Plus 2 Pedel Box removal

[Matt Elan]

Hi all - my rewire and general spruceup of my Plus 2 is coming to an end - thank goodness! Just a couple of small jobs to do, one being getting the brakes to work.
When the car went into my garage the brakes were fine but over the couple of years standing I've found the brake pedal is solid. Thats good I hear you say, as we don't want spongy brakes. However its not so good when there is in fact no movement on the pedal at all. So I surmise that something has seized up - the clutch and throttle pedals do move quite happily. So after I'd WD40'ed the pivots for a couple of days with no discernible improvement Its time to take the pedel box out. The good news is that the eight nuts came off the studs easily but there must be a trick to get the box off the car, as I'm struggling. It's a 'narrow' box, and the pedels splay out a lot wider than the hole in the body. I assume I'll have to pivot the box by 90 degrees and then pull it up from the top feeding the pedals through the hole in the top of the footwell but is there a trick to getting it off? I've assumed it lifts off the body but can it come off from inside the footwell? I'd appreciate any suggestions before I resume the struggle tomorrow!

[mbell]

It does come out from the top. it doesn't go down into the car. My memory is its mix of turn and roll it over towards engine. Will need carbs/airbox removed I think.

[draenog]

I removed the pedal box a couple of years ago, removing it from the top. I remember it was a bit tricky but not impossible. If you turn it diagonally that gives more room. Have your pedals been bent to give more spacing?

[ncm]

Before you remove the pedal box disconnect the master cylinder pushrod and try the pedal again. I,ve had the same symptoms with the clutch pedal which turned out to be caused by the master cylinder piston having rusted and seized in the bore.

Brian.

[mikealdren]

Have you cut away the top and fitted a cover to improve access?

[Matt Elan]

Well - a good job jobbed today and thanks for all the contributions. The pedal box really wouldn't come out with the carbs in place:

Carbs in place

So it was whip off the carbs and this gave enough room to turn the box throught 90 degrees and wrestle it out:

Carbs off

Pedal box out of its lair:

Pedal box out

...and on the bench:

Master cylinder detached:

And with the pushrod off:

It was the master cylinder which was well and truly seized and i had on spec ordered a new replacement from Sue Millar - which has just arrived! So it'll all be going back together now.....

[Matt Elan]

So as the new master cylinder arrived I thought I'd better put it in this afternoon while I can still remember where everything goes! I also dug out a spare pedal box reinforcing plate which I'd bought for the other Plus 2S but forgot I had and bought another - so a nice new black reinforcing plate and new master cylinder on the bench - note the incorrect push rod:

First job was to swap over the push rods - quick and easy, but lots of red rubber grease to keep out the water and hopefully avoid another seizure:

Then cut a hole in the top of the box to fit a removable plate thus making access sooooo much easier - I've ordered up a couple of sheets of mild steel and aluminium to make the new cover fro - here's the marked up box waiting for the Dremel treatment:

With the hole cut it is easy to fit the new master cylinder - I've used a washer and sprung 'R' clips to secure the cotter pin in place - the old split pin on the master cylinder put up an impressively irritating struggle before it condescended to let go; the clutch cylinder got the same treatment, and I'll refill the clutch rubber with a good dose of red rubber grease tomorrow:

So a pretty productive day! Now for a couple of bottles of IPA and a Chinese takeaway as the better half is out tonight!

[Steve Brooks]

A fiddle of a job well done,especially the photos. They will surely help others in the future.

[Matt Elan]

Thanks Steve - and to all the other posters. All encouragement gratefully accepted!
Now waiting for the sheet metal to arrive so I can make a lid and refit the box. Then its out with the easibleed and hopefully have a brake system that works!

[Matt Elan]

So while the Lotus work went suprisingly smoothly my iphone and mac are now refusing to see eachouter via airdrop so I can't get my pictures up!
Anyway I got he box back in the car yesterday, with a nice neat ally plate on the top and a new rubber gasket and lots of silicone sealent to keep the weather out of the cabin. Today I've been busy - to avoid bleeding the brakes I fixed the horn. This was making the most horrendous noise rather than the nice loud airhorn blast it should have been so thinking the cheap Chinese unit had died I'd bought another one. On thinking about itwhile lying awake last night I suddenly wondered if I had connected the compressor up the wrong way round. So I demounted the compressor, tested it and yep - the wires were the wrong way round. A quick fix there. So looking to continue to avoid bleeding thee brakes I refitted the bonnet which again went suprisingly quickly and easily.....
So it was onto the brakes and again it was a job which went smoothly - although my easibleed kit did not have the right sized master cylinder cap and the bleeding tube was too small for my nipples. So it was old school, start at the rear nearside, go to the other rear, then the front nearside and finally the caliper nearest the master cylinder. At each one I pumped through 10 or so complete pedal presses via a tube into a jamjar, then tighten off the nipple, refill the reservoir and repeat. Result was a good feeling pedel and brakes that worked. Hurrah!
I'll check them on Monday when I'll be crawling under the car to do the clutch.....

[Matt Elan]

...and my airdrop is now working (don't ask, IT eh....)
Here's the pedal box on the bench with its new lid:

and the reinforcing plate and new gasket:

The view from aboe with it all in:

And finally the footwell itself showing the new reinforcing plate and the eight fixing studs and bolt:

[Matt Elan]

A quick update - the brakes are bled - took one round, nice solid pedal and no spongyness. The clutch? Well....

My mate Dave and I gave it bleed last week, which was pretty ineffectual, and included me knocking over the jam jar full of old fluid while under the car, and finding my length of bleeding hose was a bit short. All to no avail, as I had no clutch at all when I tested it which (of course) was after I'd taken the car off the axle stands.
So I bought a nice long length of tube and one of those non return valves. Today, Dave and I resumed the struggle and after pumping through loads of fluid, doing the traditional open nipple, press down, close nipple operation about 100 times I got half a clutch, going up to a working clutch after a couple of pumps. So making progress but of course I was not happy, especially as again I had taken the car off the axle stands to test it again.
So I read the forum (again) gave the clutch a good talking to, propped the clutch pedal fully down and left the car in a dark garage so it can think about how its behaving. Ever the optimist, I've also set up my easibleeded in case the car has not reflected adequately on its unacceptable behaviour overnight and have roped Dave in for another session tomorrow!

[Robbie693]

Nice work Matt. I always have to wedge the pedal down and it's never failed to work.

May I ask where you sourced the pedalbox reinforcing plate?

Robbie

[Foxie]

Then cut a hole in the top of the box to fit a removable plate thus making access sooooo much easier - I've ordered up a couple of sheets of mild steel and aluminium to make the new cover fro - here's the marked up box waiting for the Dremel treatment:

Every Elan pedal box should have this mod, as mine does. But good engineering practice and aesthetics should have the corners neatly drilled before cutting with the dremel !

I have also fitted adjustable push-rods on both brake and clutch to minimise free travel, which can be adjusted through the opening.

[Foxie]

A long time ago, when I had the pedal box out, I took the opportunity to reinforce both the pedal box and steering column mountings, which imho flexed excessively.

I fitted a length of 3/4" x 1/16" angle across the front of the brake box, a piece of 1/16" sheet welded to the steering bracket which linked into the rear of the brake box and the front steering column bracket, and a length of 1" x 1/16" box to link them all together.

It really improved the feel of the car.