I thought it was time to start my official build thread! Today I started working on fitting my Wilwood tandem 50/50 master cylinder and matching brake pedal.
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The master cylinder mounting holes in the firewall plate were at a slight angle, and that wouldn't work because the bolts that mount the master cylinder also mount the pedal. (it would cause it to hang at an angle in the foot box) I elongated the hole on the left side (if you're sitting in the seat) so I could shift the pedal a little further away from the accelerator pedal, then drilled a new hole on the other side so the adapter bracket would be level. After that, I trimmed and fitted a piece of thin aluminum flashing to go behind the foot box aluminum and cover all the extra holes in the black powder coated steel foot box plate.
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Here's the master cylinder trial fitted into place.
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The pedal assembly trial fitted on the opposite side of the firewall.
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In the pic below you can see that the pedal is touching the cross brace. I'll have to notch it about an eight of an inch to get the amount of pedal travel I want. It looks like it needs more than that in this pic, but if you look at the angle of the mount in the pic above, you'll see that the pedal is very well lined up with the master cylinder-a little further and it will operate in the "sweet spot" of the travel arc. I'll adjust the pedal so it almost touches the cross brace-after attaching a piece of rubber so I won't hear a clang every time I accelerate.
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Still have more work to do. I have to fabricate a copy of the master cylinder adapter for the back side of the foot box steel. The large hole designed for different master cylinders will stress the pedal box mounting surface unevenly if I tighten the bolts as is, and would very likely crack the aluminum mount. A bracket will also have to be fabricated for the top side of the pedal box. I haven't decided on a design yet. That will be easier to do after I remove all the foot box aluminum.
Also, two of my wheels arrived today. The other two shipped from a different warehouse and should be here tomorrow. They look even better than I thought they would, and I know I'm going to like how they look on the car. Pics to come.