rgwoehr

I'm planning to do a 4 speed conversion to my 'vette sometime later this year, so I figured I would change the pedals ahead of time so they're already in place when it's time to do the tranny swap. I had heard this was the worst part of the conversion, but as I was disassembling everything, it didn't seem as bad as I thought it would be. I got the brake booster out and then when I got to the last bolt in the wiper area, the fun began. Someone cross threaded one of the top bolts and snapped off the welded on nut on the pedal box, so I had to drill it out because there isn't enough room on the inside to grab the nut with something. I never have good luck drilling holes exactly where I intended them to be, even if I use a center punch, and this time was no different. The hole was way off center, so that didn't make things any easier for me. After an hour or so of "fun," I got the bolt out.




I got the pedal box out and got the pedals changed pretty quickly, and put the box and booster back in and got everything bolted back up and called it a day because it was getting dark out. This morning, I went out to put the clutch pedal push rod in, and noticed I couldn't get the pedal to come up all the way. The pedal was hitting the steel reinforcement that's riveted up in that area. After spending quite a bit of time trying to sand the steel down (by hand and with a dremel) because I didn't want to pull everything apart again, I decided to suck it up and do it. Got the pedals out again, and reshaped the steel with a BFH. Put it back together and the pedal swings freely now. I don't know if this was an issue with the way the reproduction clutch pedal was formed, or if that reinforcement was just riveted in slightly too far towards the passenger side.




Aside from the obstacles, the job wasn't too bad. It's definitely a bit tight in there. I feel bad for any older guys doing this, because I'm 22 and I'm pretty sore after working under the dash most of the day.

The main reason I'm sharing this other than to let off a bit of steam is to let people know to check that the pedal moves freely BEFORE putting everything back together, because doing that job just once is a pain, but doing it twice just plain sucks.

Alan 71

Hi r,
You're not trying hard enough….. you need at least 2 scabs in progress and 1 band-aid on that hand!!!!!
I'm so old that I'm having a hard time finding places on my hands to hurt that don't already have a scar there.
Regards,
Alan

jnb5101

It truly is one of the more "exciting" jobs-especially when you're 67!

rgwoehr

I'm surprised I didn't get cut up. I got several scratches on my arm, but no blood. I still have to put the seat and steering column back in, so I still have a couple opportunities to do that. I have a bunch of fiberglass in my hands and arms though, and to me that's worse than cuts

rajin cajin

Pedals were the worst part. Followed closely with welding the Z bar frame bracket on. You have half the battle won already.

LS4 PILOT

Young whipper snapper

The13Bats

hum...thanks for sharing...it's little things like that xed up nut that make a pain in the *** job just so much more fun....

rgwoehr

I marked where that frame bracket was supposed to go and had someone else weld that in a couple months ago when I had the motor out so fortunately that part of the battle is already taken care of. That looks like a pain to get to with the motor in the car, especially with power brakes. The booster is always in my way.

Yeah, it seems like just about everything I do has that one little thing that makes it a pain. Once I get behind the wheel again, it makes me forget about what a pain in the *** it is to work on that car