power adjustable pedals

[Lancelot72]

Hi,  I'm new around here.  My wife an I have just bought our first classic car (72 hardtop) and are looking forward to fixing it up and making it our own.  I have been trolling this forum and love all the information and advice I have found here. 

 I'm 6'2" and my wife is considerably shorter.  When I drive our car I have the seat all the way back and wish there was a little more room between the seat and pedals.  I have to bend my knees quite a bit.  My wife gets in with the seat most of the way up and wishes the pedals were a bit closer.  Has anyone ever tried adding adjustable pedals?  I used to haver an F150 that had power adjustable pedals and I loved it.  I tried searching the forum and didn't find anything on this topic

Thanks in advance for any info anyone has on this topic.

Lance

 

[Bill73Ragtop]

Could be an interesting, but extremely expensive conversion. First thoughts that come to mind in order to accomplish adjustable pedals in any vintage mustang would be to convert brake and acceleration pedals to drive-by-wire (include clutch for manual transmissions). Then engineer a system to slide pedal assembly for adjustment. Safety to prevent brake or acceleration failure will be top priority on any 'to-do' list.

It should be interesting to see what ideas will be offered.

 

[Stanglover]

Even mechanically adjustable pedals would be nice. I have to have my seat further forward than I would like just so I have full clutch pedal travel. And yes, I have tried several adjustments to get the clutch to fully disengage sooner, but no cigar!

I also have to slide my seat all the way back so I can more easily get out now I have "spare parts" in my right hip. If my seat did not need to be so far forward, I likely would not need to p*ss around every time I get out.

When I last had all the column and pedals out, I looked at repositioning them, but even with my skills with metal, it would have been a tough job without changing everything, so not worth it. For now, it is what it is.

Geoff.

 

[OzCoupe72]

I have the same problem as my wife is quite short

Would be a pretty big project to achieve adjustable pedals

I think the easiest answer is to buy the wife some platform shoes!

 

[Don C]

You could always try some redneck engineering

 

[Don C]

There are companies that sell brake and accelerator pedal extenders, but they bolt on.

I found this, it might give you an idea of what would be entailed in the installation. The biggest hurdle would be the accelerator by wire.

http://www.pantherbb.com/p71interceptor/powerpedals/index.html

They make drive-by-wire conversions for physically impaired drivers that use servo motors for accelerators, brakes, and even steering. So some of that technology may be adaptable.

 

[Lancelot72]

There are companies that sell brake and accelerator pedal extenders, but they bolt on.

I found this, it might give you an idea of what would be entailed in the installation. The biggest hurdle would be the accelerator by wire.

http://www.pantherbb.com/p71interceptor/powerpedals/index.html

They make drive-by-wire conversions for physically impaired drivers that use servo motors for accelerators, brakes, and even steering. So some of that technology may be adaptable.

I think the way I might try to go is something like the link you posted.  I am wondering if a set of power adjustable pedals from a different car could be made to work.  I am going to be removing the interior before paint, and I have to do work on the AC so I will be pulling a good chunk of the dash apart.  That should open things up and allow me to get a good look at how the break mechanism works.  If the break linkages give me too much of a problem maybe changing to a drive by wire for the brake might be the best option for it also.

Thanks for all the feed back.

 

[Tnfastbk]

Hi,  I'm new around here.  My wife an I have just bought our first classic car (72 hardtop) and are looking forward to fixing it up and making it our own.  I have been trolling this forum and love all the information and advice I have found here. 

 I'm 6'2" and my wife is considerably shorter.  When I drive our car I have the seat all the way back and wish there was a little more room between the seat and pedals.  I have to bend my knees quite a bit.  My wife gets in with the seat most of the way up and wishes the pedals were a bit closer.  Has anyone ever tried adding adjustable pedals?  I used to haver an F150 that had power adjustable pedals and I loved it.  I tried searching the forum and didn't find anything on this topic

Thanks in advance for any info anyone has on this topic.

Lance

Just buy/build two

 

[cwalker509]

His and hers. Get a lift if needed. You didn't think we would discourage you getting more Mustangs, did you?

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Lancelot72]

I already have my "His". I'm just trying to make the "Hers" more fun to play around in!

 

[Bentworker]

This guy did a nice write up on an adjustable pedal conversion on a Crown Vic.

http://www.idmsvcs.com/2vmod/powerpedals/index.html

 

[jowens1126]

I think a cheaper and much easier option would be to modify the seat location or the seat slider. You can go about this in several ways. You could cut out the seat pan and move it back a bit. You could get a seat track set with a much longer travel range and cut and weld it into the original seat track mounts. You could also fabricate the seat tracks to be a little lower if you need to.

This will reduce the back seat leg room, but who the hell rides in the back of these cars anyway.

This would require some decent fabrication skills as well as all the welding and cutting equipment, so it might be something to have a shop do. They will ream you on price, but it will still be cheaper than buying all the equipment you need to do this, not to mention all the time spent developing your skill level.

 

[Lancelot72]

I think a cheaper and much easier option would be to modify the seat location or the seat slider.  You can go about this in several ways.  You could cut out the seat pan and move it back a bit.  You could get a seat track set with a much longer travel range and cut and weld it into the original seat track mounts.  You could also fabricate the seat tracks to be a little lower if you need to.

This will reduce the back seat leg room, but who the hell rides in the back of these cars anyway.

This would require some decent fabrication skills as well as all the welding and cutting equipment, so it might be something to have a shop do.  They will ream you on price, but it will still be cheaper than buying all the equipment you need to do this, not to mention all the time spent developing your skill level.

I understand what you are thinking and I may modify the seat rails also.  But for a tall person the seat moving is only half the equation.  Buy the time I modify and move the seat back far enough for my legs to be comfy my arms are stretched out all the way to reach the steering wheel.  If I could move the pedals a little deeper, I don't have to move as far back and then my arms aren't reaching to grip the wheel. 

The opposite happens for my wife.  She moves the seat up  and still wishes the pedals were closer.  She could move the seat a notch or two further forward to fit the pedals but that would put her too close to the steering wheel for her comfort.  

I guess the other way to fix this same issue would be a steering column that is adjustable in and out and not just tilting up and down.  That seems to be a rare feature in cars also.

I know, I know.  I have been waiting for someone to suggest cheese to go with my wine...

 

[73pony]

You're not whining at all. Have the same issue with about every car. Part of the reason for my daily drivers I typically buy European cars as almost all of them have telescoping steering wheels.