1929fordhotrod.com

DIY Gas Pedal for the 1929 Ford Model A Roadster

Here we are in the middle of November with the sights and sounds of Christmas in full steam.   While out in the shop last night working on the 1929 Ford roadster hot rod, there was lots of Christmas music on the local classic rock radio station.  This created a nice atmosphere for working on the hot rod for several hours before a late Saturday night supper and movie with my wife.

Today I have a simple project for the hot rod, a simple and cheap gas pedal.  Several years ago when I dismantled the 1986 Corvette Indy Pace car convertible, I kept as many parts as I could use for the build of the hot rod.  Everything else was sold either locally, or on eBay, with many parts heading off to all corners of the earth and a great cash reward at the end of it all.  The gas pedal assembly from the 1986 Corvette seemed like a logical item to save. 

To connect the gas pedal to the carburetor, ¼” (inch) tie rod ends were used on each end of a ¼” (inch) aluminum rod.  The tie rod ends were the only items I purchased for this project.  To determine the location of the hole through the firewall for the throttle rod I attached it to the carburetor.  Then I positioned the throttle rod parallel to the engine both vertically and horizontally.  Once satisfied of the position, I scribed a center mark on the firewall.  Remember, measure twice and cut once.       

Using a ½” (inch) stainless steel bolt and nut, a simple throttle rod bushing for the firewall was made on the metal lathe.  I rounded the bolt head and drilled an oversized hole through the bolt for the¼” (inch) throttle rod to pass through.  The rounded bolt head was mildly polished starting with course grit sandpaper ending up with 600 grit sand paper while in the lathe.  Since I am using very solid motor mounts on the engine I am able to use this method of the connecting the gas pedal to the carburetor instead of a cable.  The motor mounts I fabricated some time ago are 2” (inch) diameter by 1” thick urethane rubber mounts between the engine and the chassis.  This method of mounting the engine to the chassis will prevent much engine twist during acceleration.  This is an important consideration when using a solid throttle rod connection the gas pedal to the carburetor.

Now that I know exactly where the throttle rod will enter into the cockpit, the exact mounting location for the Corvette gas pedal assembly can be determined.  For the gas pedal to work in the 1929 Ford roadster hot rod, the mounting bracket needed to be modified, and the upper arm was shortened slightly.  After a simple test fitting of the modified Corvette gas pedal on the hot rod, I quickly realized that the Corvette pedal pad was not a good fit for the hot rod.  Using a scrap piece of ¼” (inch) steel plate and fabricated a spoon shaped pedal pad and adapted it to the Corvette pedal assembly.  I was even able to adapt the small spring on the pedal pad.  This small spring maintains a good pedal pad position when not in use.  Later on, both the brake and gas pedal pads with be faced with aluminum or even replaced with an aluminum one.  Another option might even be to use stainless steel for both the brake and gas pedal pads.  These will be the finer details of the hot rod build that can be worked out once the car is on the road.

As it would happen, the mild modifications to the Corvette gas pedal assembly provided a perfect fit for the 1929 Ford roadster hot rod.  Of course when I completed the modifications to the gas pedal, I did not have any machine shop equipment.  If I were to do the job today, I would have fabricated one entirely from scratch.  If I am going to complete the hot rod and enjoy driving it, I must look forward and not rebuild things because I have more shop equipment.  Otherwise, the build will never get completed.  The plan now is to have the 1929 Ford roadster hot rod on the road next summer.  With the build about 85% complete, the last 15% is taking most of the time.