Shawn, what are the part numbers of the Wilwood piece and the make and number of the TO bearing? It appears the money for the kit is for the firewall mounting bracket? Also, please post some photos of the under dash action.... Keep up the hard work And thanks for the info for this thread. I look forward to getting a set up.
Yeah, Im going to check the pedal ratio tonight. I have a feeling Im under the recommended 4:1, but by how much I dont know. If I gotta pull the pedal again and get creative (again), not the end of the world. And yes, that plate would be fitting (Get it??? FITTING???? :laugh: I kill me....) I'll check out those part numbers for you tonight. Yes, the brackets that are provided are very nice, and its convenient to get in one big kit. Too bad Im only using one of the 2 fancy shmancy brackets they provided...
I just spoke to McLeod and their kit does not fit Skylark. They dont plan on making one anytime soon they would need 50 orders to pursue that. The Chevelle kit comes with pedal set up for the heim joint to fit and maintain 6:1 pedal ratio for their slave. Im checking now with HURST if they have an offering. Stay tuned.
HURST has nothing for us. HURST also voiced a word of caution regardingthe American Powertrain firewall bracket and the likeliness of thd firwall cracking without sufficient reinforcement. I find his point that if looking for easier clutch pedal being the driving force for conversion, then it is not going to provide that. There is still tremendous pressure. I explained it is primarily to overcome the quality issues of the aftermarket manual shift parts. He also suggested the Novak external slave set up mentioned esrlier in this thread. I am calling them now... Stay tuned.
NOVAK was very helpful. They have worked with Wilwood for master / pedal set up for many of their customers. Sems like a dependable set up NOVAK has. Wilwood is next call later today.... Stay tuned.
That looks good. What Part number is your pedal master and do you have a template of the bracket? Do you have a photo of the finished installed for the pedal and the master reservoir? Which TO bearing are you running with this? Thanks.
sorry no pics of the final pedal and pushrod setup (my car is in AZ and I am back in Canada now) I modified a stock clutch pedal by cutting the welds holding the stock mount and moving it up and forward to get the desired ratio (I couldn't get the exact ratio McLeod called). Its really tight in up there as you know because of the brake linkage and other bracketry. I wish I would have taken pics of the pedal mount process but I thought McLeod sold the pedals that fit and nobody would have to go through this.ou: With the pedal on the workbench I drew and arc on paper with the optimum distance ratio called for then removed the stock mount and moved it upwards to get the desired ratio. I then drilled a series of 1/4" holes in the arm of the pedal and a series of matching holes (4) in the stock mount (that I cut off) which got me in the ball park. once I mounted the pedal I bolted the bracket to the arm with 1/4"bolts and made sure I had clearances through the stroke of the pedal that didn't interfere with the brake linkage. Once I was confident I had the correct ratio (or close to it) I removed the pedal and welded the bracket then removed the 1/4" bolts. I thought I would get the correct pedal height by adjusting my pushrod but I wasn't disengaging the clutch so ultimately it didn't matter and I just adjusted the pushrod so I could shift without grinding going into reverse. lol. Once I put some miles on the car i adjusted the linkage for more disengagement once things settled in because i was scared to over stroke the throw out bearing at first. Its a great setup but to be honest the pedal/pushrod/ratio was the biggest nightmare of the hyd slave cyl project. Laying on my back and working 12" from my face in a tight spot on a black car at my age left much to be desired:ball:... I used the McLeod throwout with wilwood slave cyl. Good luck.. Gord
Same here. Chopped the old mounting point and welded in a new one. Speaking of which, I measured the ratio given the new mounting point and its right at 3.5:1. Not quite the 4:1 that's recommend, but at this point I'm gonna give it a go and see. At least it'd be the easiest part to deal with. Besides, if you round 3.5 per basic mathematic rules, it should be correct right??!! Haha.
I did word it funny. By "mounting point" I meant the hole that the push rod that ran to the z-bar connects to the pedal.
Was there anything definitive on yours as far as max disengagement versus over stroking the bearing? There a small section in apt's instructions about how its bad and will void your warranty, but nothing as far as how to diagnose it and determine if the stroke is within its limits or not. Mark, I couldn't see any part numbers on the willwood master, but it may be somewhere I couldn't see it with it installed. The trans is back in and everything is hooked up, just gotta bleed it tomorrow when I have an extra person to work the pedal and see how it feels. I'll report back.
Hi Shawn, Please do update here once you get some drive time on it and add some more pics. I am still undecided which way to go; fuss with OEM bits with repop (unlikely), or, "ala carte" pieced and fabbed hydrualic, APT kit hydraulic or the Novak External Slave set up. Cheers! MarkO
Will do. Hoping to drive it this weekend. I will say all the components in the kit work really well together, just getting them attached to the car is a job. But honestly, if I can do it, I have no doubt most anyone can with a little patience and some basic shade tree engineering skills.
Shawn, did you get a chance to drive this thing enough yet to evaluate the initial functionality and worthiness of the conversion? Cheers! MarkO
From the Novak information you need to consider your style of bell housing: Bellhousing Compatibilities Many Buick, Olds and Pontiac Bellhousings work with this assembly, excepting those that feature a starter pocket on the driver's side, as this is the installation location of the #HCRB slave assembly.
Other than pulling it in and out of the barn a few times, no real driving yet Mark. I did go through the gears with jack stands under the rear end to see if there would be any grinding and such and so far seems good. I'm hoping to get to go for a brief drive today.
