It was a long time ago when I dismantled the Escort MkII pedal box - I made up my own one and now am in the final stages of putting my car together..

On the pedal box there are two springs - one for the brake - no problem - presuming it is the thinner of the springs.

The other one is thicker and from the haynes manual looks like it pulls the clutch in. There is a note in the manual that gives adjustment instructions so you get a set clearance when you pull the pedal back.

Is this needed? - I cant see why the pedal cant just hang there. The reason I want to leave it out is that its going to be a bugger to get right with the tension an positioning as when you press the pedal down it looks like it will fall out

AFAIK, the spring is there to keep a bit of tension on the clutch linkage, so that the clutch starts to disengage as soon as you press the pedal. It's too weak to start operating the clutch, but it does keep everything nice and tight.

If you don't have the spring then you may find the pedal too high when you need it (or not find the pedal... you know what I mean...)

DJ

What was causing the head scratching was that the spring is in line with the direction of the pedal travel. So when you depress the pedal the spring will go lose and fall off!

It has to be stretched a bit!

DJ

Quite a lot by the looks of it

If I remember I'll measure the stretched length this weekend.

It fastens to the pedal at a point not far from the pivot, so it won't 'relax' a great deal.

DJ

It would be a help if you could measure it - the bit where it attached to the pedal was chopped out when I shortend them

Cheers Chris

OK - I'll try and get a photo as well.

OK - here goes...

The spring attaches to the back of the pedal, 60mm below the pedal's pivot centre.

Its length is 90mm when the clutch is at rest, at which point it is stretched so that there is slightly less than 1 wire's width between the coils. I have it hooked onto a bracket welded to the front of the pedal box ('front' as in 'towards the front of the car' ).

All my dimensions were taken from a real Escort pedal box, and incorporated into my design, so these are 'as Ford designed them'.

I tried taking some pictures, but they didn't show much more that I've described here. Black pedals in a black box don't photograph too well, especially when there's cables, pivots, etc. in the way!

Hope this helps,

David

Thanks David,

Ive put in on now and the spring does not jump off which was my concern. Thanks a lot

PS I was the guy who brought your radiator

Did it fit OK?

DJ

It will do - it goes in the nose cone OK. I have not fitted it yet - the last one was damaged when I was manovering a sheet of steel round the garage so ths one is going on last thing!

Had a look on mine today and the thin one is clutch return and fits lower down, the thick spring is at the top of the brake pedal so it pulls the brake off and doesn't rely on the master cylinder to push it back. I also fitted a stop to prevent the clutch pedal coming back too far as tension is needed to stop the cable dropping out at the gearbox end.

yours, Pete.

[
I have a top mounted clutch pedal and have fitted a return stop to it, however I am now concerned that I may have fitted the spring incorrectly.In my installation the spring pulls back against the stop, should this be opposite and the spring pulling against the release arm so as to take up all the free play and hold the pedal off the stop?.Or does it really matter.
Paul.
quote]Originally posted by Peteff
Had a look on mine today and the thin one is clutch return and fits lower down, the thick spring is at the top of the brake pedal so it pulls the brake off and doesn't rely on the master cylinder to push it back. I also fitted a stop to prevent the clutch pedal coming back too far as tension is needed to stop the cable dropping out at the gearbox end.

yours, Pete.

quote:

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Originally posted by Peteff
Had a look on mine today and the thin one is clutch return and fits lower down, the thick spring is at the top of the brake pedal so it pulls the brake off and doesn't rely on the master cylinder to push it back.

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This is how mine were on the Escort pedal set up. I used the original shaft in my own made up mount. The springs are held by tags welded on top and under the square section. The clutch spring pulls the pedal down and the stop, a long bolt for adjustment, prevents lifting with your toe and disengaging the cable from the actuating arm.
Rescued attachment pedal springs.JPG

thanks for the picture - I had my springs round the other way - thick one on the clutch, thin on the brake. Will proball copy your pedal stop as well!

Can't do that, it's patented.

Oh no, it's o.k. it's still bare metal, everything else is patented green.

yours, Pete.