Hey guys,
I'm sorry that I haven't kept up but I have some updates!
The pressure plate Billy sent me (that I previously referenced) was the wrong one for the flywheel. The flywheel they made for me was drilled with the standard B&B pattern and what I thought was the 10" Ford long pattern, which is what the pressure plate is. It didn't fit!! The 10" long pattern is supposed to be 3 1/8" apart on the closest two holes, but the holes on my flywheel were 3" apart. After talking to Billy, they gave me access to a prepaid shipping label to send the flywheel and pressure plate back.
A guy named Gary Seaward (w/ Australian accent) called me back and said my flywheel was drilled for a
9" Ford long pattern and that the flywheel is simply too small to be drilled for the 10" long pattern, which seemed obvious to me after trying to fit it. He scoured and rounded me up a diaphragm style 9" Ford pressure plate (part# 360072 I think?) which he said was THE LAST ONE THEY HAD!!
I got it back and sure enough it fit and it covered the outer diameter of the clutch disk, BUT it doesn't cover about the inner 1/4". Gary didn't think it would be a problem and I don't really think it will either. I finally got it all back together last weekend, and it has that characteristic stiffness at the dis-engagement point and relaxing relief after release that diaphragm clutches have, except the stiffness of this aftermarket pressure plate kicks it back at you pretty good when you're letting the clutch back out and it re-engages. It will take a little getting used to, but I like it and it feels solid and confident.
In order to do this job I had to remove my exhaust collector mid-pipe and only drove the car (open headers!!) to the exhaust shop to get it back together, so I've only had very limited seat time so far, but that's my initial impression. I can't wait to pick it up tomorrow and start breaking it in and putting it to the test. This is my daily driver and was down for nearly a month, which forced to me drive my 426 gen3 hemi 66 barracuda. It was miserable.
I could have planned this job and timing better but I hope I won't have to do it again for a long time. I'm worried about when that day comes and having finding another pressure plate. I'll need to figure out what makes/models had that plate (ford, mazda?) so I can cross reference it at a parts store or other manufacturer. If all else fails, I can still use my original 10" B&B and maybe get it rebuilt with stiffer springs in the meantime. Btw, Gary didn't think that 10" B&B plate would have any particular explosion risk at high rpm, but then again peoples's experiences can't be refuted. They saw what they saw, however rare it might be.