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So Mr. LeMans850i is making me feel bad with his unrelenting progress, therefore I had to jump into another "upgrade".  I decided to install a Pedal Extender (Amerisport) and while I was at it, machine my pedal assembly for needle bearings installation on the main shaft (4x), clutch effort reduction assembly (3x) and accelerator pedal (2x).

I got all the needle bearing specs from Rene4406, and tips on how to implement it.

I will be using the mills at Pima Community College as an "Independent Project" (MAC296) to do the machining.

I got the pedal box removed and disassembled today.

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Last edited by rocky

Couple of Tricks for Disassembly:

(NOTE:  The pedal box CAN be removed with the clutch linkage connected without cutting a notch in the pedal box...)

1.  Get in the car, take out the front driver's seat, and take off / loosen everything you can from underneath first.  Getting rid of all the braces, accelerator pedal, etc. gives you more access.

2. (Lemans850 Tip) Use a zip tie to compress / restrain the coil springs so the pedals don't keep flying forward.

3.  Lots of 2-Man jobs on this one.  Thanks to Mrs. Rocky for not complaining about unscrewing nuts while I cursed and held wrenches under the steering wheel.

4.  The real secret to the removal of the pedal assembly is to have the clutch pedal and associated linkage in the position it would be if the clutch was fully depressed.  That brings it into a compact state and gives you the 0.5mm you need to slip the assembly out of the pedal box.

Rocky

PS> Another note....  the need for this is kind of a crapshoot, because you can't really be sure the needle bearing upgrade is needed from a casual observation.  Of course I was worried about my linkage being "wallowed out", as I have seen reported by others.  But when I took my linkage apart, everything was fairly greasy, and the linkage was in good shape.  But if you are "in for a dime, you are in for a dollar"*!

* From Marlin's thread....

Here's a picture I saw of an effort reduction piece that needs help - and wear in this area reduces the throw on your clutch slave cylinder!

damaged_effort_reduction_dogbone

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Last edited by rocky
@rocky posted:

Couple of Tricks for Disassembly:

(NOTE:  The pedal box CAN be removed with the clutch linkage connected without cutting a notch in the pedal box...)

1.  Get in the car, take out the front driver's seat, and take off / loosen everything you can from underneath first.  Getting rid of all the braces, accelerator pedal, etc. gives you more access.

2. (Lemans850 Tip) use a zip tie to compress / restrain the coil springs so the pedals don't keep flying forward.

3.  Lots of 2-Man jobs on this one.  Thanks to Mrs. Rocky for not complaining about unscrewing nuts while I cursed and held wrenches under the steering wheel.

4.  The real secret to the removal of the pedal assembly is to have the clutch pedal and associated linkage in the position it would be if the clutch was fully depressed.  That brings it into a compact state and gives you the 0.5mm you need to slip the assembly out of the pedal box.

Rocky

Very very good!!!👍 Bring on the pictures!

My wife always says I have a bad influence!!! 😜

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Making a little more progress…

1) Bushings pushed out of the pedal assembly…  all parts ready for machining.

2) I’m going with a “straight” return spring to my clutch (instead of spending $35 on one that will break in 25K miles), so I drilled a hole in the clutch pedal.

3) Replaced the front length of vacuum line to the brake booster.  Line is 12mm ID, you need about 1 1/2’ of it. It is available at any VW supply store!

I guess the old “Aeroquip” line was from a PO upgrade, I’d be surprised if they used that kind of tubing originally in Italy!

It was hard as a rock, and crumbly at the ends!

Rocky

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I am also replacing my passenger door handle tub with one from PI Motorsports.  I took Tsolo's advice in his thread here, and fabricated a "spring pressure diffuser" for the Hall Pantera door handle spring.  It came out good.

Hall door handle springs? | The De Tomaso Forums (infopop.cc)

Now all I have to do is find the three screws that hold the lock barrel in place, that I lost in my garage somewhere!



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Last edited by rocky

Got these surplus M6 x1.0 nut plates installed…. Very cool.  These are to securely (re)attach the door handle.  One was stripped out…

The plastic inserts in the door were hard as rocks…

NOTE:  You only need two (per door), the fixture on the top forward part of the armrest is rigidly attached to the door metal.  BUT…  the long M6 - 1.0 machine screws fit the stock attachment as well!


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Last edited by rocky

Got more machining done on my pedal assembly.  Did the clutch pedal cross shaft for the 12mm needle bearing, and drilled out the main holes for the 26mm cross shaft bearings to 1”.

Fixturing and alignment were the main challenge.

The cross shaft was easiest, we had a collet clamp of the correct size we mounted to the mill table.

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The setup of the pedal bracket assembly and truing it up was the hard part.  We could only drill two of the four holes at a time (due to the length of our tooling), and then had to flip the piece over.

We did find that the machined surfaces on the “ears” were all true to each other, and so setup for drilling the second pair of holes was eased by using a 1-2-3 block at the bottom of the part for alignment on the machined surface.

I don’t have any pictures of our setup for the second pair of holes, but I assure you, the second half of the operation took about 1/4 the time as the setup for the first pair!

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We have a 26mm reamer that is long enough to “align bore” all four holes with one setup, but unfortunately our tool holder is way too long to fit in the manual mill…. So we’re working on getting the appropriate holder for the final operation.  We’ll do it in the CNC machine.

But good progress was accomplished today!

Rocky

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Last edited by rocky

Following onto related thread, I temporally installed my pedal assembly on tomorrow Kirk Evans spacer.

I am going to finish up the machining tomorrow on the pedal assembly, and will begin the reinstall soon.

I did take Steve’s advice and moved the vacuum hose forward.  Considering doing the same to the clutch hardline.

Kirk Evans sent me a threaded throttle cable extender…. Need to test fit that as well.

Rocky



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