I'm moving the brake pedal from under the floor up to the firewall on my 57 chevy pickup, for a variety of reasons, and there's a few different methods to accomplish this. The braket I'm using is for a power setup with booster, which I'm not using, now of course the master mounted to the booster in that application, which leads me to the discussion. I could simply drill holes through the firewall and into the pedal bracket to hold the master or make a plate with a couple studs pointing towards the radiator and sandwich that between the master and the firewall the plate would be bolted to pedal bracket sandwiching the firewall. The holes look as if they would fall inline with the 4 holes for the bracket, so I either drill 6 mounting holes in the firewall or 4 and use the plate with the 2 studs to hold the master. Any other ways to go about this ? There's at least 3 inches of clearance between the pushrod clevis and back of master
I would go with the 6 bolts. It would be easiest and would look the same looking from the engine compartment. You may need to do something with your pedal ratio because it the bracket is intended for power brakes. Phil
Did this once and the firewall flexed with each push of the pedal. Keep and eye on flex and if needed add a large reinforcing plate, it is what I had to do.
That's why I was leaning towards the plate with 2 studs, less holes in the firewall and the firewall would be sandwiched between the 2 plates.
The rear most bolt holes on your pedal bracket bolt to the bottom of the dash, at the steering column. Between the firewall, and the bottom of the dash, a lot of flex will be eliminated. A larger footprint on the firewall will reduce the flex even more. If you can incorporate a bracket to the top of the dash, or the windshield reinforcing area, that too would help. I have a couple pictures of the in process pedal bracket installation on my 49 truck. Please excuse the late model steering wheel & column. The pictures were taken early in the process, so the dash was not present at the time (the dash bolted to the steering column mount, from the side of the firewall on one side, across the car to the other side, and was also attached to the flange at the windshield as well, the same flange that upper bracket is bolted to). I also don't believe I have the top bracket bolted to the windshield reinforcement in the pictures either, but I think you can get the idea. I've done the last 4 vehicles this way, no flex can be felt or seen. This particular build used a modern stamped steel firewall with built in bead rolls, so no extra reinforcing of the firewall itself was required. Had the fire been a flat piece of sheet metal, I would have welded about a 10" x 10" piece of 1/8" sheet steel to the flat firewall, centered around the master cylinder mount. Then the pedal bracket, and the master cylinder would have been bolted on to the 1/8" plate, using the same bolts if possible. The 1/8" plate is strong enough that the master and the pedal bracket can be bolted separate if need be, but you want to keep the center hole as small as possible if they are bolted separately.
I made a large steel plate on my Ford from 1/4" stock. I also have the clutch master attached to it. Sort of hard to see but it does the job.
I agree with above, I would add a stiffener plate to the inside of the firewall and put a bunch of spot welds around the perimeter of the plate then add some spot welds thru the center. I would also round the corners of the plate, say atleast a 1" radius that way you don't create stress points that may start cracking at the sharp corners of the plate into the firewall. I wouldn't see a need for anything heavier than 1/16" thick plate depending on how large you make it but I'd go 2 or 3 inches bigger than the bracket. .
My 37 has this. Wilwood hanging pedal setup. Clutch Slave Master is buried. I'll try and get pics from the other side.
I installed swinging pedals in the Studebaker and added a 1/8 inch plate tacked to the firewall and it is also attached to the dash were I installed a 1inch square tube running the width with a couple pieces of tubing from that to the firewall and those bolt into a piece of 1 inch on the engine side of the firewall . And it used four bolts for the pedal assembly , plus the two for the master cyl. Mine is a little different than yours but you can never have it to strong.
Years ago I put a pedal on the firewall of my 39 Chevy sedan. I added a couple pieces of small square tubing from the bottom to the top of the firewall, on either side of the pedal assy, it kept it from flexing. I welded them in before painting the car, of course. I love me the original pedal location on these trucks though, because natural leg motion is in the right direction. Something about ergonomics. But what do I know, I've only been driving one for 45 years.
I went with a hanging pedal in my 41 PU under construction to make room under the car for a large transmission. I went with power brakes but I built a steel bracket that I welded to the outside of the firewall to hold the brakes and pedal assembly and smoothed it all in so it would look like it belonged there and not an afterthought. It also allows a flush fitment of the booster bracket against the firewall that 'taint flat. I built a brace form the pedal bracket to the dash that is secured by the bolts that hold the column drop. And then added an adjustable brake switch bracket I fabbed up. Lightening holes in the brake pedal don't compensate for the extra steel and weight added in it's production. Pedal arm is now chromed, bracket is gloss black powder coat.
On my Henry J I used an aluminum plate between the master and firewall, I haven't had any flexing issues, the pedal bracket is also bolted to the dash and firewall. I won't be doing this brake pedal install on the 57 anytime soon but just trying to get my ducks in a row.
No welding needed. Use a decent urethane glue and it will be a lot stronger than spot or stitch welds. Use Bostik ISR 70-03 The anchor plates for the 5-point harness in my race car are attached with this sh*t As well as the alloy deck and fenders on my car hauler trailer.
When I did this on my '39 Chev coupe I made up a plate as large as the area inside the firewall would allow. That turned out to be about 14" square. I used 1/4" plate, and drilled and tapped holes for 3/8" bolts just because I wanted to not have to have somebody on one side holding bolt heads or nuts and I could do the installation by myself. I used longer grade 8 bolts for the two bolts that hold the new master, so once threaded through the plate and firewall I could slide the master in -place and put nuts and lockwashers on the master cylinder. The large plate worked out well, and stiffened up the firewall. But I also made a bracket to tie the pedal assembly to the bottom edge of the dashboard too, just to give added strength.
My Henry J pedal assembly "footprint" is less than 5" wide so I made a stiffener out of 2 X 5 14 ga rectangle tubing that goes from the toe board up to a 90 deg. stiffener bend in the lower firewall. It also attaches the steering column bracket that also mounts to the bottom of the dash. Gary
I’d use a 4 plate with the MC in the center like the photos. You may want to go to a booster at some time. With my eyes it looks like the ratio is about 6-1. With. 7/8” MC it should feel like power. I personally don’t like the look of vacuum booster cans and would rather work with MC cylinder diameter and pedal ratios.
I should have backed mine up on the inside too since I still get a little flex. Something like 3/16" would have been good. I did tie the exterior plate into the pedal mount bracket.
Yeah I'm not a fan of how far out the booster/master combo sticks out from the firewall, I want the focus to be on the engine, not 2 feet of brakes blocking the view.
Yes you do need a bigger engine Look at how that setup sticks out like a buzzard's beak on a 55-59, no thank you
Ok, that does look like a buzzards beak dude! I really didn't want mine hanging off the firewall but I figure if it has to be there it had to be chrome.
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