, tying another spring to it would probably increase the pedal effort due to the amount of stretch. So that left down by the shift fork and I got an idea from looking at it and possible anchor points forward of it.
The Hemi exhaust manifold to H pipe bottom bolt was in reasonable good alignment and distance from the fork. So I made a little bracket up out of bar stock to fit under the bolt, with a small hole to hook a spring into. On the fork, it looked like actually bolting a short bracket on to the push rod stub behind the fork would give me a better alignment and allow using a longer spring for tension. So I took a washer, drilled it for hooking a spring to, and double nutted it on the section of threaded push rod extending through the fork. I cut a spring down to 6” - started out with 7” which worked but I thought 6” would give a little more positive return. Parts were simply this.
Installed the whole thing looks like this.
I readjusted the clutch to let it start to engage now about 3-4” off the floor and leave a couple inches or maybe a bit more freeplay at top which feels much more natural. The spring pops the pedal all the way to the bumper and since the fork and rod cycle is pretty short the spring doesn’t have to stretch much and I can’t tell any difference in pedal effort. Feels great now - no more having to ease off the pedal for 4-5” off the floor before I start to feel the clutch bite.
On a wedge someone who wants to try this will have to find another anchor point if one of the manifold to H-pipe bolts isn’t aligned similarly.
