TECH - My take on 33-34 hydraulic brake pedals

Well here is my first attempt at a TECH thread.

I am building a 34 and here is my method for converting the stock 33-34 pedal set to hydraulic. This is a simple back yard technique, no special equipment or talents required beside a welder. It is all Ford parts and castaways from other projects. Here is a shopping list:



Original 33-34 pedal set
Another 34 donor brake pedal that was cut off
Model A brake or clutch pedal
Ford flathead clutch shaft

This set of 34 pedals was in very bad shape. The bushing were totally shot and in dire need of replacement. The 34 donor brake pedal I had from another pedal set that was cut up, something that you will find quite often. It was common practice to just cut the lever off the pedal and just leave it there when updating to firewall mounted hydraulic master.

 

Start by separating the 33-34 pedal set. Grind off the staking pins and drive them. Now drive out the cross shaft.



With a cut off wheel and grinder remove the housings off the pedal mount and clean the surface for welding. Both sides.





Again with the cutoff wheel remover the square tang off the model A pedal. Also remove the pedal arm and clevice.

 

Clean up what remains of the A pedal. Remove the bushing if inside but keep them you will need them in a little bit. With whatever means you have available cut the pedal in half. Re install the bronze bushings back into the A pedal, I was lucky enough that the bushing removed was in 2 pieces, you may have to cut the bushing or purchase some. You will need one bushing in each half of the pieces you just cut. Now with the clutch shaft, which is conveniently the same diameter as the pedal cross shaft, put the pieces back together.



Now , I only have a flux core 110 mig welder, Like I said before I am a true backyard builder. I welded the now split model A pedal to both sides of the 33-34 housing with the clutch shaft keeping them aligned.







After everything is welded together and cooled, you now need to do some hand filing. Remove the temporary bushings from the new housings. The 33-34 housing was designed for a tight press fit and looking inside the newly attached pieces you will see a lip that need to be slightly reduced. These lips if left will score the new cross shaft and can possibly bind the shaft, but yet you want the lip to hold the bushing in place.
Back at the beginning I told you that I used another 34 brake pedal that was butchered years ago. I removed what remained of the pedal arm and cleaned it up with the grinder. I drove out the Original worn out bushing and replaced it with a new one. I did a lot of measuring and calculating to determine what pedal I should use here. This combination will give me a 5:1 pedal ratio. You may want to use something different to get a different ratio.

 

Putting it together on the bench this is what I now have.



I purposely left the clutch shaft long as I have yet to determine my master cylinder position and It will be cut down later.

Here it is in the frame to give you an idea as to what the goal here is







Now this isn’t finished yet. Once my master cylinder position is determined the cut down 34 pedal will be welded to the shaft and the extra length will be removed. The brake pedal will be bolted to the shaft. The clutch shaft is hollow and will be tapped to receive a grease fitting and the shaft will be drilled to deliver grease to each of the bushings. All new bushing will be installed and the cool thing is that is all Ford stuff, the pedals will accept stock 33-34 bushing and the pieces welded on will take Model A pedal bushings.

This was just my take on doing this. It has been done many different ways over the years and aftermarket stuff is available, but since I had the stuff laying around and I have more time than money lately this is what I ended up doing.

 

Awesome! Great tech Jim, looks like it will work great!

 

Sweet! That looks trick!!

 

Hey, way to go with that tech, Jim! Good thinking! More pics please when you get to mounting the master cylinder, OK?

 

Very nicely done

 

Appreciated! Thanks for posting.

 

That was one of the best 33/34 Ford "Tech's" Ive seen in some time. Its a great Idea. I had previously installed the conversion kit from Early V8 Garage. Ill use this on my next 34.

 

Didn't read all the details -- so if I have it right, the brake will now move the shaft and you'll mount the master cylinder to operate off the left side of the shaft? The clutch will just 'float' like it always did on the same shaft. Everything mounts in the stock location.

You'll put bushings in the two shaft collars at each end (what you welded on).

I like the idea - should work out well and look as close to original as possible. Also, it keeps the master cylinder tucked up inside the frame rails and not down low where it can get hit by bad things!

Let me know if I read this right!

 

That is exactly what I am aiming for. Yes the brake pedal will activate the shaft and the clutch pedal will float on the same shaft is it did factory. I was looking around trying to figuire out how to keep it original looking without the having to weld on the brake lever. Then while examining a 35-36 pedal set the idea hit me.

