Didn’t do a whole lot with the car last night but I did remove the bellcrank. Noticed a hole in it and my brother said it was probably for a grease fitting? But there wasn’t one lol. He pointed out how the ball with the stud (that connects to the bracket on the frame) had so much slop in it to me. The ball rotated fine but you could also push it in and out a noticeable amount and he said you probably shouldn’t be able to do that. He told me I might want to take a close look at the ball on the engine block as well. I was also curious to know if there’s a way to decipher the vin number on these cars like people do with the older muscle cars. There’s a lot of made in Canada labels in this thing.
New guy 79 factory 4 speed wagon.
- Thread starter Mighty
- Start date
Yes, the hole in the center is for a grease fitting. Most of the ones I have seen have a plastic cup inserted, but the hole is threaded for a fitting.
When the bellcrank is in place, it should feel firm against the ballstuds. When removed, the outer ball stud will move about. You can replace the inner and outer ball studs and the 3 plastic seats (1 inner, 2 outer). There should be a large fiber washer between the bellcrank and the frame bracket to keep the grease away.
Check the frame bracket for cracks. I have seen many cracked ones. I doubled mine up so it wouldn't crack.
There are several VIN decoders online. Here are two:
When the bellcrank is in place, it should feel firm against the ballstuds. When removed, the outer ball stud will move about. You can replace the inner and outer ball studs and the 3 plastic seats (1 inner, 2 outer). There should be a large fiber washer between the bellcrank and the frame bracket to keep the grease away.
Check the frame bracket for cracks. I have seen many cracked ones. I doubled mine up so it wouldn't crack.
There are several VIN decoders online. Here are two:
Decoding your Pre-1981 GM VIN - SS396.com
Decoding a VIN tag can seem like quite a daunting task. Even amongst modern automobiles, the endless strings of alpha-numeric codes form a never-ending web of information.
www.ss396.com
Perfect thanks. I’ll pull the frame bracket back off (put it back on so I wouldn’t loose any screws) and clean it off with a wire wheel since it’s been painted twice and examine it for cracks. Do you know if the original bell cranks had a part number on it any place? My brother was curious but we couldn’t fine one. It took had been painted at least once
I’m definitely going to keep it around with all of the other parts from the car that I’m holding onto. I want to compare it to the one I ordered off of ss396 because the original one had some very slight bends/curves in it. Now I’m starting to wonder if all of these worn out parts is why the clutch pedal was rubbing up against that relay.
The original bellcrank does have some curves that the older GM cars don't have. It is not likely that it is bent from its original shape.
On some poorly made knock-offs, the bend in the main shaft is kinked rather than a mandrel bend.
On some poorly made knock-offs, the bend in the main shaft is kinked rather than a mandrel bend.
This will be where I’ll be really curious to compare to the new one I ordered. The end where the adjustment rod attaches has a very slight “bend” in it. Does that all look correct to your eyes?
I received all of my new parts except for the bellcrank which shipped separately for one reason or another. I can’t remember if I asked here already (probably did) but I’d like to know of the location of where the clutch return spring hooks up to the frame I’m assuming. I tried to snap some pictures of where I had the old one (wasn’t the right spring) hooked up but it’s tough to make out anything. It was rubbing up against the drivers side header. I hooked it up while the header was still loose with the old heads off and didn’t notice it until now. I’ll post the pictures but like I said it’s hard to make out.
tough to see in the second picture just behind the brake line fitting there is a hole it’s hooked into. I had to drill a hole in the new fork since there wasn’t one in it at all.
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