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The WYAIT "urge" has struck again! Since the old hot rod 66 is up on jack stands I thought I would attempt to straighten out the trusty-old-Z-bar.
As you may recall... it had bent and slightly twisted along the top part.
Well...I have it back to its original shape(nearly) and since I can NOT leave "well-enough-alone" I was wondering....
Should I try to "heat-treat" it a little to maybe..... make it a little stiffer....to prevent it from bending again?
I don't have EZ access to a welder to weld on gussets... butt-eye do have a big "rosebud " I can attach to my "pro-fane" tank and maybe get it red-hot and quench it in a bucket of H 2o.o
Think its worth the trouble/sweat?!
Thanx in advance
6sal6
Last edited by 6sally6 (8/14/2018 4:35 PM)
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Wouldn’t that make it more likely to break rather than just bend?
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6sally6 wrote:
Think its worth the trouble/sweat?!
IMHO not as long as you don´t know what kind of steel it's made of anyway and if it at all will harden. Also do not remember what it's called in English, but if it hardens you would have to re-heat it slightly again and then let it cool off slowly to not make it brittle.
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Hakan wrote:
6sally6 wrote:
Think its worth the trouble/sweat?!
IMHO not as long as you don´t know what kind of steel it's made of anyway and if it at all will harden. Also do not remember what it's called in English, but if it hardens you would have to re-heat it slightly again and then let it cool off slowly to not make it brittle.
temper......
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6sally6 wrote:
temper......
Thanks Sal, that's the word I was too lazy to search for and too old to remember.
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Or .....
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I'm thinkin' you should consider replacing the z-bar with a cable clutch.
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Time for an MS cable clutch conversion.
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Welllll...I thought about it butt....I woulda-hadta change bellhousing.....release arm...some other stuff.........all while laying on my back on a concrete slab. After last summer(pulled the tranny THREE times and STILL ended up tak'in it to a shop to finally get it work'in right.)
You know what the culprit was????......the little wire retainer clip that holds the arm to the pivot inside the bell!!!! I NEVER knew it was suppose to be a tight fit. (The old one was always loose and I thought that was normal)
Long story jus-ta say ......"nawwwww gonna fix what I got."
After market Z's just don't look as "healthy" as the factory'uns.
BESIDES......swapp'in in new parts ain't like hot rodd'in your old stuff to make it better!! That swatt'it's all about for me.
So nobody thinks I should try to harden the Z?!!! (Don doesn't have any comments about mak'in it hard and stiffer?!...lost opportunity)
6sal6
Last edited by 6sally6 (8/13/2018 6:17 PM)
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Have you thought of starting with a straight one, then add some gussets like Opentracker has?
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If the steel isn’t heat treatable, you would wasting your time. If the steel is heat treatable, it was already heat treated by the factory and any heat yoy apply will just screw up the factory heat treating: either make it so brittle it will break, or so soft it will bend. Why don’t you spend your time finding an aftermarket one you like?
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The PO took a piece of flat bar and bent to match the Z bar, then welded them together. Looks pretty sturdy. Never drove the car to know how well it would have worked.
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Hornman wrote:
If the steel isn’t heat treatable, you would wasting your time. If the steel is heat treatable, it was already heat treated by the factory and any heat yoy apply will just screw up the factory heat treating: either make it so brittle it will break, or so soft it will bend. Why don’t you spend your time finding an aftermarket one you like?
The ones I saw on Mustangs Unlimited and an other one looked sorta flimsy to me. Other alternative was find one from another Mustang and then I was buying one just AS OLD as what I already had.
Soooooooooooo I heated and bent what I already had.
Whats that old wives tale? 'Better to know the devil you have...than find out about the crumby demon.......' maybe a bird in the hand .....will bite you with his pecker....' WHATEVER........I'm gonna make this work ...and if it don't I'll buy one of the cheap flimsy one...till my knees go out and hafta take a Uber to the bash!!
6s6
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