Master cylinder push rods

[MickG]

I am coming to the end of my winter rebuild on my Sprint and have turned my attention to the peddle box. One of the problems that I encountered whilst driving last year was when hitting the brakes I also hit the throttle. My feet are not big (size eight) and I don?t remember this ever being a problem when driving an elan many years ago. Upon closer inspection I have found the push rods on both clutch and brake master cylinders to be about 1/4 (5mm) shorter than recommended. Is there anybody who has correct length rods spare (willing to pay reasonable price) or tell me where to obtain some compatible adjustable rods.
Thanks in anticipation
Mick G

[garyeanderson]

http://www.lotuselan.net/cgi-bin/search ... oom_sort=0

These topics might help with the length
elan-f14/clutch-master-pushrod-lenght-t15030.html

elan-f14/clutch-and-brake-pedal-height-t23171.html

[nebogipfel]

..One of the problems that I encountered whilst driving last year was when hitting the brakes I also hit the throttle. My feet are not big (size eight) and I don?t remember this ever being a problem when driving an elan many years ago......

There's not much room around the pedals in an Elan. I have very dainty (and frankly pretty gorgeous ) size 8's and I find it's mainly about footwear. I usually choose to drive the Elan while wearing trainer style shoes but do find that anything a bit chunky and certainly boots, mean that I have to tread very carefully.

[john.p.clegg]

Mick
While the pedal box is out (purists please ignore) why not put a slight set on the pedal arms to suit your feet rather altering your feet to suit the pedal arms??

John

[garyeanderson]

Mick
While the pedal box is out (purists please ignore) why not put a slight set on the pedal arms to suit your feet rather altering your feet to suit the pedal arms??

John

The two RHD pedal sets have been modded, the LHD set has not. I like the LHD un-modded as is gives a lot of room for the dead leg to the left. Have to see how it works with the RHD pedals that I am going to use in one of the builds.

[gjz30075]

Ok, I'm going to pile on this thread 'creep' and post a pic of my pedal spread. Ought to be perfect for my size 7s! Also note the cutout of the fiber board on the left with a 'glassed in 'box' to give the foot a place to go. Nano fractions of an inch count here because without the fiber board, movement of the left foot has room but with the board, its tight. I like the idea of the Sue Miller fiberglass board mentioned in the other thread. Thinner is better here, without having to resort to cutting out the small rod that is in the way.

Greg Z

[MickG]

Thanks for all your help guys and the pictures Gary. I'll go and measure mine and see how they compare.
I think that the main problem is more to do with pedal height as opposed to spacing. The slightly shorter push rods could be making the problem worse. I have tried to adjust the throttle pedal so that it sits lower, unfortunately not quite low enough.
I have found some adjustable pushrods on that well known auction site (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320897836152? ... 1438.l2649 ) but given the sizes feel these would be unsuitable.
I will keep looking.
Thanks again
Mick G

[rgh0]

I find brake pedal versus accelerator pedal height more critical than the space between them. In my RHD Elan plenty of room for my size 12 wide feet to fit on the accelerator and clutch. When I am on the brake its crtical that the level of the brake pedal when it hard on is not below but fractionally above the level of the accelerator so I dont get both at once. If I want to rev while changing down and braking i just need to roll my foot a little to the right to pick up the accelerator without changing the brake effort.

You need to have good solid brake pedal with no softness in the pedal feel, little disk run out or bearing play to knock the pads off the disks and little free play in the pedal linkage to achieve this. New Elans probably achieved all of this routinely but 50 year old braking systems need some work to get back to it typically plus maybe some adjustment to the accelerator pedal return stop height to fine tune your personal preference in height versus the brake pedal height you achieve

cheers
Rohan

[MickG]

Thanks Rohan sorry for taking so long to reply.
You have summed up the problem well. On several occasions I have hit the brakes only to also accelerate at the same time which is somewhat counter productive not to mention dangerous.
I did go for the adjustable push rods and after some fettling set then to the standard length (80mm) and have now got clutch and brake pedals at the same height.
Thanks for you input
Regards Mick G