gas pedal adjustment
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 128
Likes: 0
gas pedal adjustment
Hey guys, I have a 75 vette and the gas pedal seems to be sitting too low to the carpet. There isn't enough room to give the car much throttle due to the lack of room. Is there any way to adjust the pedal heigth?
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 14,380
Likes: 6,391
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
First, check the nut/bolt retainer arrangement at the top of the pedal linkage near the firewall. This can come loose and also provides some amount of pedal position adjustment. If all is correct and tight, grab the pedal and bend it upwards.
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 4,226
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From: Orange County Ca
But be carefull. My pedal mounting bracket is plastic and broke.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 14,380
Likes: 6,391
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
That's true - you don't want to put a bunch of force into the plastic attach point - you just want to bend the round pedal rod itself to get more of an angle into it so you get more pedal travel. Again, this assumes that the bolted attach point is tight and in good shape and that you don't have a bunch of carpet padding under the gas pedal...
Racer
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 436
Likes: 2
Has anyone tried shimming the pedal where it mounts to the firewall? I feel like I have bent mine away from the carpet a decent amount, but I can still only get about 75% throttle. I've messed with the linkage adjustments a bunch, but there's nothing more I can do from that end. As soon as I remotely press on the pedal, the throttle cable starts to pull on the throttle arm of the carb. It seems the speed demon has a long way to travel from idle to WOT...any way to make it "move faster" to WOT, i.e. less travel to get it there?
Any ideas...I want WOT! Thanks guys.
Any ideas...I want WOT! Thanks guys.
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Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,993
Likes: 9
From: Gig Harbor WA
Has anybody added an adjustable pedal "stop" bolt in the floor pan, below the pedal, so the rod doesn't get bent down again with repeated "mashing to the floor"??
Would seem pretty simple to do...
Rob
Would seem pretty simple to do...
Rob
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 8,117
Likes: 104
From: charlotte north carolina
how does the pedal sit in relation to the brake pedal? if it's about even in height and there is no slack in the cable, consider moving the mounting area on the carb closer to the axis of rotation of the linkage. just drill a new hole and bubba it!
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
Note: When you finish adjusting the pedal, follow that up with a check-out of the accel pedal movement allowing for full opening of the carb [rear] throttle plates. If you have a Q-Jet, this is particularly important, as those plates open with just the last little movement in the linkage.
Racer
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 436
Likes: 2
I have a speed demon...right now, the secondaries don't even open with pedal to the floor. I'll bend the gas pedal some more to make it even w/ the brake pedal. Is there no way to make the travel on the carb less? i.e. It moves from idle to WOT faster (less total travel).
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,224
Likes: 1
From: Clarksville Indiana
I have a speed demon...right now, the secondaries don't even open with pedal to the floor. I'll bend the gas pedal some more to make it even w/ the brake pedal. Is there no way to make the travel on the carb less? i.e. It moves from idle to WOT faster (less total travel).
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
The cable feeds through the pedal hardware and the end of it fits in a socket. You could make a "shim"...of sorts...to fit between the cable end and the socket to take up more cable length. I actually did this in "Bubba" style, because I didn't want to damage any of the original hardware. I use some JB Weld stick epoxy to form a little ball to put on the cable between the end and the fitting. You can estimate how much distance you need to fill by putting a small vise-grip in that space and testing the pedal 'throw'. I've had this on my pedal for 2 years without any problems. [Note: If I could have found a suitable metal shim at any hardware store, I would have done that instead. But, I was unable to find anything that would work well.]
By the way, if you ever need to, you can use a set channel-lok pliers to crush the epoxy shim; then remove it and you are just where you started.
By the way, if you ever need to, you can use a set channel-lok pliers to crush the epoxy shim; then remove it and you are just where you started.
Racer
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 436
Likes: 2
to fit between the cable end and the socket to take up more cable length.
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 209
Likes: 1
From: Denver CO
I did a very effective and simple fix for this issue on mine-- no pedal bending! Using an old piece of thick sheet metal custom shaped to bolt to the throttle linkage. Drilled a hole in this metal piece and mounted the cable in it with the ball socket/bolt assembly. Hole in metal is farther towards radiator, as i pulled the cable forward the pedal raised inside the car. Now when i push the pedal all the way down, the carb is WOT. Hope this helps! 
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,802
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From: Wichita KS
FlyViper, did you pull on the cable to see how much travel is needed to reach WOT?
If your gas pedal hits the floor before you get to WOT, maybe the cable is the wrong one and is too long.
There is a small amount of adjustment in the cable bracket on the intake but no more than an inch or so. If you have used all of that and you still can't reach WOT, try a new cable.
Also, make sure you have the correct cable bracket and mounted in the correct location.
cc
If your gas pedal hits the floor before you get to WOT, maybe the cable is the wrong one and is too long.
There is a small amount of adjustment in the cable bracket on the intake but no more than an inch or so. If you have used all of that and you still can't reach WOT, try a new cable.
Also, make sure you have the correct cable bracket and mounted in the correct location.
cc
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
The cable has an end piece permanently attached as a 'cable stop'; on the other end it has another attached end piece. If you cut either one off, you then have to replace the end piece. I just chose to shorten it with a home-made shim, rather than to alter the cable.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 957
Likes: 6
From: Burlington wisconsin
The issue everyone is expieriencing has nothing to do with cable length. It is that the travel of the OEM pedal & the travel the carbs we are using is different. You can mash the pedal into the floor with all your might & no matter what you do with either end of the cable itself it will not change the fact that the carbs linkage requires more travel or throw that the peadal allows. Remove the pedal from the car & give it a lil more than slight bend upwards, reinstall it and look for WOT when the pedal is pushed & not mashed to the floor. Adjust from there. Hope this helps, I've been there. 
Terrorizing Orange Cones
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,572
Likes: 17
From: Northern CO
FlyViper: read your profile to get an idea what year car we're dealing with. Are you trying to reuse the original t-cable carb mount?
I couldn't get enough adjustment out of mine and had a few extra bucks at the time so ordered a new cable mount. Mine is a clutch car; no kickdown cable to deal with. Your profile didn't say and if yours is an auto then this solution may not help much.
This is what I ended up with:
I have plenty of pedal travel (taking into account the carpet thickness) for WOT now. Plus, it's fully adjustable while keeping WOT if I change any part of the setup [carb-rtn springs-height-etc].
I did reduce my carb spacer down to .5" instead of the 1" in the picture after remounting the hood (L-88 style) bc carb sat too tall and hood wouldn't close.
Other than that, this works good for me. Didn't bend the pedal arm and didn't have to intro more options while retaining original throttle cable.
I couldn't get enough adjustment out of mine and had a few extra bucks at the time so ordered a new cable mount. Mine is a clutch car; no kickdown cable to deal with. Your profile didn't say and if yours is an auto then this solution may not help much.
This is what I ended up with:
I have plenty of pedal travel (taking into account the carpet thickness) for WOT now. Plus, it's fully adjustable while keeping WOT if I change any part of the setup [carb-rtn springs-height-etc].
I did reduce my carb spacer down to .5" instead of the 1" in the picture after remounting the hood (L-88 style) bc carb sat too tall and hood wouldn't close.
Other than that, this works good for me. Didn't bend the pedal arm and didn't have to intro more options while retaining original throttle cable.