Relative height of clutch and brake pedals

7173Mustangs.com

Help Support 7173Mustangs.com:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,299
Reaction score
1,347
Location
Madison, WI
My Car
1971 Mach 1 w/408C stroker
I am trying to get an idea of how high does the clutch pedal rests with respect to the brake pedal. Since I just converted my car from auto to a 5-sp manual, I don't have a reference point. If you have a manual transmission please post a picture of the pedals and if you can let me know the height from the brake pedal to the clutch pedal. By "height" I mean the distance between the pedals measured parallel to the firewall.

Thank you.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you are not comfortable, making an adjustable length clutch rod only takes a little effort.  Are you using a mechanical linkage?  If so I can measure mine for you.
I am using the cable from MDL. At this point I want to get an idea of how high the pedal typically rests so I can compare it to mine.

 
Ideally, if it were me, I'd make the clutch and brake pedal exactly the same height. I remember in the old school, hot rodding, the clutch pedal always sat a couple inches above the brake pedal. I don't know why, but I think it had to do with the amount of throw needed to disengage the clutch. ::shrug::

 
Ideally, if it were me, I'd make the clutch and brake pedal exactly the same height. I remember in the old school, hot rodding, the clutch pedal always sat a couple inches above the brake pedal. I don't know why, but I think it had to do with the amount of throw needed to disengage the clutch. ::shrug::
I agree. I prefer it to be at the same height but then I can't get enough travel to disengage the clutch. That's why I would like to see how it normally sits in our Mustangs to compare to what I have now.

 
Tony, for me being short, I need my clutch pedal set quite a bit higher than the brake (by modifying the rubber stop) so I can get he travel I need. I am referring to stock 4 speed and Z bar set-up, but it come down to where YOU are comfortable in the car. i.e. your driving position, how far from the steering wheel you like to be, leg length so you can disengage the clutch, you get the idea.

If I was to redo mine, which I'm not about to now, I would reposition the entire pedal set-up to bring them forward a couple of inches to give me more room between s/wheel and me as well as give a better sightline to my sport mirrors ( that's another change I'd make, move them forward 2" on the doors)

What I'm saying in a nut shell is "where are YOU comfortable".

Hope that helps you decide.

Geoff.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I would have to go and check to see. I think and am pretty sure when original there is a government specification of the relationship between brake and clutch. I seem to recall they were not even in that spec. I think is to keep from catching brake when using clutch or vise versa.

I have issues with many manual cars due to my big fat feet. I wear a wide or extra wide 13 or 14 shoe which gets in the way of everything. Then add 6'5" and nothing ever fits.

 
I would have to go and check to see. I think and am pretty sure when original there is a government specification of the relationship between brake and clutch. I seem to recall they were not even in that spec. I think is to keep from catching brake when using clutch or vise versa.

I have issues with many manual cars due to my big fat feet. I wear a wide or extra wide 13 or 14 shoe which gets in the way of everything. Then add 6'5" and nothing ever fits.
 David, not to get too personal here, but does the "Mountain" in your user name refer to where you live. or your physical size?

You're a big boy for sure.

From "short-ass" Geoff.

 
I would have to go and check to see. I think and am pretty sure when original there is a government specification of the relationship between brake and clutch. I seem to recall they were not even in that spec. I think is to keep from catching brake when using clutch or vise versa.

I have issues with many manual cars due to my big fat feet. I wear a wide or extra wide 13 or 14 shoe which gets in the way of everything. Then add 6'5" and nothing ever fits.
 David, not to get too personal here, but does the "Mountain" in your user name refer to where you live. or your physical size?

You're a big boy for sure.

From "short-ass" Geoff.
From where I live in the Blue Ridge mountains of western North Carolina. I look out my kitchen window and see Mount Pisgah over 5,000 feet. Was at show last Saturday in the mountains as you can see in this pic. Maggie Valley near the Cherokee Indian Reservation. BTW I am 1/8 Cherokee.

Since back on here. The pedals in our cars have hard stops under the dash I do not think the linkage has any effect on pedal position.





 
I would have to go and check to see. I think and am pretty sure when original there is a government specification of the relationship between brake and clutch. I seem to recall they were not even in that spec. I think is to keep from catching brake when using clutch or vise versa.

I have issues with many manual cars due to my big fat feet. I wear a wide or extra wide 13 or 14 shoe which gets in the way of everything. Then add 6'5" and nothing ever fits.
 David, not to get too personal here, but does the "Mountain" in your user name refer to where you live. or your physical size?

You're a big boy for sure.

From "short-ass" Geoff.
From where I live in the Blue Ridge mountains of western North Carolina. I look out my kitchen window and see Mount Pisgah over 5,000 feet. Was at show last Saturday in the mountains as you can see in this pic. Maggie Valley near the Cherokee Indian Reservation. BTW I am 1/8 Cherokee.

Since back on here. The pedals in our cars have hard stops under the dash I do not think the linkage has any effect on pedal position.



 Oh so beautiful!! All we see around where I live is flat farm fields. So I guess the 'Mountain' does refer to where you live!!

  On mine, it was the rubber bumper stop that I minimalized to get the pedal up as much as it would allow. The rest of the adjustment is made down at the clutch fork push-rod. But as Tony is using a cable set-up, that will be different for sure.

 
I would have to go and check to see. I think and am pretty sure when original there is a government specification of the relationship between brake and clutch. I seem to recall they were not even in that spec. I think is to keep from catching brake when using clutch or vise versa.

I have issues with many manual cars due to my big fat feet. I wear a wide or extra wide 13 or 14 shoe which gets in the way of everything. Then add 6'5" and nothing ever fits.
Wow... talking about "Big Foot". :D

 
brake pedal 6 1/4"  Clutch pedal 7 1/4  Measured from the top of the pedals down to the toeboard on an angle close to that of their operation
Thanks. My brake pedal is at the same dimension as yours, but my clutch is at 2 1/4" further up flush with the stop. I still need to do some tweaking of the adjustment but I don't expect being able to lower it much. I am also using pedals that are taller which is limiting how much travel I am getting.

 
I'm running the MDL cable set up and my clutch pedal is about 1" maybe slightly less higher than the brake pedal.
Very impressive that you can get a 1" higher clutch pedal with the MDL cable. What clutch and pressure plate are you using? What clutch fork?

Have you measure the total cable travel? MDL told me that I should be getting a about 1.3" of cable travel and I am right there so I am very limited on how much lower I can bring the pedal.

 
I'm running a T5 with stock bellhousing and clutch fork. I am running a Ram Power Grip clutch set, 10.5" since with the T5 I am only running the 157 tooth flywheel. I have not measured how much travel I am getting but it engages and disengages the clutch perfectly. It is mated to a Ford Performance Billet Steel Flywheel.

 
Back
Top