[2003SV]

Greetings forum members. Former CC forum member. Haven’t been here in awhile as my Shell Valley was laid up with a busted tranny that turned into a ‘lets replace the motor while we’re at it’ project.... that that lasted years...

I just put a new crate motor in my 2003 Shell Valley (347 SBF). It was a long block and so needed flywheel, clutch, PP, water pump, intake, dizzy, etc. I purchased a Ford Performance clutch kit (M-7560-A302N) with Ford Performance flywheel. I figured all diaphram pressure plates for SBF were basically the same but apparently that’s not the case.

I did not measure old part .vs. new part, but it seems the fingers of the old diaphram PP sit higher than the fingers of this Ford part. Additionally, it didn’t seem like the new TO bearing I bought was compatible with the clutch release fork (which is apparently a mid 70s F100/150 clutch release fork) so I used the old TO bearing which looked fine.

When I bolted up the Lakewood scattershield the clutch fork basically bottomed against the rear of the scattershield. So when pulled to the backmost position, it was just touching the fingers of the PP. The clutch fork pivots on a bolt held by U shaped bracket. That U shaped bracket itself bolts to the scattershield and holds the pivot bolt.

My attempt to fabricate a solution was to space out the U shaped bracket away from the scattershield. (Move the fulcrum point). I added a 3/8” spacer. My release fork has a 2:1 ratio and so the 3/4” of pull travel translate to 3/8” of push on the pressure plate. That was my guess. I installed the motor, tranny and drive shaft, etc. crossing my fingers... But 3/4” of fork travel where it connects to the slave cylinder isn’t enough... I cannot dis-engage the clutch...

Does anyone know what amount to fork travel is required to get the pressure plate to release? I failed to compare the height of the old .vs. new TO bearing, but the new one just didn’t seem like it was correct for the release fork that I have. I suspect the new TO might have been thicker/taller than what I’m using now. Maybe the solution is change out the pressure plate?

My clutch is hydraulic, I think it’s both a master combined with a pull style slave (?Wilwood?). Any advice/recommendation is greatly appreciated. The car is finally together just in time for the first snow!