Rework pedals / pedal box

[Craig Poultney]

Hi Guys,

Another question popped up after picking up the car. Along with possibly raising the steering wheel / column height, I think there is potential for more legroom with a rework of the pedals. I think the builder hat quite narrow feet to be able to operate between the brake and throttle quickly and easily (see pictures) 

i can certainly imagine that removing the dogleg in the brake pedal would help and also maybe shifting the throttle a few cms to the left (more evenly spaced)

now the questions: how hard is it to do this sort of remedial work on an already finished car and any tips on how to go about it? Also, there seems to be acres of room behind the pedals. Can they be moved backwards at all or apply a different angle?

i also habe size 12 feet. Has anybody shortened the pedals a bit so the ball of the foot sits on the pedal pads?

It’s possible to drive as it is but a few slights changes will make it more comfortable and one of the reasons for buying the car was to tinker a bit

cheers for any advice

Craig 

 

[Bob Tucker]

Make sure theres nothing under the carpet. I had to fit 3/4 ply under mine to suit my dainty size 7s otherwise I was braking with my toes.

It may also be feasible to fit a lowered floor section where your heels rest.?
You can raise the steering column....but...it may interfere with the exhaust. Also the bearing in the footwell firewall can be replaced with a far better actual bearing that makes moving  the column easier. Try a search at the top of the page. I cant find the link. The column needs to be braced vertically and left to right. Do not brace it forward/backwards, its designed to collapse in an accident.
Moving the throttle pedal is pretty easy, but the brake pedal is more difficult. It may be possible to cut it and reweld it, but make sure its well reinforced.

[Bob Tucker]

Its one of these. you will need to check the inner bearing dimensions match your steering column.

https://www.kitcardirect.co.uk/ford-sierra-steering-column-bearing-kit.html

[Foz]

I'm assuming it's a Sierra pedal box so the throttle pedal is separate and you should be able to remove the brake & clutch pedals as one lump.  You can the remove the pedals from the box and reshape them.  I modified mine by making V cuts in the side of the pedals, bending them to where I wanted them and then welding them back up.  I would recommend you buy another pedal box to modify, just in case it goes horribly wrong !  Also, as Bob says, the welding needs to be good and the cuts may need bracing - you need to make sure the brake pedal is at least as strong as it was.  The throttle pedal should be fairly easy to re-position.

Easier options may be :-

If you want the pedals higher is there room to move the whole pedal box up a bit ? 

The pedals pivot on a round bar in the pedal box with springs and spacers to keep them in position. You may be able to move the brake pedal a bit closer to the clutch by swapping spacers (as long as it doesn't get too far out of line with the master cylinder) and that would save you chopping the pedals.

Hope this helps,  Steve

[Craig Poultney]

Thanks for the quick responses guys. As soon as it stops lashing it down, I’ll go out and inspect the floor, pedal box etc.

In case I go the welding route, I found a pedal box for a series 2 sierra on our German version of free ads (see pic) . The seller wants 60€ which seems a bit extortionate but it’s the only one on offer. The brake pedal looks a lot straighter than mine. Any idea if they are compatible at the pivot bar end and can just be swapped out? 

I‘ll also take a look at the accelerator. Maybe I can find a somewhat straighter replacement to swap out against.

cheers again 

Craig 

 

[Foz]

Looking at this picture it looks like a standard pedal box to me and, as far as I'm aware, I think you'd be able to interchange pedals.  Your brake & clutch pedals do actually look further apart from one another than I think they should be as standard.  It may be my eyesight & memory that's questionable though !!!    

Unfortunately I don't have a standard, unmodified one to measure for reference, but somebody might be able to help with some measurements.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Foz

[Craig Poultney]

On 10/27/2023 at 1:25 PM, Bob Tucker said:

Its one of these. you will need to check the inner bearing dimensions match your steering column.

https://www.kitcardirect.co.uk/ford-sierra-steering-column-bearing-kit.html

Hi Bob. Apologies for the late reply. I checked the link and the bush appears to have a normal circular cross section but looking at my pics, the steering column appears to have a triangular cross section. Or am I missing something?

probably a dumb question that could be sorted by going out to the car. Problem is, it’s parked an hour away from me at the moment in a workshop  

thanks in advance 

cheers

craig 

[Bob Tucker]

Its a  few years (decades!) ago that I did mine. I'll take a look & maybe a photo in the next few days.

