replacement bushing for Z bar

Well, here's what I've come up with so far. The first picture has a trashed plastic bushing (on the left), then in the middle is a new bushing from AMARK. Then on the right side and in the plastic wrapper are flanged oilite bushings from Aircraft Spruce.

The center picture has the plastic bushing on the drivers end of the z bar.

The bottom picture shows the flanged oilite bushing  (5/8 ID x 3/4 OD X 1 flange diameter) (5/32 thick flange) on the z bar. 5/8 bushing would probably be OK, the end of this z bar was repaired by welding and hand filing to size by me, so it's not 100% perfect but it works. I put black magic marker on the ball to see where the interference was, exactly where I did the repair. The repaired ball is a bit oblonged.  It would be nice to have a NOS z bar to compare. Near as I can tell the original diameter of the "ball" is supposed to be about .615 to .625??  The inside of the plastic bushing measures roughly .645. The hole in the strut rod bracket is supposed to be 3/4 also, but it's hammered a tad bit too, so the bushing slops a little in that hole. I had to repair the hole by welding also, I guess I hand filed it a bit too oversize, otherwise the 3/4 OD of the bushing would be perfect, I suppose I can wrap it with shim stock and tap it in the hole.
Let me know what you think or can come up with for additional ideas.

Armand





Edited by White70JavelinSST - Feb/22/2023 at 8:00am

I'm very happy to report that the weather was excellent yesterday which allowed me to work on the car again. I got the clutch linkage all back together with the oillite bushings installed on both ends of the z bar (bellcrank). See above posts for photos of the bushings. The bushing I installed in the support bracket is much longer than the busing installed in the strut rod bracket IIRC it is greater than one inch in overall length. The z bar has plenty of bushing to float back and forth with. I had to shim the bushing in the strut rod bracket to keep it from rotating in the strut rod bracket because that hole is hammered a bit oversize. The plastic bushings just don't last that long, maybe 6 to 8 thousand miles, and I lubed them. Anyway, I'm hoping the oillite flanged bushings will last much longer.
Armand

How far is the ball, on the end of the z bar,  supposed to go into the bracket that is mounted on the bell housing?   When eyeing things up on mine, the ball only goes into the bracket about half way.  I am thinking about adding 1/2 inch to the open end of this bracket.  But first I will see if I have a transmission mount broken.


Edited by kenoshakicker - Jul/17/2017 at 8:41pm

Thanks, White70 for the info.  I ordered the bushings you have posted above.  I got one each of the  lengths listed for the OD and ID you have listed 1/2" and 1". 

Below is a photo which shows the location of the ball in relationship to the bell housing bracket.  The flange part of the outer bushing is still intact and in place when the photo was taken. Is this normal or is the ball too far from the bracket?  Thanks.




Edited by kenoshakicker - Jul/18/2017 at 6:22pm

1970390AMX you are correct about the strut rod end bushing.  The center of mine is gone which allowed the rod to move towards the outside causing the z bar to fall.  This is a design flaw and a dangerous one at that.  I believe I have the correct z bar.  I will post a photo tomorrow.

How far does the ball go into the bell housing bracket? 

Also, I checked APD, Kennedy and AMarkAMc and could not find the steel clip that goes on the strut rod end of the z bar.  Is there another vendor who carries them?  I thought I saw these at Lowes.  Thanks for the help.