New guy 79 factory 4 speed wagon.

[t5montecarlo]

I don't know. When I bought my 1979 Malibu wagon, it was missing that spring and had a smaller spring between the fork and the bellcrank. As a result, the pedal rattled because it had no means to pull it back fully. In my Monte Carlo, I first put a hose clamp on the y-pipe and attached a spring to it. With the TES headers, I think I also used hose clamp on one of the header tubes and the same spring. With the full headers, I am pretty sure I am using a different longer spring and a hole in the frame that is a long way away. I think I once figured out where the stock spring was to go and thought it was goofy. I much preferred a spring that would be more parallel to the car.

I haven't yet started or driven the Monte Carlo this year. When I do, I will see if I can photograph what I did for a return spring.

 

[Mighty]

Not a problem. Now I’m starting to realize what my brother was talking about with headers being one big PITA. They’re in the way of everything it seems like on the car

 

[t5montecarlo]

Here is where my spring is connected to the frame. I am not using the factory spring. I think the factory spring location is the hole that is close to the metering block, which puts a goofy angle on the spring.

 

[Mighty]

So your spring is a lot longer than the factory one. Also if I remember right, don’t you have a “shorty” style header?

 

[t5montecarlo]

I have long tube headers, but the collector is not as far back as your Hookers. I have Hedman 68311. You can just barely see the collectors in this video; they are near the rear of the engine.
Baking the VHT Paint on Hedman 68311

I chose that spot on the frame because it was as parallel to the car I could find and it cleared the header tubes.

 

[Mighty]

Nice! The hole you use was already there I assume? I’m going to look around for one tonight. I also plan on using the old spring that was on the car (not original) also along with then new one. I ended up making a “bushing” out of spring steel last Thursday. Took me a little while but by the time I’m off work in the evening parts stores are closed and my dad checked 3 different places but couldn’t find any that fit. I found some in a mcmaster carr book but I’m going to run my home made one this year (if the car ever gets done) and see how it holds up. I ended up using a long screw, socket, a nut, and 2 11mm wrenches to make a “press” and basically pressed it into the oval shaped hole in the zbar. By the time I finished that up it was getting late since I got to the shop around 8pm. I crawled back under the dash and couldn’t quite remember how the rod that connects the pedal to the zbar was set up so I called it a night and left. I couldn’t remember if the end of the rod slid through the pedal with facing the drivers door or passenger door and same for the direction where it connects to the zbar. I’m assuming it slides through and points towards the drivers side door like the brake pedal but I didn’t want to wrap my arm back in there and get the washer on and the clip through the hole then have to take it back apart. I’m a little more rested today though so I’ll figure it out

 

[t5montecarlo]

Yes, the frame hole I used already existed.

Nice job making your own bushing. After pressing the bushing into the oval hole, is the hole in the center of the bushing still round? Does the swivel still fit?

The upper pushrod will only go in 1 way due to the bend. I suppose you could be put the pedal end on the bellcrank, but the bend may hit the firewall when depressing the pedal.

 

[Mighty]

Yes the bushing hole is round. Is the swivel supposed to be able to rotate or anything in that little hole? I can spin it but it takes some effort. Do you have any recommendations on where to buy control arms if I decide to replace mine?

 

[t5montecarlo]

The swivel should be able to spin freely in the hole; it should not have any resistance. It sounds like you need to ream the hole a bit.

Sorry, I don't have any recommendations for control arms. Perhaps begin a new thread about control arms or search for prior recommendations.

Why do you want to change the control arms?

 

[Mighty]

Well I’m going to tighten them up a bit and see what I come up with. My brother pointed out how they’re just some random junk that my dad bought down the street at the local parts store in 1998. Most of the suspension is loose and there’s cotter pins missing all over the place