Pounding it flat would be quite ignorant when it was intended to be this way.
Barry, The picture you've shown is NOT OE for 1970 I assure you. its missing the washer, and the rubber insulator bushing. The nut is supposed to go on the other way thus swedged into the washer to keep it locked in place
My money is on the OP has the wrong Z bar , or at the very least is installed backwards , if thats possible
Z-Bar is correct and can't be installed backwards. Arm is bent like it is because of bellhousing and the other arm on frame side is straight. I checked all of this yesterday to confirm. The repop that I have is hardened and thicker material so not so easy to bend. Not impossible though.
Maybe the one that you posted is easier to bend because it appears to be thinner material and it looks more like the one Barry posted only his is slightly bent.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.hoffmanswinnerscircle.com/images/cfar.JPG)
