Hanging brake pedal on a CK?

[pszikszai]

Did anyone do it.
If yes,please describe the procedure.
Thanks
Paul

[sweetolbob]

Paul

I used a pedal assembly including the M/C, Brake booster and proportioning valve from an 89 Camaro IROC. It required I reinforce the firewall with a 3/16" metal plate bent to the contours of the firewall.I also added some reinforcing structure to support the top of the pedal assembly.

It ended up at about the same angle as the Camaro. I also used the power brake booster which required a modification of the fender well. A smaller booster unit would not require those mods. I also adapted a set of Monte Carlo calipers and discs to the front spindles.

Just depends on how far you want to go.

Bob

[ralt12]

You can also try these folks:

http://www.kugelkomponents.com/products/brakesystem.php

[rusty nut garage]

the guy that builds the front end kit for ck cars and advertises in TW also makes a conversion kit for the swinging pedals on a ck. I saw it at the international meet, looked like a well built peice. I forget the company name.

Did anyone do it.
If yes,please describe the procedure.
Thanks
Paul

[Jeff_H]

I've posted these before.

This shows the heavily modified bracket and arm from a '63 lark that I used to do the swinging brake pedal on my '53. The end that attached to the bottom of the dash (left side in picture) was cut off and a plate welded there to mate up to the '53 dash lower edge and the U-bolt and coller for the steering column. I have a studebaker steering column and the stock dash and supports including the triangle shaped brace that helps hold up the column. The other end that butts to the firewall was also modified so it would fit up to the angled firewall of the '53. A '63 lark firewall is vertical. Then there is a wedge shaped piece that goes on the engine side to set the angle of the master cylinder so its level. The push rod was cut in half and lengthened about a inch due to the wedge part.



Here it was installed.



I was aware of possible firewall flex but sadly did not sufficiently take that into account. So, I had some less than solid brakes. If the car hadn't been all together and painted, etc, I would have welded a nice thick plate up to the backside of the firewall. So, my solution was to add a booster. This is a '62 lark booster assy with the '63 master mounted on it. Again, some more custom mods to the push rods (both of them) was needed to get this to work.



I think I would have been better off using some other master and booster since getting all these units rebuilt was rather costly. Not only that, my late addition of the booster barely fits under the hood. If I had planned for this booster up front I would have mounted things about 1/2" lower. Any solution is going to require some fabrication. Definately you will need to reinforce the firewall.

You will also note the battery is no longer on the driver side. Its moved to the passenger side to make room for the brake parts. As you can tell, there is almost nothing under the hood of my '53 that is stock....



BTW, this engine room shot is a few years old. I've since gotten a better radiator w/o all those nasty patches on the tank and cleaned up some other details like those rusty bolts down by the grill.

[PackardV8]

This is not an easy or inexpensive conversion. Many of the hanging pedal lashups where builders used wrecking yard parts aren't totally successful. A while back, a local rod shop had to repair one a home-builder installed which fatigued the firewall and cracked the sheet metal. It required removing a the engine to repair and reinforce the firewall.

You asked about hanging pedals, but here's an alternative for serious fabricators. Of all the cars I've ever driven, the older BMWs and Porsches with the floor-mounted pedals had the best feel and action. Since the C/Ks have all that room down below the floor anyway, next one I do, I'm looking at this setup. http://www.wilwood.com/Images/PEDALS...40-1289-lg.jpg It isn't cheap, but they come up for sale on eBay from time to time. It wouldn't require any more fabrication than a good-science hanging pedal setup.

jack vines

[Bob Andrews]

We've used that floor-mount pedal setup for years on our race cars (oval track). Ours uses a balance bar with a knob-type adjuster. We also use the mate to it for the hydraulic clutch. About as bulletproof as one can get.