Equalizer 'Z" Bar position 5S276

[dockbay]

Hi Guys! It was great to meet some of you at SAAC 43! I had my car judged so I could begin to understand all the small things that it needs to make it as original as possible. One of the things that was pointed out was a note that my Z bar was bent. I know this is very common and it's an easily obtainable part to correct. The questions however I have is that I think (although Charles or John who judged the car couldn't actually remember) that what they saw was NOT that the upper or lower arm was bent BUT that the position of the "tube" part of the z bar was not perpendicular between the frame and the block. I believe that when I bought the car it was "off" by a bit and after rebuilding the motor and putting it back in it is still not at 90 degrees between the frame and the block.. Should it be? As you know, the mount on the frame is designed only to move inboard and outboard to allow for putting the bar in place. In order to get mine to be at 90 degrees to the frame I appear to need to pull my motor forward by somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4" The issue with that is that the header on the drivers side is already too close the shock tower, the Air cleaner is almost touching the Monte Carlo bar  and there isn't any room for forward movement! Your thoughts are ALWAYS appreciated...
Cheers,
John

[Bob Gaines]

Hi Guys! It was great to meet some of you at SAAC 43! I had my car judged so I could begin to understand all the small things that it needs to make it as original as possible. One of the things that was pointed out was a note that my Z bar was bent. I know this is very common and it's an easily obtainable part to correct. The questions however I have is that I think (although Charles or John who judged the car couldn't actually remember) that what they saw was NOT that the upper or lower arm was bent BUT that the position of the "tube" part of the z bar was not perpendicular between the frame and the block. I believe that when I bought the car it was "off" by a bit and after rebuilding the motor and putting it back in it is still not at 90 degrees between the frame and the block.. Should it be? As you know, the mount on the frame is designed only to move inboard and outboard to allow for putting the bar in place. In order to get mine to be at 90 degrees to the frame I appear to need to pull my motor forward by somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4" The issue with that is that the header on the drivers side is already too close the shock tower, the Air cleaner is almost touching the Monte Carlo bar  and there isn't any room for forward movement! Your thoughts are ALWAYS appreciated...
Cheers,
John

Maybe slot the chassis side bracket a little in such a way to allow for it's movement needed for 90 degrees. The flange bolt head may cover the modification somewhat . It is odd that the problem isn't with the Z bar because it should line up at 90 degrees without additional modification.  You might find that the bar is bent after all.

[gt350hr]

   +1 on altering the bolt on pivot for the chassis.  It's hard to believe the tube is bent ( but possible).  Clutch action will be smoother once things are in better alignment as well. I hope you didn't get a point deduction.

[Coralsnake]

I would look closely at the two pivot brckets. Make sure you have the correct ones and they are the same as the originals.

[texas swede]

John,
Please be aware there are two types of 65 equalizer bars, one that has the down pointing bracket welded on the front side of the pipe and one with the weld on the back side. The first one give very little room for the adjustment nut at the end of the rod and the second one give much more room, i.e. more threads on the rod can be seen when adjusted. My car 5S275 has the first
type. NOS bought in a Ford shop in Denver 1992 and works fine. See picture how close the locking nut is to the end of the rod.
Will look at the one that was on the car when I bought it in 1988 and see which side the weld is.

Texas Swede

[texas swede]

John,
I looked at the bar on the car when I bought it and it's a non-hipo bar.
Also, If I don't recall wrong the bolt on the block where the pipe attaches is different than the 66 type.
Texas Swede

[gt350hr]

  The bar in your picture is a hi po bar for a '65.

[Bob Gaines]

Both Z bars (hipo/non hipo) will work on a GT350. Ironically the hipo Z bar does NOT give as much clearance with headers as the non hipo Z bar. That is why many hipo Z bars get changed out on GT350's for non hipo units IMHO. Both Z bars use the same chassis and engine side brackets either the engine side being year specific in appearance . The 66 and 65 engine side bracket differ in appearance but locate the Z bar in the same way . With that said the engine side bracket although not assemblyline correct can be interchanged regardless of if 65 or 66.

[dockbay]

Thanks for all the input! Bob, I was thinking exactly the same thing about slotting the frame side bracket. Certainly the easiest fix. Clearly from Swede's post I can see that his is clearly closer to 90 degrees than mine is.