Pedals; back in!

After months of taking things out,  un-seizing components, dismantling and cleaning them up they were actually going back in and in an operational state. Most satisfying was getting the clutch pedal back in which now moves beautifully up and down as it should and so does the brake pedal. The steering box was refilled with SAE90 oil, I had un-opened bottle on the shelf dating back several years.

Pedals all in
The pedal cluster all back in place and un-seized

The front under dash body work brace that ran left to right (or vice versa) was re-installed, pipes pushed back on to the heater outlets and suddenly a faint glimmer of light was on the horizon. However, my next project is proving to difficult. The removal of the brake pipes to release the brake master cylinder is proving to be tiresome. Not wishing to round off the nuts they have all been liberally soaked in WD40. With some patience I hope they’ll loosen soon.

Brake master cylinder due for removal
Brake master cylinder in process of removal, awaiting for seized up brake unions too free off.

 

 

Accelerator Pedal re-install

accelerator pedal mechanism
Accelerator mounting circled in red; awkward bolt (arrowed) to bulkhead behind heater.

A couple of spare hours, and with my little helper to hand, was enough to get the accelerator rod mechanism cleaned up and back in. The small mount (circled in red) that fixes to the brake and clutch pedal mounting had completely seized solid. It was so solidily stuck that when I initially tried to press the ‘gas’ pedal it would flex the firewall/bulkhead rather than pivot in its mounting. It took a vice, several soaks of WD40 and a week to free off and enable the small mount to rotate around the rod, freely.

The rod was treated to a clean up by wire brush and two grades of wet and dry then a coating of sprayed on grease to keep things lubricated and clean-ish. It was the first time this piece of the car had ever been removed in 46 years, evidence being the over spray on the special rubber grommet on the firewall, which will need replacing.

drivers side footwell
Interior drivers side footwell with accelerator pedal (silver rod) re-installed. Brake and clutch pedals yet to be put back in

Installation was reverse of the removal, just less of the cursing as the youngster was present. The heater proved to be equally tricky to get back in as it was quite heavy to lever upwards and be aligned with it’s mounting holes for the bolts to go in. Next step, will be the re-install of the clutch and brake pedals.

Foot pedals, more to come out…

Brake and clutch pedals assembled on to the mounting and all move freely

The clutch and brake pedals were re-attached to their mountings and were all moving freely as they should be. The next task was to take out the accelerator pedal as that has seized on its pivot point.

Easier said than done. To remove the accelerator pedal assembly, the heater matrix had to be released from it’s mountings. To move the heater matrix away from it’s mountings the 1″ square bracing under the dash board, which formed part of the parcel shelf  that ran the width of the car, had to be removed. Once it had been removed, the heater would only move another inch or so, due to other under dash items getting in the way. With access to the tricky bolt on the bulk head (first one was accessible in the engine bay) now made easier, it was still lots of 1/8th turns of a spanner to undo. Once the accelerator mount bracket to the bulk head was removed, it was twisting and turning the assembly every which way one could to extract. Eventually it came out and sprayed with WD40 and left soaking to loosen the pivot point.