Replacement Accelerator Pedal

[James]

After being frustrated with the local BMW dealership and wanting something different, I decided to make a gas pedal for my car today out of some 3/16" sheet.

Full disclosure: I'm not going for originality and I'm very much an amateur with this stuff.

I wanted a pedal that was a little wider and basically equal in height with the brake pedal. The top is widened 5/8"

 

[James]

Nearly castrated myself when the cutting disk exploded.

 

[James]

My old pedal broke here after it fell through the giant hole in my floor pan on the freeway. I'm adding another 5/8" in height to bring the gas pedal up closer to brake height.

 

[James]

The rubber bushing that goes around the linkage has an outside diameter of 3/4", so I'm going to weld a little piece of pipe with 3/4" ID on top here. (forgive the ugly welds)

 

[James]

Planning on drilling a bunch of holes or vertical cuts to lighten the pedal a bit/give it a little grip. Think I need a drill press, so I stopped here. Gonna make a polyurethane socket for the base that should work with the stock double ball base mount. Then, clean it up a bit/paint it.

 

[jmackro]

Planning on drilling a bunch of holes or vertical cuts to lighten the pedal a bit/give it a little grip. .....Then, clean it up a bit/paint it.

Paint won't hold up; the grit on the sole of your shoe will quickly wear paint off. Why not glue some rubber mat material to the pedal face? That will both supply grip, and finish the raw steel.

Hardware stores sell this stuff by the foot; it's pretty cheap:

 

[James]

Paint won't hold up; the grit on the sole of your shoe will quickly wear paint off. Why not glue some rubber mat material to the pedal face? That will both supply grip, and finish the raw steel.

Hardware stores sell this stuff by the foot; it's pretty cheap:

Oh I like that. I was going to use some of the traction grit that we have leftover that goes into the paint for deck paint on the boat. It's a commercial crab boat and holds up to the endless hours of abuse in awful conditions. My other thought was skateboard grip tape.

 

[Honolulu]

Brings to mind that on my '58 Vee-dub, the pedal hinge had rotted out and I had to grip the pedal with my toes to keep it from falling over. Since I always drove barefoot and still do, this was not so much an inconvenience but once in a while I'd lose my grip, then have to reach down and set 'er up again. Being 6'6" has advantages in the reach department when doing this in traffic.

A diamond disc might have protected the jewels a little better, rather than undergoing rapid catastrophic disassembly. Just sayin'...

 

[James]

Brings to mind that on my '58 Vee-dub, the pedal hinge had rotted out and I had to grip the pedal with my toes to keep it from falling over. Since I always drove barefoot and still do, this was not so much an inconvenience but once in a while I'd lose my grip, then have to reach down and set 'er up again. Being 6'6" has advantages in the reach department when doing this in traffic.

A diamond disc might have protected the jewels a little better, rather than undergoing rapid catastrophic disassembly. Just sayin'...

Wearing sandals/driving barefoot everyday has its advantages for sure! That's how I drove my old 944S with a failing master cylinder for quite a while. I kinda enjoyed having to pull the clutch back up with my toes, but when I was told I couldn't autocross barefoot, I had to fix it. The only time I really curse being 6'5 is when working under the dash on these cars (pulled my gauges and wood cluster today; came up with all sorts of new things to call my car).

I'll look into buying some diamond disks. I fear I still have much metal to cut.

 

[Layne]

Your new pedal is missing a critical function, the eye on the back has to pivot up and down in the location where it broke. The rubber acts as a hinge. It will not work without it due to the rod it attaches to moving in an arc. You could just weld a small hinge to the back of your pedal and attach the bushing to the hinge.

 

[James]

Your new pedal is missing a critical function, the eye on the back has to pivot up and down in the location where it broke. The rubber acts as a hinge. It will not work without it due to the rod it attaches to moving in an arc. You could just weld a small hinge to the back of your pedal and attach the bushing to the hinge.

Hmmmm, clearly, I had not thought of that. Thanks for the suggestion and for sparing me a little frustration.