305 replies to this topic

[Chris C]

I've been lazy with updates, but work has been getting done. Been focusing on driver ergonomics and getting everything in the interior the way I want it.

I never liked how far to the right the clutch and brake pedals sat when lined up with the standard mini mounts. There was no place to put my foot for the throttle, it had to lean against the tunnel and that was never comfortable. Decided that I might as well move the pedals over to the left.



As you can see, I also went with a floor-mount throttle pedal, and since the throttle cable needs to be pulled and a floor mount pedal exerts the opposite force, I built a mount for the throttle cable and bellcrank arm. I'll probably put another hole or two in the bottom of the bellcrank arm, so I can adjust the throttle leverage ratios. With the pedal depressed it sits about an 1/8th inch off the floor. I welded a cable stop to the assembly as well, so only the cable housing passes through the firewall.

A better picture:



Decided to move the shifter back and up, figured the easiest way to do that was to move the shift rods inside the car. Fairly straight forward. The top plate on that box is rubber mounted to allow some movement, I don't want it popping out of gear.



Decided today to move the seats back and down as well, to gain more leg room and head clearance. A few pictures of where it's going to be:





The motor and front subframe are back on for the moment so I can take that measurement if you still want it, Jeffreypang911. It is close, that much I can tell you.

cptkirk, while the stalks are ugly they will be covered at some point. This seems like a good solution as well:

http://www.turnswitc.../Turnsignal.htm


More updates as they come.

[Joe250]

Chris,

If you're going to steal my throttle pedal ideas, the least you could do is come over and build me a cable actuator mount too! At least your pedal has my name on it. I guess I'm getting credit sort of.



Your car is looking good. Keep at it.

Joe

[Chris C]

I, uh, may or may not have been inspired by your design... I'd like to speak to my lawyer.

No, I did steal the entire pedal setup idea from you, gas pedal and all. I just couldn't find your build to link credit to.

We seem to be the only two people to address the pedal location, and ruling out z-cars, the steering as well.

Should I send you a fruit basket?

[kcchan]

Lovely work as usual. Cant wait to see it finished.

[Joe250]

I, uh, may or may not have been inspired by your design... I'd like to speak to my lawyer.

No, I did steal the entire pedal setup idea from you, gas pedal and all. I just couldn't find your build to link credit to.

We seem to be the only two people to address the pedal location, and ruling out z-cars, the steering as well.

Should I send you a fruit basket?

Hold the fruit basket. Just don't finish your car before I finish mine!

[Chris C]

Decided to cut out the old crossmember, which was dented and warped ever since I bought the car:



Began building a bridge instead:



Nice lighting.

[custodia]

My word, been a while since i last looked at this thread and wow you've come on along way, excellent work, can't wait to see it finished.

[Chris C]

I have still been working on this thing, believe it or not.

Received the quick-release steering boss in the mail; it's, well, awesome.





I've been clamping the steering shaft end in the vice and connecting and disconnecting for fun.

Also re-did the seat mounts, because the first time they were too high and close, second time I just flat out *melonsed* them up, but third time is a charm I guess. Seats are LOW. No racks, bolted straight to mounts welded into the floor. All the bolts run from underneath the car, the front bolts are run through the tubes that run vertical into the box cross section. Goal was to make it all watertight, easy to access and strong.

You can also see that the new crossmember has been finished and welded in, it's the same width as the original but sits slightly lower.







Just to show how low the seats are:





Next step is the custom dash/center console/shifter mount. Stay tuned.

[Joe250]

I had my seats mounted to the floor originally too. I couldn't see over the hood though! Are you certain you're going to be happy sitting so low in the car? Just trying to be helpful (and delay your build a bit!).

Joe

[Chris C]

Ah, see the thing is I'm not exactly short, and at 6'5" I still manage to have quite good visibility. The seats are also far enough back to where my legs are bent how I want them to be.

Joe, I've been reading up on composites laying, I'm pretty sure you don't need to bother prolonging my build as I'm about to dive into the world of fiberglass.

[Chris C]

Holding off on building a fiberglass dash, as I don't need it for the car to run. I have, however, nearly completed the new center console/shifter pedestal. The shape is all finished and it is all welded up, I just need to make the little tabs for the shifter to bolt to and modify the plate that the shifter is in a little bit.

Anyways, pictures:









Should I stay with the larger image size? I always figure a bigger picture to be better, but if it's messing up people's displays too much I'll go back to the smaller size.

[cptkirk]

Very Neat - I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

[cptkirk]

by the way - Stick with the big images

[Chris C]

Hopefully it turns out as clean as I picture it in my head, cptkirk.

Shifter is back in, sorry it's out of focus:



Rebuilt the steering column mount, I think it looks much better this time. I'm quite pleased with how it came out:









A final "big picture" shot, as I haven't done one of those in a while:



I'm currently working on the drivers door, the bottom of it is in the midst of being replaced and it'll also be reskinned.

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

nice work