Back yard way to adjust the throw on clutch pedal: At rest,disconnect the clutch pedal push rod to the pedal shaft arm: rotate the clutch shaft froward so you can just feel the clutch throwout bearing hub hit the fingers of the pressure plate. Position the clutch pedal so the pedal arm just bumps the bottom of the floor board. Adjust the pedal pushrod to the length exhibited between the pedal and the pedal shaft throw out arm. This should now remove any free play in the connection. Before tightening the jam nut unhook the pedal rod and shorten the length of the pedal push rod 4 rotations to give you some free play and rehook rod and tighten jamb nut. Without starting the engine put the car in gear, push down on the pedal and have a buddy roll the vehicle forward. The car should start to roll when you have pushed the pedal about 1/2 the distance to the floor board, meaning it is disengaging correctly. By the time the pedal is 3/4 down the car should roll easily. You can repeate the process backward to determine the engaement point of the clutch too. This position should remain constant thru 4 or 5 test runs, if it does not something is assembled incorrectly. One thought, if the pin that holds the clutch fork in the bell housing is sheared the cluch fork will rotate on the shaft and give inconsistent adjustments to the pedal. There is no such thing a clutch break in, the the clutch will exhibit wear over a long period of operation but it doesnot change thickness upon initial use. Your pedal should be consistant.
[/QUOTE] One thought, if the pin that holds the clutch fork in the bell housing is sheared the cluch fork will rotate on the shaft and give inconsistent adjustments to the pedal. There is no such thing a clutch break in, the the clutch will exhibit wear over a long period of operation but it doesnot change thickness upon initial use. Your pedal should be consistant.[/QUOTE] this may be the problem, I really hate to have to rip the trans out again
I pretty sure I figured out the clutch problem. I took out the linkage lever shaft. It did seem like it had twisted a little causing my recurring play. I put it in my vise and with a long piece of cheater pipe I bended/twisted it back to being straight. Then I ground down the bellhousing end just a little to make it fit inside of the pipe. Cut a piece of pipe to length and welding it on the clutch lever linkage. I doubt it's gonna twist now. the pipe is 1/4inch wall. I'm back to 1inch of clutch play and i'm pretty sure it's gonna stay that way.
Well that was a waste of a good piece of pipe and welding rod. There is no way that you can twist this part unless the transmission shaft was frozen up and that would be difficult. The only resistance to rotation of this part is the springs of the pressure plate and that's not very much so this did not accomplish anything. You might want to address the slop in the butterfly and receiver at the junction of the transmission shaft. If there is too much clearance at this connection you will get random free play adjustment issues but the disengage point will be the same... In any case the intermediate shaft unless its broken off is not the source of your problem.
There is no slop in the butterfly and receiver, it all moves freely and smoothly until the throw out bearing touched the pressure plate arms. The pressure plate is pretty heavy duty so it does take some leg to move it. It actually didn't take much to twist the clutch lever arm back and you could see in the seam on it it was twisted. I also referenced the bellhousing shaft to another bellhousing shaft and fork that I had sitting around to make sure that wasn't the problem or bending.
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