[FC] Clutch linkage - early vs. late

[Kent Sullivan]

Hi,
 
I have been working on getting the correct parts for the clutch linkage for
my '64 Rampside. It had been a mishmash of early FC, late FC, and car parts.
I think I finally have all of the right parts. Quite an odyssey.

The first thing that made this an adventure is that one of the parts, a
"Z"-shaped bracket that holds the front of the return spring (the rear
spring), was hard to come by. Folks told me that most FCs so equipped ('63
and later for sure and probably very late '62s) do not have them any more;
they got lost and it's possible to hook the spring in another fashion so the
bracket is not critical.

The other thing that made this quite an adventure is that the metal dust cap
on the transmission changed when the rest of the linkage changed but the
drawing in the assembly manual was never updated. The part number is
different but it was hard to tell how it changed. Here are some photos
showing the dust cap for a car, early design FC and late design FC:

<http://www.corvairkid.com/articles/images/Clutch linkage dust cap 001.jpg>

<http://www.corvairkid.com/articles/images/Clutch linkage dust cap 002.jpg>

<http://www.corvairkid.com/articles/images/Clutch linkage dust cap 003.jpg>

<http://www.corvairkid.com/articles/images/Clutch linkage dust cap 004.jpg>

The car dust cap has no bracket; the early has the short bracket; and the
late has the long bracket.

The bracket design change is very intriguing. Both designs use the exact
same spring; for some reason the early design bracket has a short arm and
then an "extension" (that's what the assy. manual calls it) that takes up
the extra space. The extension is just a simple oblong wire loop. This
design seems really odd to me. The late design, where all of the reach is in
the bracket, seems much more sensible. Does anyone know why the early design
is the way it is?

If you want to see exploded views of the two designs, look in the 1961 FC
assembly manual in section 6, part C; for the late design, look in 1962 or
later, section 7 part C. (It was a late year change in '62; only the page
for the second design was kept.)

--Kent