Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Overview Shots & Pedal Pad Adjustment

Here are some wide-angle overview shots of the completed assembly, sitting on a work table in Nate and Amos' garage. Please ignore the ugly scrap wood heel board for now.

Note that although the throttle pedal arm is at the same angle as the brake and clutch arms, its pedal pad is not only longer but mounted closer to the arm than the other pedals. This is to facilitate heel and toeing. The throttle pedal pad has only a couple of washers between it and the pedal arm, while the other pedal pads are mounted considerably further away from their arms.

The clutch and brake pedal pads are adjustable in terms of height from their pedal arms, similar to those on Todd's production pedals. Instead of using plastic spacers as specified in Todd's DIY plans, I used nuts to lock the flat head bolts to the pads, and then used a pair of nuts on each side of the pedal arm to clamp the bolt to the arm.

This allows me to make some adjustment; all I have to do is loosen the nuts, twirl them up or down for more or less distance to the arm, and then tighten them. If I need more, I can simply substitute longer flat head bolts.

Oh yes. Just in case you're worried about me overtightening the nuts and squashing the pedal arms, which are made of 3/4" square aluminum tubing, don't be. We used tubing with 1/8" wall thickness for these, instead of the 1/16" specified in Todd's plans. They are plenty strong!

The pedals are now ready to go home to my apartment with me. Amos was sad that he won't be working on the pedals with me any more. I was too, very much so. We had such a great time working on them together! But we are looking forward to building a set for him, as soon as he has time.

The next step will be a trial fitting at my apartment, to see if the angle and position of the pedals feels right when rear of the feet (the "heels"?) are up against the wall in the dormer where my racing computer lives.

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