Hi All
In the process of adapting my pedals on my special 1927.
Trying to make driving position more comfortable by gaining extra leg and feet room. Position would be far more comfortable if the pedal sat lower ie same height as the clutch pedal.
At present its approx 3inchs higher than the clutch.
As the brake pedal has very little travel I was wondering if alternative pedals are available?
Failing that, has anyone shortened the original?
Many thanks
Paul
Assuming you have kept the original uncoupled brakes (like my 1929 special) I would have thought the longer the brake lever = more leverage on applying the brakes and possibly better stopping power?
For sure shortening the pedal reduces the leverage and increases pedal effort accordingly. Not a direction I'd want to go in (assuming we are talking about 'standard' brake set-up).
I don't think that the issue is shortening that bit of the pedal. Surely it would be the part that pokes through the floor and that wouldn't alter the mechanical advantage.
My question would be why the pedal has so little travel. All the Sevens I've owned can get very close to the floor when adjustment is needed.
Paul as a test have you tried swopping the pedals over and doing brake tests on a quite road. If you can break satisfactory using the clutch pedal bolted to the brake lever all you have to do is obtain another clutch pedal from one of our suppliers who also deals in secondhand parts.
John Mason.
Would you believe it "Her who must be obeyed" refers to my Ruby as the toy.
27-09-2019, 03:01 PM (This post was last modified: 27-09-2019, 03:02 PM by Howard Wright.
Edit Reason: Bad english
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Hi Paul
What is the reason for the pedal being higher and in what orientation? The answers below suggest the pedal height could be out from the floor (as Jim suggests) or distance from the pivot as others have assumed.
I suspect that, being a special, you may have used a wedge?? In which case there isn't a lot you can do.
I sympathise with your predicament regarding toe (or even foot) room. I'm grappling with the position of the accelerator and brake pedal in my special. In my case the steering box is at a standard height (even with a very small wedge). I've made a blister on the side but even so there isn't much room. I'm contemplating fabricating a new top for the pedal allowing it to be further away from the accelerator.
Maybe if you post a photo we can see exactly what your problem is?
I once possessed a steering box wedge which had a flange down the side of the chassis with a hole which matched the original hole in the chassis which the brake pedal pivot mounted through, bringing the brake pedal to its normal position. Or have I missed something here?
Thanks for all the replies.
I've attached a photo of said brake pedal, you will also see accelerator pedal is also odd- I plan to fit a normal pedal.
The brake pedal sits high and when braking requires quiet a lift of the foot.
All the brakes are in good condition and adjusted with little pedal travel, but what I would say is that the plane of travel is more upwards than down if that makes sense?
By their very nature Specials offer a different driving experience with an element of compromise, since purchase I've tried to adapt to a comfortable seating position (everythings relative) by lowering and moving the seat back a couple of inches but the pedals are proving problematic.
Paul
Thanks for posting the photo. I don't think you have a wedge in there but I do think BOTH clutch AND brake pedal are either non-standard or have been bent about a bit. Strangely enough there seems to be a slot cut in the vertical floor section that would accommodate the correct lever.
I think your best bet would be to try and get standard levers and see how they fit?
Bruce.. I think your steering wedge is probably well thought out and it would be interesting to see a photo. From posts on this forum I think it is not the norm. Most wedges simply shunt the steering box upwards leading to the brake pivot being a bit higher.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 381 Threads: 16
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8 Location: Port Elizabeth, Sunny South Africa
Car type: '26 Chummy, '28 Top Hat, '33 Type "65", single seaters
I replaced the brake pedal in a friends Ulsteroid and then set about completely re-working the shape of the new pedal from an L shape into a C shape. Took a good few goes with the oxy-acetylene and a variety of tubes, hoops and a big chunk of angle iron with a suitable hole in it, use the threaded end to bolt it to the angle iron & give it a heave to pull it into the shape I wanted, I seem to recall that I also cut-n-shut it a bit, but when done it was at an even height with the clutch and about an inch further from the floorboards - perfect for what we wanted.
2 coats of fast drying gloss black and an hour in the sun, I do live in tropical South Africa after all, and the job was done.