[Craig Poultney]

56 minutes ago, Bob Tucker said:

Its a  few years (decades!) ago that I did mine. I'll take a look & maybe a photo in the next few days.

Cheers Bob

[Craig Poultney]

4 hours ago, Bob Tucker said:

Its a  few years (decades!) ago that I did mine. I'll take a look & maybe a photo in the next few days.

Just had a look at the Kitcar spares website again and there’s an adapter that I need as well which converts the triangle cross section to the circular cross section (pictures below). Just needs to be tack welded on apparently.

[Foz]

Hi Craig,

You should be able to take the plastic centre of the original column bush and use it in the new bearing - effectively converting the triangular shaft to round.   Have a look at this -

https://nw.rhocar.org/buildtips/steeringshaft.htm

[Craig Poultney]

2 hours ago, Foz said:

Hi Craig,

You should be able to take the plastic centre of the original column bush and use it in the new bearing - effectively converting the triangular shaft to round.   Have a look at this -

https://nw.rhocar.org/buildtips/steeringshaft.htm

Now that is an awesome idea. Cheers mate. And the bearing is quite a common part. I searched for the part number from the link you sent and got a stack of suggestions here in Germany. Exactly the same bearing for 10€. Will be getting that asap. Cheers for the heads up

[Sparepart]

Bit late to this topic.... I attach a couple of snaps from my car. The second is the standard pedals, to see the standard spacing, yours look to have an offset brake pedal, but that could be perspective. The first is from above with the pedals installed. You see that the throttle is seperate, not installed, so could be moved easily in all directions. What is not easy is changing the height or spacing of the clutch/brake pedals. The clutch quadrant position is fixed by the release mechanism in the cable guide, and the brake pedal top by the alignment of the master cylinder rod. Moving the whole assembly up is theoretically possible, with spacers, but the whole top cover (not shown) would need to be raised, all the brake pipes extended, and then not so high as for the servo or fluid reservoir to hit the bonnet. Lowering the floor and/or altering the pedals is going to be easier, although shortening pedals will of course alter the leverage and range of motion somewhat, e.g. shorter clutch pedal would be harder to release smoothly.

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Sparepart
add

[Craig Poultney]

On 11/18/2023 at 2:23 PM, Sparepart said:

Bit late to this topic.... I attach a couple of snaps from my car. The second is the standard pedals, to see the standard spacing, yours look to have an offset brake pedal, but that could be perspective. The first is from above with the pedals installed. You see that the throttle is seperate, not installed, so could be moved easily in all directions. What is not easy is changing the height or spacing of the clutch/brake pedals. The clutch quadrant position is fixed by the release mechanism in the cable guide, and the brake pedal top by the alignment of the master cylinder rod. Moving the whole assembly up is theoretically possible, with spacers, but the whole top cover (not shown) would need to be raised, all the brake pipes extended, and then not so high as for the servo or fluid reservoir to hit the bonnet. Lowering the floor and/or altering the pedals is going to be easier, although shortening pedals will of course alter the leverage and range of motion somewhat, e.g. shorter clutch pedal would be harder to release smoothly.

 

Thanks for the pics and explanation. Like you said, my brake pedal appears to have a massive dogleg in it. I’ve got a second unit where the brake pedal looks a lot straighter. Might just try and swap it out to begin with to see how much that helps. I think the builder did it to heel and toe a bit easier. Let’s see. There also seems to be a board that’s been inserted which raised the floor somewhat. That’s coming out as well if all that fails then I’ll see if I can gain a few centimeters with the position of the pedal box. Final fix will be to chop the footpads of the pedals, open them up slightly and re-weld them a few cms higher up. All the fixes in combination should sort the issue. Also getting rid of the manky carpet as that appears to be about a Meter think I’ll update when done. Cheers again 

[Jez Morton]

Just a bit of advice from experience, the two bolts that connect with the servo are not the intended load bearing points. If you only use these the metal will flex and will crack, mine did on my old S7. The hole on top that's elongated is the load bearing attachment in the Sierra, you can see there is more metal here. In my 2B I created a triangle bracket bolted on the top and to the front mounting plate and also braced it back to the chassis.

I would also advise not to cut and well the pedal, it's made from very hard steel and designed to take a lot of force. Any weld would create a weak point.