Clutch adjustment goes away

I have a 72 El Camino SS 454.  The car has a Muncie M21 tran, new CenterForce Street/Strip Clutch kit (clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing)and have about 1,000 miles total on the clutch.  I have also installed all new linkage, Z bar, Bell Housing and Clutch Fork.  The clutch works fine (perfectly) except that the adjusment just, for a better use of words, goes away until I have basically NO clutch left at all (the clutch adjustment rod has fallen out of the clutch fork).  After it is re-adjusted, it works perfectly (I have installed nuts and lock washers on both ends of the adjustment rod).  In about a month the same thing happens again.  The car is driven several times a weej and IS NEVER DRIVEN HARD. I have now adjustment left on the rod.  The engine has a fairly large cam and there is quite a bit of engine shake.  Also the Swivel part of the adjustment rod sits next to the headers.  

Please give me an answer.


Thanks,


Jerry  

There seems to be somthing wrong inside the bellhousing. that is if you are running out of adjustment. pull the tranny and look, the cluch fork could be bending. your not going to know untill the trans comes out. It might save you a lot of trouble and upgrade to a hydrolic assembly. the convertion is EZ and performance better.  

i would double check the bracket on the frame... make sure the bolts are tight so it cannot move back and forward...

make sure the Z bar end bolt is tight in the bracket...

is there any way to make sure the ball pivot is tight in the bell housing..  sometimes you can reach it with a ball end allen wrench to make sure it is tight...

is there a clutch return spring?????   hooked to the bottom of the body.. somewhere on the frame...  to the end of the clutch fork pulling it forward against the clutch adjuster...

is it possible that the Z bar arms are bending??????  is it an OEM Z bar.. or an imported version... that might not be hardened.. or thick enough to withstand the torque of the pedal against the clutch lever..

i am thinking that without a clutch return spring on the fork... the clutch adjuster pin might be walking up the fork  until it pops out...

when it pops out...   you have to loosen it to get it back in right.

what happens if you use a lever to push the fork back..  and drop it into place.. does it fall back into perfect adjustment...

how was the front retainer on the transmission.. where the throw out bearing slides????  was it smooth or did it have wear spots that might catch the throw out bearing and keep it from sliding easily...

what kind of grease did you use on the throw out bearing...

gm used to have a special throw out bearing slide grease... slick stuff... they also used it on drive shaft slip joints..  it was 40 bucks a pint... a pint... i used to have some... used it to lube sleeve bearing stuff like starters.. you would not believe how well it worked... discontinued for almost a decade.

is there any chance that the motor mount brackets are loose and moving for and aft which might change the adjustment somewhat...

the only other thing might be a crankshaft thrust bearing clearance problem... where the crank can move back and forth... changing the adjustment..  



now with the centerforce clutch... is there a slightly different clutch adjustment as when the weights push out do to the design.. i would think that the fingers would be lifted higher. taking out all the slack from the clutch adjustment...  

If this is clutch has a very stout pedal, I would make sure the body bushings are good, also!!! check all the pivot holes in the brackets are not elongated. I have had to weld these up and re drill the holes in every mechanical clutch setup that i ever delt with, if you get this far check the pedal pivot bushings too.  

Between Waynep712 and chevelle 83 are the list of troubles that I was talking about. You can get a kit put together from summit or jegs.