Exactly my toughts!! I was thinking of putting exactly the same thing to get rid of the bending! I managed to get that pedal feel a bit more softer by modifying the assembly, i gotta take pic to show. Its still quite stiff but way better than it used to.

Here's a couple photos of what I did. I can't road test it yet, but it works really smoothly. 10mm rod ends and threaded rod, plus an aluminum nut I made and welded to the valve cover. VERY smooth now, and no flexing / binding / bending. Yay!

WOW. That looks cool, any stifness on pedal movement?

It's still not on the road (it's snowing right now) so I can't offer a real road test perspective, but from the garage the pedal feels great. Sorry the pictures aren't all that clear, but I think you can get the idea. (I also replaced those plastic bushings in the manifold to remove any slop there, too. They were hard to find, but seemed to have made a difference.)

Wow, still snowing? Weather has gone all loco, here near arctic its warm and cozy. Have you tried to press "pedal to the metal", does it open throttle all the way or too much or is it adjusted just fine? I think i have a bit too short rod and it might "over open" if pressed to bottom.

Edited April 25, 201410 yr by Reverend

Feels like it's just right. Carbs bottom out just before pedal does, but I like it that way. Still no road tests, but the snow didn't stick so that's something. I'm not sure how they could "over open" ...doesn't that just mean you'd jump to warp speed? ;-)

Zboy, no, they can't "over open" but if your carb butterflies are bottoming out before the gas pedal is then you are stressing it and the linkage which means that metal is wearing and possibly bending. I only bring this up because while our cars are down and we can't use them we have the whole winter to make them perfect, so now would be the time to match the gas pedal stop to the butterfies being fully open. In the situation you describe with your carbs, it won't be the brass butterfies that wear but the aluminum bore they are pushed against as well as the aluminum that the butterfly shaft rides on.

That will in time create air leaks and un-metered air will screwup the mixture.

In the short term it is not a big deal but matching up the gas pedal stop with the butterflies isn't hard to do.

Chris

Edited April 25, 201410 yr by grannyknot

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5xdyfj14tcz8ga3/20140427_151327.mp4

There is my Z (not me testing it) and got lousy 130hps on dyno. Well.. it only has triples and header so thats not a big surprise. Maybe a mild cam next? Anyway, carburators are now tuned and it runs very smoothly