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Bending Clutch and Brake pedals to RH drive


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Good day,

Part way through restoration and conversion to RH drive. I am struggling to bend the brake and clutch pedals to the required RHDrive shape. Forum searches just say 'bend them'. (Clutch should be bent from canted to the left to straight.....Brake should be bent from straight to canted to the right.)

I cannot get enough welly on the pedals to bend them even in my reasonable sized vice, club hammer and strongish bench. My plumbing blowtorch won't help as it doesn't heat it up enough. My bench will disintegrate if I hit it any harder. 

Have thought about cutting into the u section ends to weaken the U channel, bend then reweld as pickie illustrates. Anyone done this? I'm a bit cautious as its a brake pedal, thats why I am asking.

Thanks, David B

TR4Apedal.JPG

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Dave 

im pretty certain if you get s Mapp has blowtorch ( pretty cheap in toolststion or screwfix) you should be able to get enough heat into the metal to bend it - in can get a cast iron exhaust manifold cherry red so you should be able to get a pedal arm to do the same 

I’m not sure I would be cutting and rewelding a safety critical item if I could help it

eill  post some photos of a rhd pedal set up if it would help

vheers

Rich

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Rich, Have found the Vortex brazing torch which uses Mapp gas on the Toolstation site. Is that the one?  Photo would help although degree of bend seems well illustrated on the TR4Aweebly site.

Roger,  Have used the forum to purchase a RHD accelerator pedal assembly but thought the clutch and brake would be easy from what I've read on t'internet. Buying a hotter brazing torch would come in useful though for future as I know I have some broken studs to extract from my manifolds when I get to that bit. wasn't sure if I could buy something that would get enough heat into the thing without going to a gas welding set up. 

 

Thanks all, David B 

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David 

The Vortex should be just the ticket - don't forget to buy a spare gas cannister at the same time because they always run out at the most inconvenient time!

I've just been down and taken some photos of the pedal arrangement on one of my projects which will hopefully help ( thats if the photos load - just taken me half an hour to do  - oh for a better system!!)

I'll send you a PM with my email as it might be easier to send photos that way

Cheers

Rich

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IMG_0782.JPG

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FWIW Depending on the size of your feet I would bend the pedals to suit your feet, When I did mine a very long time ago I bent them so I could drive in my size11 work boots and still have room to the left of the clutch pedal to use the dip-switch as a foot rest. I do notice the difference in a standard car now!

Stuart.

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Stuart, I am standard size 8 but will bend to suit my position as suggested once I fit seats and dip switch.  Most pictures I see have the clutch pedal straight and the brake midway between the clutch and accelerator so will go with that as a start and see how it suits me. 

Thanks for confirmation that they do actually bend. Did it result in a horrible misshapen pedal or did it look OK ? 

David B

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34 minutes ago, David Baram said:

Stuart, I am standard size 8 but will bend to suit my position as suggested once I fit seats and dip switch.  Most pictures I see have the clutch pedal straight and the brake midway between the clutch and accelerator so will go with that as a start and see how it suits me. 

Thanks for confirmation that they do actually bend. Did it result in a horrible misshapen pedal or did it look OK ? 

David B

No as long as you bend the arm first and then bend the pedal plate so its upright too then its fine.

Stuart.

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Hi David, isn't the Brake Pedal different , as in an extra piece welded on the side , it actuates the Brake light Switch   ??

Just a thought.

Conrad.

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1 minute ago, openroad said:

Hi David, isn't the Brake Pedal different , as in an extra piece welded on the side , it actuates the Brake light Switch   ??

Just a thought.

Conrad.

Not on a 4a Conrad

Stuart.

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16 hours ago, David Baram said:

Rich, Have found the Vortex brazing torch which uses Mapp gas on the Toolstation site. Is that the one?  Photo would help although degree of bend seems well illustrated on the TR4Aweebly site.

Roger,  Have used the forum to purchase a RHD accelerator pedal assembly but thought the clutch and brake would be easy from what I've read on t'internet. Buying a hotter brazing torch would come in useful though for future as I know I have some broken studs to extract from my manifolds when I get to that bit. wasn't sure if I could buy something that would get enough heat into the thing without going to a gas welding set up. 

 

Thanks all, David B 

Without teaching to suck eggs just worth remembering, which is easily overlooked, that when heating and bending you’ll need to insulate the pedal with blocks of wood or similar otherwise your vice will drain most of the heat from your torch. 

Kevin

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23 minutes ago, openroad said:

Best get my coat  , Stuart   !!!

See your Email about something else Conrad.

Stuart

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As suggested above, design the pedal positions to suit yourself. Having a left foot rest space is a bonus.

Have you considered deleting the factory accelerator/throttle design and fitting a pedal with lokar or similar cable activate.

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