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Made some progress on the steering column and pedal setup. I had been throwing ideas at the wall for a while since the ford throttle is top swing and there isn't really any room for top mount pedals with the ti-vct intake on the drivers side. Found a good deal on a wilwood 3 pedal setup so that's where I'm going on that. Will be taking the ford pedal apart (somehow) and attach that to the wilwood setup. Also put together the mounts for the steering column; top bearing is from mcmaster and bottom is from the deconstructed subaru steering column. Had way too much fun being able to sit in the seat and spin the wheel around.

I've also changed course on the steering rack again after grabbing a great deal on a used 2.36 woodward steering rack on ebay. It's a ball stud end style rack so I'll make up some adapters for a normal 14x1.5mm inboard tie rod. Bought some mk3 Golf inner tie rods (which are 15" long) to avoid having to make tie rod extenders. But wanted to have the drivers area settled before mounting anything else.

finished up making the frame mounts for the pedals; made some threaded inserts, welded them in and finished with the belt sander. Also removed one of the return springs on the ford throttle pedal since the wilwood assembly has a built in spring as well. I also made another mount for the drivers seat since the rear mount on drivers side will benot be accessible as installed. Plan is to install the new one and cut out the old.

I'm looking at my pedal options right now.

I'd love to build the Haynes pedal box (modified plans) but I also recall that one of our builds ended up on the tires at Mid Ohio when the pedals failed.

You don't have to tell me but I'm guessing that just buying the Wilwood stuff pushes $400? 2 brake master cylinders, 1 clutch master cylinder, plus the pedal assembly, and I'm gonna need the bell crank $120 option?

Thanks for letting me pick your brain....

Tim aka G'03

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Geek49203 aka
Tim Wohlford
Louisville, KY
Hayes front, S10 +2 rear, Lalo body.
Girlfriend thinks I'm nuts for building this....

For this particular set I found the pedals on closeout on an amazon store for about the same price as a 2 pedal set and I happen to have a spare 5/8 mc (for the clutch) sitting on my self. The bell crank is definitely application specific. I don't plan on using the bell crank, just going to use a couple ball end joints from mcmaster and cut the ford pedal short so it will mount well.

As far as a home made setup, it should be fine as long as it's well made. The weld-in balance bars work pretty well. Here's a pict of a modded pedal setup I have been using in my rally car for years. The firewall was cut out and the plate welded in. I looked into fitting the spare subie pedals that I have in the roadster but it all came down to the fact that the ti-vct engine wants the airbox to be where masters would be for a top mount pedal setup.

Woodward rack extensions mostly made. Hopefully I made them a little longer than needed. Will also add some wrench flats once I am sure of the length. rack was a 1.25"-20tpi extensions made of 1.5" 6061 (for now at least).

Flipping the tie rod on the now reasonably modified miata uprights. Was super easy like many here have said. Set the depth based on how far the ream sat in the original hole. Steering rack mount is next.

mocking up the rack mount for the stand offs. The plate for the mount is already cut and the holes elongated so the rack can be shifted about 3/8" front and back. Will build the mount low and make some standoffs to dial things in once the ride height is confirmed. Using subaru impreza inner and outer tie rod ends.

Jack's web site has some useful information on testing brake pedals. [clickety] Here ya go: http://www.kineticvehicles.com/loadtest.html

just as quickly as I tacked in the mount for the rack it's been cut out. Had to run everything to vsup to realize that the rule of thumb location was about 20mm too high and a but too long on the rack length. Will need to use different tie rods as well.

I've mentioned before that my father has been assisting with some of the suspension components. I didn't see anything in the rules about outside help so we'll press on. We always had a copy of the original "Make your own sports car" book in the house and had a couple corolla rear ends and MGB gt front ends in the garage but I think he decided that making boats in his spare time was what he would rather do. But he's been a big help so far and helped with putting the rear uprights together:

I'm looking at fabricating rear uprights vs. the T'bird units. Do you have any more pictures of the work you guys did on that? Could you weigh the upright without the hub or caliper? Did you use the bearing carrier from the Sierra? Thanks....
Oh, what is the size of the square tube you welded on for the top of the upright?

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
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Will take some measurements on the stuff you are looking for. I am using '06 era Subaru Legacy rear bearings on the rear and fwd rear impreza bearings on the front.

2x2x.125 in on top and 2x4x.125 for the bottom tube. Tube is 5" round. Upright is 6lbs

Nice work on the upright. Much easier than those folding uprights I keep seeing.

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

That is nice work
What the wt difference, about half compare to stock?
Dave W