Frankie the Fink

Wow, 59 posts on a fiber pedal spacer. BTW - the guys on the NCRS forum say the spacer is supposed to be there - many top restorers frequent that web site.

I put the spacer in with the longer bolts and drove to Old Town last night...so the dang downrod (which I think is too far inboard) kept hanging up at idle; car would idle down to 1,100 RPM until I stuck my toe under the gas pedal and just barely lifted it (never happened previously). I'll try a little grease back there but I'm hoping when my LICS "BEST" repro pedal arrives that the downroad hits more towards the center on the slider plate...

tuxnharley

Frank - So, is it fair to say that now that you have a spacer installed the pedal/linkage geometry has changed and something is binding or hanging up, causing the high idle? In other words, your car operated better without the spacer than it does with one installed?

I'm not trying to be argumentative or "gloat" here, but am trying to understand WTF is going on with this little piece of what appears to be fiber board.

I'm wondering if perhaps all our cars are not exactly the same..... in the floor pan area? Could there be production variables affecting the pocket depth and floor pan thickness? Variable amounts of chopper glass sprayed on and / or resin applied in the operation? Also, many of us have sagged over the years - our floor pans, that is! Could that affect what is going on here?

What I really don't understand is why GM would design a pocket into the floor pan that evidently isn't needed and then needs to be filled in, creating an additional step in the assembly process - and continue that for 4 years in spite of many other running production changes. That includes specific changes to the floor pan itself, like eliminating the footwell depressions that were in the early '63s.

Have those experts over on the NCRS Forum ever seen a C2 without the spacer?


Glenn

Frankie the Fink

To be honest I have to answer yes - of course the geometry changed....the pedal is canted to the right when installed so naturally raising it up 1/4" or more will force that inboard back edge to be closer to the downrod...that's indisputable.

However the spacer isn't the only variable; the top of the pedal can move laterally depending on how much you tighten each screw; e.g. there is some 'wobble' factor....also the pedal joint at the bottom seems to have some flexibility and who knows what happened to a repro pedal over the years.

I did my usual medieval thing this morning when the pedal pissed me off and bent it WAY over the right....so the downrod is centered now (with the spacer). I don't know if it will stay that way but I have a good LICS repro coming anyway. Not sure you can extrapolate that the spacer shouldn't be there from my singular experience.

And several highly regarded posters on the NCRS forum say the spacer should be there -- even back to '63...draw what conclusion you want from that

MikeM

See post #34

morly1963

OK kids, just went out to put in my new gas pedal and I see the spacer, it's flattened down and I'm not changing it. Pedals in, no binding or miss- alignment of the pedal rod or throttle linkage. Idles fine and drops down idle (no binding).

JohnZ

There wasn't a "pocket" in the floor pan. The issue was compression of the jute backing on the carpet under the heel pad when the two accelerator pedal-to-floor screws were driven, distorting the base of the pedal and creating an ugly depression in the heel pad.

The fix was cutting a rectangular hole and removing the jute backing from that hole below the heel pad, and gluing a 1/4"-thick fiber spacer block to the floor which filled the cut opening in the jute and provided a hard surface for the accelerator pedal base to draw up against so the base of the pedal (and the heel pad) remained flat.

Frankie the Fink

Show me where that is documented - I see nothing in any reference I have about a gas pedal change during the '63 production year...
No vendor I've run across offers a "late" or "early" '63 pedal....

MikeM

That is because it wouldn't be cost effective to make two of them or they just don't know about it. Take yer pick.

You sound pretty demanding for a guy that is searching for knowledge. When I tell you that the "rod" also changed (that's the thing that contacts the back of the anti-squeak pad), I hope it doesn't cause you to do something foolish.

Frankie the Fink

I merely ask to be pointed to where in the literature such changes are noted....doesn't seem too much to ask.

Maybe those accelerator linkage/pedal changes were only on those '63s delivered from the factory with knock-off wheels...

MikeM

Maybe but others say their pedal works okay and yours doesn't according to you.

The info is in the AIM so you can dig same as I did. Better do a little reading between the lines while yer at it and look at the big picture.

If I had an early '63 P&A book, I'd have some detail but my '63 books arei later issue.

Frankie the Fink

But, but, but those Dennis the Menace AIM pages don't have any approval signatures.
I'm so confused now...

MikeM

Yes, you are, aren't you?

When they zap you for points, don't say I didn't warn youl Then again, I don't think any of this is in the book so maybe you'll slide by. That is, unless you go for a PV and your gas pedal hangs up 'cause you don't have coordinated parts.

But KUDOOS to you Finkie. I knew about the gas pedal shim from about 35 years ago when I snatched a carpet out of my SWC and a convertible and wondered what that bubbas' piece was doing there years ago. Just forgot about it and after doing some digging, it explains some things I always wondered about.