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It only took 10 years, but I finally have my clutch working like a clutch should work.
Those of you with 5.0L conversions with manual transmissions know that the only way to adjust the clutch so that it fully releases is to adjust it so that there is almost no free play. You have to push the pedal all the way to the floor, and it uses all of the available pedal travel between fully released an fully engaged.
I thought of the solution 8 years ago, but Ross Converse told me it wouldn't work, so I didn't try it.
Well, it does work, and here it is...
I removed the clutch fork pivot ball bolt, and put two 1/8" washers on the shaft, so that when reinstalled, the pivot ball is 1/4" closer to the flywheel than it was originally. (Actually, you could probably go a little thicker: 5/16" or maybe even 3/8".)
You can do this job without pulling the bellhousing. Since all of our exhaust systems are custom, they are all different, but I'm pretty sure that it is not possible to have an exhaust system that does not have to be removed to pull the bellhousing. On my car, you have to remove the exhaust system just to get the transmission completely out. For this job, I left the exhaust system in place, and pulled the transmission back so that the input shaft was resting on the bellhousing opening, and the back of the transmission was resting on the exhaust system.
Even though you end up working in close quarters, you can do it. The pivot ball bolt is in tight. I tried various tools to remove it, but what I ended up using was an 8" crescent wrench, and a pry bar for leverage against the wrench to break the bolt free. Once broken free, it is easy to unscrew by hand.
There is enough enough room to get the bolt out before it contacts the pressure plate. Not much to spare, but just enough.
Now, I can adjust the clutch so that the engagement does not begin immediately off the floor, and there is plenty of free play.
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