Hot Rods Model A toekick positioning?

OCD and overthinking kicking me right square in the ass. Any advice on where/what pitch/how big/whatever the kick up transition from floor to firewall works and or goes? Channeled Model A roughly 4 inches. Yeah it's my first time building one too. Things were moving right along and now I'm stumped. I feel like I cant really determine seat placement and pedals without this being established and vice versa? If that makes sense.

 

That setup doesn't look exactly stock. Position the seat(s) and panel you're using and go for it.

(It's a long way from being stock, so just figure it out. We don't know your size, or the seat(s?)' sizes, and even if we did, we still don't know what makes you comfortable while still being in command of the driving.)

 

You are kind of in a you need B to build A, but you need C to build to build B, but you need A to build C situation. First I think you need to widen the floor out to the door jambs. Next I would mock up the steering column, gas and brake pedals. Then play with the seat placement until I had the best (or least worst) position as far as looking out the windshield, holding the steering wheel and foot on the gas and brakes. Lastly I would place the toe board where my feet and legs felt most comfortable. This may mean playing around with things because every change will likely create the need to move another component. The goal is to have ergonomics that fit you.

 

This car isn't channeled but you can see where the toe boards start in relation to the door opening.
Positioning them as far forward as possible will give you more leg room needed in a channeled car.
The final pic shows the brake pedal location. Fabrication by my good friend Joe Brusaschetti.

 

Place things so that you fit comfortably in the car. Short guys like me are an easy fit but big fat guys have more of a challenge.

 

"As far forward as possible will give you more leg room" makes sense! I'm not too too tall, 5'11, but yeah. Thanks man

 

Least worst position haha. Yeah I need to just start putting things together, they can always be changed. Cost of steel is a slight holdup too, I need to go scrapping!

 

With that much channel I would suggest you start with a seat and a steering column, then try to position the gas/brake to a comfortable position, you got to be as comfortable as possible. HRP

 

Get all the non adjustable stuff nailed go from there. Sometimes doing that gives you less options thereby making the decision for you.

 

Agreed, layout the seat, pedal and steering column and you will have a good picture of what little room you have left. Here some pictures of my 29 with a 3" +/- channel

 

Maybe useless but here are the stock dimensions for a 30-31...

 

Here is how mine shook out. But you results will vary….

 

I am a huge fan of NOT doing an angled toe board. Use every extra inch you can find.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions, huge help. Thinking I'll start with getting the pedals set first and go from there. Dont think the seat I was planning on using will work out, it's a tad tall. This might be part of my issue? It's a back seat from a 63 Falcon and was going to shorten the width. Looks cool though

 

I am a huge fan of comfort while driving a car, so I would make a toe board. Usually about 45 degrees, and only as high as needed to stop the pedals, or rest your foot on. Maybe if you are sitting with your legs outstretched more than a normal car, due to the channelling, you might make them more upright.

 

Well, I should add that I also prefer a lower seating arraignment in these cars so no toe board works. In my touring the bomber seats sat on the floor with your legs out in front of you

 

Don't know if this will help or not as your car is channeled and mine is not. The previous owner of mine did a recess in the firewall and made up the floor to fit what he had done. Which worked fine for him as he was treating it as a rat rod and did't care how it looked. I used as much of what was there as I could and adapted it so it would work without reinventing everything from scratch. I had my pedals and steering column in which makes this whole exercise a pain in the ass by the way, but set my seat in place and got my basic controls laid out and then determined if it would all work. together and it does. Then adapted some of his not so good sheetmetal work to finish the floor. I built a transmission hump from scratch. Here is a pic. A little hard to see as one pic is taken from the trunk looking forward into the cockpit and the other is from the passenger door area.

 

I agree, when driving your leg and foot should be in a natural position. The angle of the toe board should be determined by the angle of your lower leg.

 

It really depends in the way the car is set up.

I like a toe board, personally, but I have seen cars where either the toe-board was terrible or the flat floor looked like a really smart setup.

 

Show me a modern car with any sort of toe board that resembles from the coach and wagon days.

 

Maybe a partial toe board for your left foot. The gas pedal acts as a board on the right.

 

You are correct sir.

 

Finally got back to working on my A (too many other projects). Thanks for these pics, last night I was thinking how I may wind up cutting a notch in the dash. Just cant seem to get the wheel in a good spot where it's not in my knees

 

Another consideration when designing a toe board is to make sure the brake pedal bottoms out in the master cylinder before it touches the toe board.

 

In a channeled "A" I prefer no toe board but a small foot rest, left of the clutch pedal is helpful. On the passenger side. my 6'4" tall buddy appreciates that he can stretch right out with his feet actually reaching up behind my heater box. Every inch is valuable for comfort. Ultimately, building the car around you is the only way. Originality has no place of importance in a channeled car.

 

Yeah, I got a bit of a notch in my dash, the dash was cut a bit high so some rework is required to get it right.

IMG_3386 by WhyW8 posted Sep 19, 2022 at 4:32 PM

IMG_3385 by WhyW8 posted Sep 19, 2022 at 4:31 PM

 

On my 31 tudor I channeled it 3". I ran the floor out to the cowl and rear quarters on the sides and created "pockets" for the doors to close into.

I followed the original angles of the original toe plate to the floor. Just in mock up the angle feels good. The upper section of the trans tunnel is welded solid to the firewall and the lower section fits into a slot I built into the upper section and bolts to the floor. With the slot the lower section fits in tight and I don't have to worry about screws running into the trans nor do I have to see any running thru the outside the firewall.

When I'm done I'll put a strip of caulk into the slot and seal the lower panel with that.

 

This is what I was hoping to do but my original toe plate supports are long gone. Im going to look a bit closer today and see if I can find any evidence of where they once were

 

If you look close at my photos you'll see that half of my toe plate were gone and I added metal there. It molded in good enough that it's barely visible unless you look for it and of course once there's carpet it's not a problem.

Do you have enough of the side front cowl sub rail supports that you can atleast get the angle off of them?

.

 

I'll see in a few hours. I have a boatload of photos too, so I can look back in those as well. My own damn fault too, I got a little crazy with the torch and sawzall and didn’t really know what the heck I was doing ha!