Hi fellas, I ran into an issue I need some ideas for a solution. I am building a '31 Ford Sedan. The motor (350), trans (350), body, and steering are where they are going to live. A while ago I bought a master cylinder with a booster that sits under the floor with the pedal coming up. I thought I'd have enough room, but it turns out I don't. Unless I have the pedal assembly go through the firewall, and even without the booster, it looks like it won't fit because the trans cross member is in the way. One thought I had was to buy/make a cross member that will sit below the bottom of the frame so I'd be able to move the master cylinder back. Unfortunately, it's already welded in, making that a pain in the a$$. I was also thinking maybe I can mount it under that dash and flip the pedal assembly upside down (but that would probably look stupid). I would like to use the part I already have. Does anyone have any solutions they've used or would like to see me try as a guinea pig? Thanks in advance!
Pictures would help a lot. The 3 basic places you have described is normally where the master cylinder goes. 1. Under driver side floor 2. Mounted high on outside of the firewall. 3. Some sort of 90 degree bracketry behind the dash.
I have a 31 coupe with the master under the floor. It doesn’t have a booster but there is no problem room wise. Model A’s are light, don’t need a booster. Why won’t it work under the floor ?
Why do you think you NEED a booster? You don't. Look @Dave G in Gansevoort 's thread about his roadster, lots of good and bad ideas there. a remote under floor MC is prob your solution
Could you make a mount on the back side of your cross member and then get a piece of DOM and make an extended push rod? I didn't want my MC to extend below my 3" tall frame rails so I raised it and moved the back of the cap to the front edge of the seat. That allowed me keep the front section of the floor as low as possible for leg room on my channeled car.
My crossmember also interfered with the M/C placement. I kept the brake pedal where it needed to be ergonomically- relative to the seat, floor & firewall. Then I lengthened the P&J bracket by 3.25" and @oj machined a longer & stronger pushrod. Together, they reposition the master cylinder farther aft, but keep the brake pedal right where it needs to be. And with a properly sized M/C bore, you won't need a booster.
If the fuel tank is gone from under the dash there is a ton of room under there. Build a structure and mount some Kugel pedals with reverse mount master cylinder. I wish I had done that.
Kevin that's a good idea, however you have to service it that's a problem. On my 1930 CCPU The gastank is under the bed and I can unbolt the cowl to service the master cylinder. On my T it's under the T gas tank door.
Lose that booster as mentioned. You don't need it and it just makes placement all that more difficult.
I made this for my Model A and got the master cylinder up on the bulkhead. My car has a Buick Nailhead so there is a shelf in the firewall to mount it to both the shelf and bulkhead. I needed the bell crank arrangement for pedal clearance around the steering column.
Thanks for the pics, they are really helpful! The juices (no pun intended) are really flowing! I personally find it best to 'sleep on it' for a day or two, but this one seems like it will take a couple of extra days to decide where I should land
I bought something similar to this set up at a swap meet cause the price was right. I think it goes under the dash although I don't quite know how you would go about checking the fluid levels without taking it down.
I’ve used a 2” dia. inspection mirror to check the levels and bought a plastic syringe from the grocery store ($7.00 locally) to use when I need to add brake fluid. I also bought a short piece of clear plastic hose and connected it to the output tip of the syringe. I have had to be creative on using a magnet to position the mirror so you can see what you’re doing when adding the fluid
I would much rather have brake fluid drip on the ground than on my foot. That said put the master cylinder where you want to. I have always mounted pedals under the floor. Doing my 29 sedan now with a store bought mounting bracket and pedal(TCI I think). The pedal pivots just a bit in front of where the front floor and toe board come together. My car has a SBC and 350 trans and firewall clearance is not an issue. You may have a master cylinder/brake pedal assembly for other than Model A, or maybe mounted to high on the frame, just guessing. If the portion of the pedal that] goes up from the pivot loop is parallel to the toe board then when push on the brake pedal pad the arc of the pedal should clear the firewall. Might need a little notch or slot, depending on how low your firewall goes. Pedal location is one of the critical items in my opinion, you want them to work and you want to be able to operate them in reasonable comfort. Now go out in the garage and hit somthin with a hammer, this is supposed to be fun.
The Jalopy Journal
