Making a bias box from a Metro pedal box..
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:08 pm
By popular request....
Well almost, the recent failure of my master cylinder got me thinking about a more sustainable alternative. I'd seen the KAD version on Davids cars and looked at making something similar until I started to get the feeling that I was making life hard for myself when the standard pedal box probably had the potential to be converted without needing to move the battery.
As my car is a daily driver I put out an appeal for a pedal box to play with, a standard Metro one has turned up from APBellamy on the Metro Forum that I will use to chop about and potentially wreck in the process with another one kindly donated by Jon on here which has already had the pedals converted for use in a Midas.
So, this is what it's all about.. a standard Metro box with cable clutch.
First off I removed the clutch pedal so it was one thing less to have flapping about, the bushes are fine so that's one thing less to do.
Using a pencil in the clevis hole I marked the full travel of the pedal on both sides of the box.
Prodding around in the footwell of the Midas revealed that there's maybe an inch of travel at the clevis under braking so I used a 51mm hole saw to create a clearance hole on one side.
... and then the other side
The pedal stop that incorporates the brake light switch is held on with a couple of spot welds, you can see on the picture that this has already moved so the bracket will be welded on properly when I get the MIG out.
You can see the problem with the length of the balance bar against the width of the pedal box itself.
This is the tube that will need to be welded to the pedal for the bias bar. I have looked locally for an end mill to make a really clean job, but in the end I got a 32mm hole saw from Axminster Tools, the advantage of using this is that the saw is centered by using the clevis hole to locate the pilot drill for the saw.
Now you can see how it all fits together, for the clevis to clear the side of the pedal box the bias tube will have to be welded in offset from the centre line of the pedal. In my eyes this is less than ideal as the load could be moved away from the main load bearing structure. I'll be welding in a web to reinforce the unsupported section.
I haven't decided which way around I'm going to mount the longer end, this is the end the dash mounted adjuster fits to so I need to have a rummage around in the foot well to see which side will be best for running the cable.
Ok, back in a couple of days as I've got a short notice training course tomorrow.
Well almost, the recent failure of my master cylinder got me thinking about a more sustainable alternative. I'd seen the KAD version on Davids cars and looked at making something similar until I started to get the feeling that I was making life hard for myself when the standard pedal box probably had the potential to be converted without needing to move the battery.
As my car is a daily driver I put out an appeal for a pedal box to play with, a standard Metro one has turned up from APBellamy on the Metro Forum that I will use to chop about and potentially wreck in the process with another one kindly donated by Jon on here which has already had the pedals converted for use in a Midas.
So, this is what it's all about.. a standard Metro box with cable clutch.
First off I removed the clutch pedal so it was one thing less to have flapping about, the bushes are fine so that's one thing less to do.
Using a pencil in the clevis hole I marked the full travel of the pedal on both sides of the box.
Prodding around in the footwell of the Midas revealed that there's maybe an inch of travel at the clevis under braking so I used a 51mm hole saw to create a clearance hole on one side.
... and then the other side
The pedal stop that incorporates the brake light switch is held on with a couple of spot welds, you can see on the picture that this has already moved so the bracket will be welded on properly when I get the MIG out.
You can see the problem with the length of the balance bar against the width of the pedal box itself.
This is the tube that will need to be welded to the pedal for the bias bar. I have looked locally for an end mill to make a really clean job, but in the end I got a 32mm hole saw from Axminster Tools, the advantage of using this is that the saw is centered by using the clevis hole to locate the pilot drill for the saw.
Now you can see how it all fits together, for the clevis to clear the side of the pedal box the bias tube will have to be welded in offset from the centre line of the pedal. In my eyes this is less than ideal as the load could be moved away from the main load bearing structure. I'll be welding in a web to reinforce the unsupported section.
I haven't decided which way around I'm going to mount the longer end, this is the end the dash mounted adjuster fits to so I need to have a rummage around in the foot well to see which side will be best for running the cable.
Ok, back in a couple of days as I've got a short notice training course tomorrow.
