2/21/13: Pedaling Along

Tonight we (perhaps) finished drilling all of the 3/8" bolt holes to mount the master cylinder bracket to the frame, and the master cylinder to the bracket.  The bracket I have (that I built from plans in the Bishop/Tardel book) is designed to mount using (presumably) factory '32 pedal assembly and K-member holes.  Well, I'm using a '33-'34 pedal assembly and a Tardel K-member for the Model A frame, so we had to drill all but one of our mounting holes (by step drilling from 1/8" or so) and opened up to 3/8" the holes for the master cylinder (for strength).  This was tedious (a 64th or so at a time) and resulted in several broken bits (from my ancient set of no-name bits).  Several times, to keep us going, W repointed dull or not-so-badly broken bits on the bench grinder.

After doing that, we took a look at the swing for the clutch pedal and determined it will hit the firewall before full travel.  So, we marked the trouble spot (ended up being not just a notched-out section, but a short strip down the firewall) and cut horizontally at the top with the hack saw (just an aside, the hack saw is becoming one of our favorite go-to tools - it's fast, and quiet, which is great at 10 o'clock at night).  We then used vice grips and a small block of metal to clamp at the vertical cut line and just bent back and forth until we broke the section free.

Pedal interference with the firewall

Marked for removal

Cut and bent out (first section)

Removed the whole section to avoid problems

Finally, to hook up the clutch pedal to the transmission release arm (one that we selected because it seemed to provide the best alignment and most travel against the transmission case; I don't know what year it's from), W and I both were thinking along the same lines in our separate, late night reveries: we both independently went out and bought some small turnbuckles and threaded rod and some OK clevises - although too small, it turns out.  The turnbuckles were a bust - they are too small or too big and have too much slop in them.  The threaded rod would work if we had clevises the right size: 5/16" or 3/8".

Clutch adjustment rod mock-up (with master cylinder rod)

In looking at my Ford parts catalogs, it turns out there was a 5/16" clevis used on Model As that seems just right.  I don't recall immediately what the application or part no. is, but I think it was for brakes.  [Note: found it; yes, mechanical brake clevis up to 1938 - 97012-S]  Later clutch adjustment clevises are 3/8", which seems too large.

Lastly, this week (and, as I write this post hoc, subsequently) W gave me some cool old (and random) hardware from his garage, some in ancient tin cans like Hollywood Shave Cream and Yan Chim Kee Cocoanut Flavored Candies.  Problem is, I don't have a good hardware storage system as it is, so additional stock, while appreciated, is just more stuff that I need to find a home for.

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