 

Those welds look pretty good for flux core

 

Never said I couldn't weld. Only admitted I don't have a good welder.

When you learned on a 220 stick welder, any welding with better equipment makes you look like an excellent welder.

 

So I need some more info on how if works when it gets done and here is why, I have been helping a friend with a 33 do the same thing on one of these for some time and have no succeeded, his is slightly different in that he uses the oe linkage and the master cylinder is on the right side of the trans being pushed with an arm off of the crossbar but what we found is the mechanical pedals have about 4.5" of travel before they hit the floor. Most master cylinders need about 1" of travel to bottom. so about 4.5:1 is the ratio you end up with if you have no linkage play takeup or any other slop. with the early wheel cylinders that is not enough travel to have a good pedal til the thing is nearly on the floor. if you change the ratio to lift the pedal you cant stop it.
I compared my setup with a stock 40 ford and found a 6.5:1 ratio and over 7" of pedal travel avail. my friend thinks this doesnt look right on his 33 so we are at a stand still.
If yours works i may convince him to convert.
Thanks

 

I never said you couldn't weld,either I just can't do flux core for crap.

P.S. Nice,inovative tech on the pedals

 

all tech week to the top 26

 

Here is back to the top incase the West Coast guys missed it.

 

Nicely done, and like you said............all old Ford parts. I'm filing this away for a future '33/'34 project.

Frank

 

Frank, FYI, I think the same procedure will work on 32 pedals also. Pretty sure that you can stick the shaft through the K member on 32's the same way as I did on the 33-34 X member.

Here is Andy's (thunderbirdesq) 32 pedals and stock K member in his A roadster.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/thunderbirdesq/31 dee-lux/31011.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/thunderbirdesq/31 dee-lux/parts060.jpg

 

Did you ever complete this set up?

I am wondering how it worked out.

I am considering using this on my 33 coupe.

Great idea.

 

BTT with some progress to report. Been getting some PM's on the results, jury is still out as I don't have it finished yet. I feeling very positive that it will be a smashing success.

Got the master mounted. I Built a bracket that mounts the master and bolts to the frame with the same hardware that mounts the pedal assembly.

Couple minor changes in the design. Remember I said that I was going to use model A pedal bushings in the pieces that I welded on, well I found out the hard way that model A pedal bushings weren't going to work, apparently Model A bushing need to be reamed after installation and since I don't have a reamer I passed on that idea. Bought Clutch shaft bushings, worked like a charm. Only they were a little long , after they were installed I trimmed them to length.

Welded a cap to one end of my shaft since it was hollow. Cross drilled the shaft ate each bushing that was goinf to need lubrication, when finished the open end will be tapped and a grease zerk installed for ease of service.

The hole in the X member had to be slightly opened, I used the gas ax for now, the opening will be cleaned up later.

Bought a new master from NAPA, $38 with my friends and family discount. An old master pushrod I had laying around and here we are.




The linkage arm is not attached yet as I don,t know where my floor is, Later after the floor is established , it will be cross drilled and attached to the shaft. Also the pushrod is not final, gonna change to a clevis threaded for adjustment.

 

Also, I do have to report that upon first installation, I had some binding of the shaft that rotates, Turns out that when I built up the assembly on the bench it was working great, but when bolted in the car, it warped slightly to match the X-member. Using a torch I heated up the tabs that align the shaft til lightly glowing, let air cool and now everything is great. The shaft moves as it should attached to the brake pedal. the clutch floats on the shaft like new. Had to slightly bend the brake pedal itself as it hit the bell housing, but that is more to do with motor/tranny selection than anything else.

 

here are some more pictures

 

Thanks for the post!!!

 

Bump!! This is a great tech article deserved to be seen by all.

I'd like to know if you found any more hiccups in the system?


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JJ, Glad to report that there was no hiccups at all. Although I may have to change it up somewhat. The only real problem is that in my case I now have to figure out how to run the exhaust. I am running full hood with that Cad motor, not alot of room to run the exhaust.

Sorry, I did not get back to you earlier. I am still mid move and do not have internet access, have not had internet for 2 months now!! serious withdrawal going on.

 

Great idea!

 

What is the master cylinder part number or what's it's original application so we can buy one? Also would like to see finished set-up with the push rod all attached to the lever. Thanks so much to provide these details for us!
Jason


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What master cylinder did you use?