Changing pedal location

[Minami]

It took a long time (all day) to fix the assembly with those 2 bolts. We can go and get the inspection done tomorrow then, so we can get a temporary license plate. Then we can drive it down to Farmers Branch where someone can take a look at it.

EDIT: I cannot align them, all I could do was to start the top 2 at the same time. The bottom doesn't fit, and vice versa if I try the bottom one(s) first.

 

[Seymour Snerd]

You definitely want to do this from the top, as follows:

1. Undo the two 6 mm nut and bolt pairs the hold together the two black aluminum "straps" holding down the aluminum HVAC housing (fake oil tank). Swing the upper straps up (they're hinged) and lift off the "tank" and set it aside.
2. Undo the three sheet metal screws that hold down a stainless steel tab (2" wide, 3" tall) that keeps the black plastic HVAC housing from sliding forward. Leave the tab attached to the housing. Pick up and carefully shift the black housing forward and to the right, trying not to strain the hoses, or unplug the wiring, until the flat trapezoidal (or is it pentagonal?) plate is exposed.
3. Remove the four or six (I can't remember which) screws holding down the plate. It's sealed with a foam gasket that has a very strange sticky/waxy feel to it. Try not to damage the gasket.
4. You can now look straight down on the pedal assembly. The bolts holding the pedal assembly to the floor are visible if you look carefully and use a flashlight. You can reach them with a 13 mm socket in a long extension and u-joint, or use a "gearwrench" (I prefer the latter). The upper ones you can find by feel.
5. Caution: the upper left bolt is shorter than the others and if you put the wrong (too long) one in it will strip the captive nut that it threads into. If you do so you can just drill the hole through and put a nut on top.
6. Once all four bolts are out you have to lift a little and tip the pedal assembly forward a LOT (like 45 degrees) in order to pick it up and push it to the rear over the the rail on the floor. It's OK, it has long hoses on it so it will survive being man-handled.
7. Now you can look down on the lower mounting points to see what if anything is keeping the bolts from threading in.
8. Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.
9. If a pair of wires on the AC box on the far right has come unplugged, if you look carefully at the 1/4" spade terminals you can see scratch marks that indicate which ones they came off of. Polarity doesn't matter; it's just a switch.
10. Putting all this back together you may strip some of the self-tapping screws that the mfr. is so in love with. I replaced them all with rivnuts and machine screws and it was definitely worth it because it vastly speeds up removal and reassembly. Now and I can R&R this thing in about 30 seconds each.

 

[Seymour Snerd]

EDIT: I cannot align them, all I could do was to start the top 2 at the same time. The bottom doesn't fit, and vice versa if I try the bottom one(s) first.

This is an old thread but since then I've learned that in real GT40s the pedal cluster retention bolts were threaded into nuts that were captive to the frame but loose thus allowing for minor misalignment betwen the cluster holes and the nut locators. Unfortunately, Superformance simply welded then nuts in, apparently without a jig, so that it isn't necessarily possible to move the cluster to any other position and still get all four bolts threaded.

I can't think of a reasonable way to retro-fit loosely captured nuts, so my only thought on this is to completely remove the pedal cluster from the car and then do two things:

1. Run a bottoming tap into the nuts just to make sure that the bolt can be threaded into them at all.
2. Relieve the pedal cluster holes enough so that the bolts have latitude to line up with the nuts. This might just be a matter of drilling the holes 1/16" larger, although obviously one wants to be careful risking the integrity of the pedal cluster and its attachment to the car.

 

[Richard]

Hi Alan good to see your working on your car. I had to use some inventive leverage to get my pedal assembly moved.

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Hi Alan good to see your working on your car. I had to use some inventive leverage to get my pedal assembly moved.

I fought with mine for about an hour one day and then gave up; hence the speculating about what move to make next....

 

[Richard]

I thought I had pictures of how I move mine but couldn't find any. I recall using ratchet tie down straps and my long clamps that can both clamp and push. Get as many bolts in you can and but make sure you can get to the one you left out. Good luck.

 

[Chet Schwer]

I moved mine when I first got the car from the inside and was finally able to get all four bolts started. I left the top left bolt "loose" since it needed to pull the attaching bracket down more than I thought it should and the assembly was tight anyway.
This Winter I removed the air conditioner to replace the rubber reservior hoses with teflon hoses and saw how easy it would be to move the pedals from above! My several hour job could have been done a lot quicker from above.

 

[DaveM]

I moved mine when I first got the car from the inside and was finally able to get all four bolts started.This Winter I removed the air conditioner to replace the rubber reservior hoses with teflon hoses and saw how easy it would be to move the pedals from above! My several hour job could have been done a lot quicker from above.

You have to be a good contortionist Chet! I can hardly touch the pedals diving in from the cockpit! Of course being 60+ old and a little overweight doesn't help.

 

[Tim Kay]

To my dismay, the correct pedal position for me puts the pedal fulcrum shaft right on top of the chassis cross-section. As described above, the pedal box can move fore and aft but due to the pedal fulcrum shaft being below the plane of the mounting rails it will foul on the cross-section if located right over it. IOW, the fulcrum shaft must reside on one side or the other of the cross-section.

One solution thus far is to bolt a slotted plate (for adjustability) to the bottom of the pedal assembly that is the correct thickness (+\- 1/4") to allow the fulcrum shaft to clear the cross-section. This in turn will not allow the top attachment of the pedal assembly to fit, that will have to be modified (cut down, reduced) by the same thickness as the plate.

Anyone else encounter this dilemma? Any other solutions?

Tim

 

[Ryan L]

This is an old thread but since then I've learned that in real GT40s the pedal cluster retention bolts were threaded into nuts that were captive to the frame but loose thus allowing for minor misalignment betwen the cluster holes and the nut locators

I think there were termed "floating nut plates". there were probably to some aerospace/aviation specification. I haven't worked out which one yet. I'm not sure how you replace them if they get damaged either as it looks like they need to be installed as an assembly before the plate is spot welded into the chassis.

Ryan

 

[Mike Giblin]

https://catalog.monroeaerospace.com/viewitems/all-categories/nutplates-1
https://-6www.pegasusautoracing.com...ChMIyM1_3M4QIVyMDICh2GXgZkEAAYBCAAEgI53PD_BwE

 

[Ryan L]

Mike I deleted the "-6" at the start of your second link and got it to work. I still need to be back through the notes I have and see if I can decipher a particular spec for these, or work out if they are replicable on the lower mounts. The top ones slide in from the front and are on a separate carrier I think.