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I had my wife push the clutch pedal to the floor while I watched. The lever that hit your steering housing, didn't reach the edge of my power steering housing. It was about 3/4 inch from where yours made the dent. If it went farther it would hit that edge.
So it wasn't about being to far to the right like I thought,,,, it's about pushing to far forwards.
It looks like you have a lot more threads showing on the clutch peddle rod, I'd say my clutch peddle is adjusted different than yours. Another idea to take a look at
I believe you have the 135 degree Z bracket and need the 155 degree. That extra 20 degrees seems to be the difference. What is the history of your car? Any ideas on past work done in this area?
The Z bar looks very much original (1979). I can’t imagine why anyone would ever replace this part other than the internal ball studs, seats and seals (which I am getting ready to do.). I’m going to figure out this problem tomorrow somehow, I just haven’t had a chance to take a closer look in the last couple of days.
I was wrong. If you look closely, my lever just misses the MC if it was pushed farther forward. This pic is with the pedal held to the floor. The other thing to check is if there are threads on the rod from the clutch lever to the z rod on the underside of the car. If it's adjustable, you can adjust it so it doesn't hit. I still think there is to much play in the Z rod where it attaches to the frame.
Look at the last page of a thread “Plastic Fantastic Tew” in C3 General.
It’s a current thread that he just posted in today.
He had a squeaking clutch and found that it was an aftermarket Z rod that was installed upside down with the grease zert facing down.
He flipped it over and his fitment and squeak issue went away.
You never know what a prior owner installed, why they did it, or if the part was installed correctly.
Last edited by OldCarBum; Apr 11, 2021 at 12:30 PM.
I just ran into the same problem with my 1979 L82 4 speed when installing the Borgeson and other mods. I had read in other threads C3 owners of various years sometimes run into this problem. Their fix was to pull the zbar, and heat it to bend it a little.to give clearance. I put the zbar in a vice at the arm and bent it out about a 1/4 inch with a BFH. Took care of the problem. I also installed the Ridetech bracket. I had issues getting the rear bolt in as hit the inner fender and ended up drilling a hole to slip the bolt through. Other had said they could flex the inner fender enough but that wasn't happening without damage.
For what’s it’s worth, here is the Borgeson steering box in my late 1969. No clearance issues with the Z-bar or the Hooker headers. This was a non-power steering car.
Thanks kirkm, I did find another guy that had to give the bar a slight bend, I think that’s the solution I’m leaning towards, and I do have the ridetech bracket installed too. Thanks so much for the info. Hopefully I can knock this out tomorrow because it’s scheduled for the alignment shop on Tuesday
UPDATE: all fixed, I took the Z bar out, put it in a vice and put some fire to the upper arm and gave it a slight bend, everything works perfect. Thanks to everyone for their help and ideas.
