I got my clutch and brake pedals in afew days ago but was shocked as to how high the brake pedal now sits... I compared the brake pedals from the auto to manual and they both looked the same... either the pedal is higher than it was before or it's always been that high and when I was driving it I didn't notice but scents it has been down for over a month I forgot how high it was... the brake pedal is now significantly higher than the throttle (they usually are but this is alot), and even the clutch... Is there a way to adjust the pedal height? can the master cylinder rod be removed wishout damaging the master cylinder or causing a leak? I would like to bring down the pedal foot pad location about an inch or two. any suggestions? thank you. The only reason this bothers me is that I don't like to shift my right leg excessively while driving and expecially if I need to stop fast I don't want to have the inside of my foot hit the side of the pedal bring it back around and not be able to push down on it in time... as far as pulling my leg back than put it back down onto the brake there are clearance issues... I'm 6'7" and I have a size 17 shoe... which doesn't give me alot of moving room expecially if I have to move fast...
did you change the master cylinder or the rod in the master cylinder(mc)? a new master cylinder comes with two different length rods. i belive the mav. uses the shorter one. i hear that you can remove the rod with out damage although i have not tryed. your susposed to mount the mc in a vice then knock the rod out some how. i would measure the distance between the pedal and floor when pushing on the pedal. that will give you a idea of how much room you have to shorten the rod. i would think you would want it to have about a inch or a little more between the pedal and floorwhen you push hard on it.
Re: Brake pedal height adjustment Hi David, I'll tell you how I solved this same problem. I am not recommending you do this to your car and if you do it, you'll be doing this at your own risk. I installed disk brakes from the front of a '76 Maverick onto my '73 (4 wheel drum brakes) Maverick a couple of years ago. When I finished this installation, which included changing out the brake master cylinder to the correct version for front disk brakes, my brake pedal was also very high - way too high! I pulled the master cylinder out and tried to pull the actuating rod out so that I could shorten the rod - it wouldn't budge. I ended up re-installing the master cylinder with four or five washers between each of the ears on the master cylinder and the firewall of the car. By adding this "spacer", I was able to get the brake pedal to align with the gas pedal. In my case, the pedal was at least 2" too high. If my pedal had been only 1" too high, I am thinking that two or three washers would have been enough to bring the brake pedal down to where I wanted it. I hope my story helps. Regards, BaldEagleMav
I didn't change my mc when I changed my pedals I just unbolted it to pull out the hanger bracket. when I did have to change the mc about 6 years ago there was only one push rod and it was already installed... the spacer suggestion logicaly would make scents. all the strain from the pedal is still maintained by the bracket and because the mount points are on either side of the push rod there shouldn't be any geometery changes... I might give that a shot... Ideally I would like to remove the push rod without removing the master but I don't think thats possible... shorten it reweld and reinstall... I appreciate all the advice.
David; I went to Summit.com and got an adjustable brake rod, and I was able to adjust it down and put the pedal wherever I wanted. You can remove the old rod, but it is a real pill to do so, just don't give up. Also, the new rod should snap in there and you will be ok. That's how I did mine when I changed to the T5. Good luck!
Thanks for the info. What would I search under? is the brake rod on summit car specific? did you remove it with the mc still installed? I was thinking about pulling on the brake pedal to use the mechanical advantage to remove the rod. how did you do it? thanks. sorry about all the to the point questions... Thanks again.
Right now the brake pedal is about 6"-7" from the floor/firewall when measured from the back of the pedal along the line of stroke... which is about 5" higher than my throttle...
David; I just twisted it out, and it came out easy....too easy. The mc was off the car and new when I did it, however. I looked in the Summit catalog and the rod wasn't in there, but then it never was. You have to call Summit and get them to look it up, and get one for either the Maverick or a '70 Mustang. You have about a half inch of adjustment in the rod, which moves the pedal about 4", so you will have plenty of adjustment. Good luck!
I searched their website and found a universal one... couldn't find one that was ford specific... I'm going to see if I can remove it with the mc still installed and was thinking about cut and reweld it, first I need to do some geometery to see how much to cut. Thank you.
I had to use an adjustable rod my Grabber to align the brake and clutch pedal ... got it here ... http://mustangsunlimited.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=A21161+01
