Hot Rods 28-31 Ford Brake Pedal too far back

I just bought a 30’ Model A and the brake pedal is about 6” farther back than the gas pedal (see pic) and feels too far back for normal driving. Any recommendations on how to modify it? I’m wondering if I can simply cut out 3-4” off the pedal arm, but not sure how that will affect the geometry? Not sure if it matters but it’s manual disk/drum brakes. Thanks

 

That looks correct.

 

If you shorten the arm, will it hit the floor before the stroke is done?

 

Does it bottom out before the floor? If it bottoms out well above the floor you may have some t******* available.

 

Same time typing.

 

The steering column goes through the floor a long way back too. Where's the toeboard?

 

My plan is to bleed the brakes then see where it bottoms out, hopefully I have some room left. If not then I may need to move the master cylinder a bit forward.

 

Is this the green coupe? That had a firewall mounted m/c.

 

No this is one I just bought, actually haven’t even seen it yet, bought it yesterday sight unseen. The seller told me about it and he’s the same height as me so I’m trying to figure out a plan for when it gets delivered.

 

Pics

 

Stock model A is about the same. Throttle way further forward but on the floor

You get used to it.

 

You may end up in trouble if you simply shorten the arm. It's not going to give the leverage needed to stop, being manual brakes. If memory serves, the proper ratio for a manual pedal 7:1. Any less will give a "hard pedal" but you won't be able to stop. Moving the master cylinder, depending on how it's mounted, may be a pretty big chore. If it's anything like my roadster, it'd be impossible without blowing the car apart to move a whole bunch of other, pretty significant stuff. Like the engine, transmission, exhaust, steering...

 

If the pedal bottoms out before the Pad hits the floor look into just shortening the pushrod.

 

That’s a good idea, that wouldn’t affect the geometry at all.

 

If you shorten the pushrod, make sure it doesn't bind in the master cylinder bore during full range of travel.

 

You may be anticipating a problem that isn't. Wait until you have at least sat in the car and maybe until after you have driven it.

You need to check for where it bottoms out with the MC empty. The piston in the MC needs to bottom out before the pedal hits the floor.

There is some pedal travel to be gained by shortening the stud on the back of the pedal pad. If the pedal stud screws into the pedal arm you could gain a fraction more by going to a thinner jamb nut.

Depending on your personal ergonomics, you may be able to partially close the difference in pedal heights by raising the gas pedal some.

I don't think shortening the arm (if viable) is going to change the ratio. The curved section of the arm travels through the same small hole in the floor. Therefor any place along that arm has to be equidistant from the pivot point of the arm.

 

That pedal is a 32ish style for slanted toe board.
Something along this shape is more suited for model A .

Nice looking car too!

 

All good info, and why I thought to post in here. I will wait until I drive the car to see how tolerable it really is. It has a full TCI frame and suspension and I called to discuss with the TCI tech staff and they stated the same areas of concern most of you have on here. They said I could switch to a 1 1/8” diameter MC which requires less pedal travel as another possible option. Hopefully I can tolerate it as is, just wanted to start the conversation now in case I need to modify. Thanks