Took it out to change bushings, I did need to pry a bit to get the bracket out but when trying to reinstall it the bolts from the dash are too narrow to reinstall. Off by a good quarter inch and this stuff isnt budging. Ok to drill a hole to align with those bolts or is there a secret to putting the bracket back in that I dont know about. I will be putting the steering column back in and the column bracket also shares these bolts.
Can you get pics to show us what you see? (not sure if you are talking about the four firewall/brake booster and steering column/pedal brace bolts, or something else) I have done a couple of conversions from auto to four speed, and the pedal assemblies are pretty much "drop in" clearance. It can be a bit of a task to orient things correctly. Would like to see if someone can help before you start drill loving.
I was just thinking that I should take a picture.. On the pass side you can see some of the threads took a beating coming out but this is what Im faced with trying to get it back in again. This was an automatic, just adding the pedals to my original bracket that was original to the car.
Those 'bolts from the dash' are long rods that bolt to the firewall. You can likely unbolt that end to move it around a little to get the pedal support back on. The rods are on the left:
Yep! What wkillgs said. Not sure how far apart you have taken your dash. Loosen the two upper bolts, going to be a bit tight with the dash cluster/bezels in place, but a ratcheting box end wrench will make it easier. And don't make things any harder than you need to, get some pillows and "level" the floor to the hump, open the passenger door and still your legs out, relax and take your time. Some safety glasses to keep the crap out of your eyes. You can also loosen the four firewall bolts on the front side to help the brace to "float" and make it easier to get it all back together, as well as reinstalling the steering mast assembly. And make sure you set your mast outer tube and steering shaft end play correctly and tighten the intermediate collar on the engine side of the shaft up by the firewall. This will help the steering wheel and cup gap to be at the proper distance. If you have your shop manual, it is in there. If you don't, post back, and I'll take pictures of my manual of those items you need.
Thanks for the pictures, just what I needed. Seems they assembled the cars just as pictured before filling in with the shiny stuff. Makes sense as to why it was hard to get out, looks a lot easier when its empty for sure. I also have a shop manual and its falling apart, almost as old as I am, and will look for assembly as to your sequence of cup gap and that stuff that sounds Chinese to me. The firewall is stripped so I could paint it so the 4 bolts are free. Have to get those through to line up the back 2 so not a lot of wiggle room after that. I put new a arms on it so something maybe the alignment shop can mess with? Im not a mechanic as much as I am a paint guy so maybe explains why I dont understand so much..use a mask now. Got the seal retainer/boot for the clutch rod. Seems straight forward in putting that in and bolting back to rag joint...a straight forward pain if I have to take much of the guts out to get at those bolts but took a look tonight and I thin I can get them with an extension and wobble just to loosen and re-tighten to located those bolt ends. We shall see.
Seen you have a saddle mist Walt, how do you like it. Ive never seen one all done. Mine is a bit faded as its a 2 tone. V body shell beige and T top, saddle mist poly painted. Havent seen many like that either.
Wow, that's an unusual color combo. There was a '67 GS here that was, I believe, Ivory with a gold top. It's cool to have something unique. My Saddle Mist car is in primer. It came with a black vinyl top but I may just paint the top black, I like the 2 tones better. I started on it a long time ago but other cars came along that took priority. I'm working on a '66 GS 3 speed convertible now. The pics I posted above are of my silver 4 speed car. I had sandblasted all the interior sheetmetal. Car is mostly back together but then the convertible came along! I have a hard time sticking to one project!
Yeah Ive seen a few on the net on Electras but that shell beige, not sure it does much as far as pop but we will see. Ok, so fiddled today and those bolts that come down from the firewall go through the bracket which is welded to the dash itself. They have those built in washers on them and was wondering even if I unbolted them from the firewall, am I going to be able to get enough clearance to move them around in order to make the angles smaller? Before I drilled I knew I should ask but this is about the place where I was going to open the hole from the pilot drills for clearance. Im sure they get more relief as the bracket gets closer to the top of its resting place but not close to assembling as it sits now. Maybe no choice but to take those bolts out. (Also a picture of that bracket attached to the dash) Ive put a lot of cars together and changed over to manual many times but not this issue. I also see your bolts are bent slightly. Maybe from lower bracket assembly first then forcing the end to bolt back to the firewall?
I think you may be fighting an algebra problem. If you do not have the dash bezels/cluster out, that may be why you are not able to get things to drop in place. The first time I did the 4 speed conversion, I disconnected the brake master cylinder rod, pulled the retaining clip of the pedal pivot bar, slid the pedal assembly out, cleaned and lube the bushing holes, the doner clutch/brake pedal assembly put the bushings in and slid the padal assembly in place. I did it with the dash intact and never messed with the brackets. And I was fortunate that the car already had the correct plate on the firewall for the clutch pedal push rod, so I only had to remove the small cover plate, and did not have to pull the steering mast. On my second conversion, I pulled everything out of the car down, and those threaded rod braces were the last thing out and the first thing in.
Uhgg...Last time I did this was a frame off. Said never again. Oh well the winter is long. Thanks for clearing that up.
