HUNG UP ON THE PEDALS

Greetings!
It's New Years Day! It's the start of something totally new! Strange how it just feels like another quiet Wednesday. 

I spent only a couple of hours on Gary's coupe today, but I was able to make some significant progress on the clutch and brake pedal positioning. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm using a set of hanging pedals from a '97 Camaro. Gary wants to use a four speed instead of the stock three speed, so instead of trying to use the stock pedals and linkage I'm working to mount a power brake booster on the new firewall and a hydraulic clutch under the dash.

I had to cut the accelerator bracket from the pedal assembly because it was blocking the other pedals from mounting up close on the inside of the firewall. I also cut the lower mounting bracket off for the same reason. I'll re-attach them once I have the main components in place.

After trimming the unit I drilled 4 holes in the firewall from the engine side right where the heads of the mounting bolts belong and put bolts through the top two brackets. With those bolts holding the assembly in place I welded the lower two mounting bolt heads to the firewall using a rosette weld through the firewall.

I can't simply put bolts through the firewall to secure the pedals because I'm planning on welding a flat sheet metal plate on the engine side and don't want the bolt heads to distort the smooth, flat panel. Also, the bolt heads would be forever inaccessible because of the smoothed firewall panel and it wouldn't look good for me if Gary's pedals fell off while street racing with his grandkids some weekend.

The photo shows the steering column poking through the firewall wrapped in masking tape to keep it from getting scratched, and I placed a sanding pad in the hole with it just to simulate the proper spacing from the edge of the hole. You can also see the top of the brake & clutch pedals and the stock fabric-wrapped, insulated wiring under the dash.

I need to finish painting Paul's Ford Focus tomorrow but also want to shiver while my nose runs at the junkyard. I need to go there and exchange my recently acquired rear axle for something a little wider. Just my luck; I'll probably get my tongue stuck on the frozen axle housing. I'll keep my cell phone handy. Who knows? I may have to write my next post from under a Chevy at TeePee Auto Wrecking.

Doug