height of brake and clutch pedals S1 4.2 1965

[phoenix]

Hi just fitting pedal box and find the pedals to high (about 10 inch measuring straight back from the pedal to the bulkhead) The pedal box has no adjustment so how can I lower them they look wrong. I did not take this apart so I did not see it built up before.

[politeperson]

Which type of pedal box do you have?

If it is the earlier type, the brake pedal height adjustment is set with the pedal box removed from the bulkhead. You can pull the brake master forward off the box so you dont have to bleed anything. Its still bit of a fiddle on a RHD car.

The shaft is held by and end plate, cir-clip and 2 x 5/16th screws. You have to jigger about with the return spiring as well.

Mark the relative position of the clutch arm and shaft. You withdraw the splined shaft, rotate it click in the right direction, before reinserting it through the pedal and tightening the half inch nut with lock washer.

The reassemble the whole lot! Takes an hour or two to do it.

20210415_170117.jpg (197.04 KiB) Viewed 2626 times

[phoenix]

Yes, I rebuilt the pedal box and the pedals were almost level but look far to high with no adjustment possible. Moving the brake on the splines on the shaft dosn't alter the height . The brake stops by the pedal shaft touching the housing, you would think it would think it should be ok as it is standard . The only way I can see to cure it is by drilling the housing and fitting bolts as stops . If someone could tell me the height of there pedals I would be grateful (S1 4.2 1965) . I have never fitted fitted the seats to check but they seem far to high. Fitting bumpers at the moment what a tease they are .

[phoenix]

HI. Is there any difference between S1 3.8 and S1 4.2 clutch and brake pedals . I do not know the origin of the parts of the pedal box and when built the pedals are 10 inches from the bulkhead which looks far to high . I noticed the earlier cars had some form of adjustment on travel and I was wondering if they could be earlier pedals .

[abowie]

There are 3 iterations of pedal boxes.

3.8 has Kelsey Hayes system.

Early 4.2 (first year) had a transitional box similar in design to the KH; this is shown above.

After that it changed to the loaf shaped unit.

If you send us some pictures we might be able to help you.

[phoenix]

I am working on this car away from home and I brought the pedal box and master cylinder home. I pushed on the clutch pedal until it operated the cylinder .It was about an inch before resistance . I then tried the brake pedal and found it needed to start in the same position as the clutch. I then used the hole opposite the bolt that tightens the brake pedal around the splined shaft and worked out the correct length of a bolt as a pedal stop to the box . I then drilled a small hole and fitted a bolt as a stop for the clutch pedal. I will try later on car . I know I should not have to do this and it should be left as it was standard but I have to do something as long as its safe. Any thoughts . Nothing I have done cannot be undone . I will try to post some pictures when fitted.

[Series1 Stu]

It sounds like you're doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.

Why not answer the questions of the knowledgeable experts and let them help you find the correct thing to do? Somebody later on will have to try to figure out why somebody has made a lash-up bodge and will end up wondering what other short cuts have been taken in the restoration.

Regards

[Turnip]

I had the same problem – the first time I actually sat in the car (1965 fhc) with a seat fitted my first thought was “those pedals are going to be impossible after about 30 minutes”.
So I did some customisation and the gap from the top of the brake pedal horizontally back to the firewall is now about 5”. That’s with carpets and sound proofing etc. fitted. With a 5” gap the pedals almost touch the bulkhead at full depression.

My solution is below. It’s a bit complicated (and expensive), but might generate some ideas. It worked for me, but I can’t guarantee that it’d work for someone else.

Brake pedal.
- buy a new brake push rod (C.25901) and cut off the forked end to shorten the item by ½ to 5/8”.
- buy a “clevis fork” off EBay to fit the rod (1/4”? 5/16”?). Try and get a shortish one.
- thread the rod to take to new clevis fork with enough thread to allow adjustment if needed.
- fit the push rod to the master cylinder and then to the car. That gave me the 5” gap on my car.

There is also the brake pedal stop plate (C.24615, Item No. 9 on Plate 26 in the parts book) that bolts to the underside of the bulkhead. This will no longer be long enough, but I found it was fairly easy to make a longer one out of 1/8” plate with a jigsaw and a dremel.

And if you want the other pedals to match:
Clutch pedal.
Get the S2 clutch master cylinder spacer block (C27160-A) and fit that. It’s ½” thick (hence the brake rod shortening amount) and should make the clutch pedal align with the brake pedal. The block may have to be fettled to fit the master cylinder properly.
It’s quite possible then that the clutch only disengages about 95%. It doesn’t really show on short journeys, but once the gearbox is hot gear changes can be very stiff. To fix that I bought a replacement slave cylinder and have it sleeved down from 7/8” to 13/16” by the company “Past Parts”. You can also ask them to add a circlip groove to the insert, which is something they seem to leave off pattern parts these days.
A suitable 13/16 piston was obtained from an aftermarket slave cylinder for a Volvo P1800 Coupe for about £15. I think there is a Mazda (MX5?) one that could be used as well.

Throttle pedal.
Um, yes. The expensive part. I already had the cable throttle conversion, which enabled me to adjust the pedal back to align with the others.

Well, anyway, that’s what I did.

Good luck.

Simon

[phoenix]

I have fitted stops to the pedals which bring the them into a better position and still allow cylinders to return enough .

[Duckham]

There was a stop plate originally fitted to the brake pedal on at least some 4.2s. It is often missing so may not have been on all.
https://www.sngbarratt.com/English/#/UK ... 04.2%20DHC
Joe