Clutch Rod Attaching Point..Which One?

[69sixpackbee]

There are 2 attaching "grooves" that the rod end (butterfly looking piece) from the "Z" bar can go into on the fork itself coming out of the bellhousing. The one closest to the bellhousing obviously shortens the stroke, but decreasing the leverage needed to disengage the clutch. The one further away is obviously the opposite in principle. I have a heavy damn clutch in my truck (402) and I had it in the closer hole but it just really fatigued my leg and was causing the rod coming down from the clutch pedal to flex quite a bit. I moved to the outer groove and the clutch is easier to push but I have to adjust the damn thing quite a bit out so that it will release all the way. I do find that when the engine is fully warmed up and I have been driving around a while the gear changing is much harder and it will really grind (I have to "clutch it") especially if I go from a forward to reverse gear even when completely stopped. There is some slop in the eyes of the linkages but not too excessive and the bellcrank assy. is nice and tight. It is REALLY close to the exhaust flange, in fact, I had to put some extra rubber on the pedal back-stop pad so that it would not be contacting the flange. This "pinging-like" noise was a real PITA as the sound emulating from it represented an engine ping and had me fooled for the longest time until I figured out it was the metal-to-metal resonance that was the culprit. I am damn near out of adjustment on the rod and I have even put a spacer on the little pilot "tit" that goes into one of the groove slots to give me a little more adjustability. It is possible I have an "El Cheapo" diaphragm spring pressure plate in it now causing this malady but it is not really that old. It grabs like a MOFO otherwise. Any suggestions?