Zbar Alignment To The Pivot Bracket??

[toofun]

I am a newbie when it comes to manual transmissions. I am currently in the middle of a auto to manual conversion and the motor and tranny are in. I have exchanged the pedals in the interior and attached the bar through the firewall. My question is concerning the z bar. Is it suppose to fit all the way against the ball stud or is there suppose to be a little side to side play(1/2 inch) The reason I ask is because when the pivot bracket is positioned on the frame(outside of the frame with the bent part resting inward) and the z bar is positioned on the ball stud flush, it doesnt seem to be long enough to reach the pivot bracket. If I move it a little it will go on but the minute I tighten the nut against the pivot bracket it pulls the zbar toward the bracket and it does not sit flush anymore on the ball stud. Is this normal? Is it possible I have the wrong z bar? Are there different lengths?

I am sorry for all the questions but like I said I am a newbie at manual tranny setups and am anal about having it right so any help would be appreciated.Pictures of someone elses setup would be great if available!! I have installed a SMALL BLOCK 383 MOTOR. THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!



Mark
TOOFUN

[andrewb70]

Its OK to have a small gap between the bracket and the Z-bar. All that stuff moves around a lot as the engine torques to the side.

Andrew

[chicane67]

Yup, there is about that much space.

And just keep an eye on it.....

If the engine moves too much (loose/broken mount etc) it will snap off that little stud like a twig. Ask me why I know this ?? LOL.

When I went to solid engine mounts, all those problems went away. Just DO NOT run a solid transmission mount, whatever/whenever.