pedal closeness

dakotaguy · 10-31-2003

I find that occassionally the sides of my feet hit each other on the the pedals. Just wondering if anyone else ever has this problem and if anyone has ever modified the pedals to correct this problem?

BTW my feet are only size 8.5 so we're not talking about the fact that my dogs are big.

Thoughts appreciated.

Doug
Up here in lovely ND
Still snowing!

Jim Branham · 10-31-2003

Boy, do I know what your talking about! I can barely manage when I'm wearing my work boots-10 1/2 wide , sneakers work best for me. If anybody has modified the spacing and has an easy solution, I would love to hear about it.

dakotaguy · 10-31-2003

Although I don't wear them that often, I've found that my sh*t kickers work the best. The pointed front ends and all. I suspect that maybe some of our buddies down in good ol Texas can echo that.

I'm hoping that someone out there knows of a direct swap out from some other rig.

I haven't really looked at it all that close but if push comes to shove I'll bring her down to a buddy who works as a welder/fabricator and see what see thinks.

Gotta play soldier this weekend so you all feel safe out there this weekend. (Hand Salute! a real one from an enlisted guy, not a sloppy officer type). That was just for you Cougar!

Long-gone · 10-31-2003

I know what ya'll mean, I smoked a clutch is 71 when my combat boot hung under the brake pedal.

oldopelguy · 10-31-2003

Why soldier just for the weekend? I do it all day every day. (Sailor, not really soldier, but still active duty E-6.)

That said, you can get 1/4" or so movement to the left on the clutch pedal with a couple of washers on the shaft, and as much 1/2" more on the brake pedal by flipping the rood for the brakes to the other side of the pedal and adding washers. You'll probably have to get a longer bolt, but a 1/2" bolt will polish down to the right size with some emery cloth. At least you canon the Kadett, I'm away from the GT right now to check....

namba209 · 10-31-2003

Gee, I have never had that problem,

Of course I have a smallish foot 6 1/2 - 7 size. (All you active duty guys and semi-active, THANX, from a old retarded USAF MSGT).

Ron

GTJIM · 11-01-2003

Size 14 feet - mine is an automatic

1972ACGT · 11-01-2003

I'm blessed with 13s... its not easy. I have to pay attention or I push 2 pedals with one foot.... I haven't tried driving with my cowboy boots...I'm pretty sure I would wreck....

greensmurf20 · 11-01-2003

size 12 here. never had a problem.

pvcar · 11-01-2003

i was thinking remove the peddal cluster and then heat up the barsand bemd them a little bit to move them farther aprart. i first noticed how close the pedals were when i first set in a gt.

West Coast GT · 11-01-2003

"Just wondering if anyone else ever has this problem...."

Yeah - I've had two accidents where the closeness of the GT's pedals was a contributing cause. 1st accident back in 1980, I went to shift from third to forth, slammed on the brakes instead & got rear-ended by a pissed off motorcycle rider. (Other contributing 'cause might have been the alcohol, but I'm not sure).

2nd Accident was in 1986 and was the opposite. I missed the brake & hit the clutch instead. I ended up running over my own foot & leg, resulting in severe road rash and broken bones. But good news - alcohol was Not a factor in this one.

No problems since then.

Old Hippie · 11-01-2003

I had that problem back in the early 70's (forgot what make). I made a side stand for the clutch pedal and moved the pedal face over it, plus it had a little lip on the edge. I wasn't doing any speed clutching with it so it lasted longer than the car did.
(hand salutes right back at ya's all! [4 yrs NAVY, 17.5 Air Guard])

Dan · 11-02-2003

I wear a 13 and actually prefer the pedals as close as they are. It is nice for heel-toe and quickly switching between left foot braking and shifting.

baronbors · 11-02-2003

Originally posted by West Coast GT
"Just wondering if anyone else ever has this problem...."

I missed the brake & hit the clutch instead. I ended up running over my own foot & leg, resulting in severe road rash and broken bones

No problems since then.

Hold on here- now !!!
Your one foot is on the brake/clutch and you end up running over the other one? There's GOT to be an interesting story here!!

West Coast GT · 11-03-2003

I would leave for work before dawn, and the garage shared a wall with my son’s bedroom, a toddler at the time, who has since grown and rebuilt and totaled an Opel GT of his own.

So not wanting to wake him by firing up the GT in the garage, I would open the passenger door, pop the car in neutral, and walk around behind it as it rolled out of the garage, down the driveway. As it rolled by, I would open the driver’s door and slide in, one leg (left) still out of the car, and put the brake on.

One day I missed the brake pedal. After three tries, I ran out of time, and luck. The car ran up onto the brick flower planter box, dragging my foot, then my whole leg under the pan of the car. The GT finally came to a stop, resting on my foot, ankle, and leg. Mostly the foot.

Trying not to pass out (‘cause it would be several hours before someone found me) I had to dig around in my briefcase (of course there’s no functioning interior light in these cars), find the keys, jam it in 1st gear, and let the starter drive the car up the driveway off that planter box.

Grabbed my briefcase, and the morning paper on the sidewalk, I closed the garage door, locked up the GT, and limped up to the front door, wondering about that nasty flopping noise. Was that damned-awful flopping my shoe or my foot?

Went inside, turned on a light, and almost passed out again at the sight. Read the paper for about 15 minutes waiting to see if shock set in. Figured after 15 minutes if I could walk, nothing major would be broken. Turns out I could walk, kind of.

Since I had a presentation for Amdahl that day, I changed my shoes (left one was ripped apart). I didn’t find my sock till later. Part of it was in the flower garden, part of it still stuck to the underside of the GT, and part of it was mixed in with some messy foot tissue in the shoe. (that tissue turned out to be the skin removed from my foot) Changed my suit too since part of the leg was shredded.

By then I was into heavy commute traffic and had to stop & go it all the way from East Bay to Santa Clara. Man that clutch foot hurt.

Anyway, I didn’t take anything for the pain ‘cause I thought it would make me a little goofy for the presentation. Turns out I wasn’t thinking too good, and really blew it. Didn’t get the contract, and the rest of the team’s been a little leery of me ever since. Most have retired by now, so what the hell, right?

And yes, my wife finally made me go to the doctor two weeks later. He xrayed my foot, said there were some broken bones, wanted to know how I did it. Of course I didn't tell him. But you guys drive Opels - so you're OK.

baronbors · 11-03-2003

Man- that hurts just reading about it!!!!

dakotaguy · 11-03-2003

OOOO Man. I can see myself in that same scenario. Only probelm is we don't any hills in ND. Our mountain removal project is complete!

I thought there might be a few others out there who had the same problem.

Allright you Gters out there with some designing talent, give this thing a shot and help us out here.

BTW Am proud to be a ND Guardsman for 18 years (small break in service). Served as medic and am now heading up a mess section for helicopter unit. Glad to see we have so many other Vets out there. Hand salute to ya'all.

Cougar, watch your six out there buddy (er, I mean Sir).

Snowing yet again, up to 5 inches by morning!

ND...80 below keeps the riff raff out!

namba209 · 11-03-2003

"ND...80 below keeps the riff raff out!" I kinda take umbredge at that

I was stationed at Grand Forks for 5 1/2 years. That and 7 years off and on in SEA, plus New Mexico, and the other high desert here in SoCal, makes me appreciate that I'm living in "America's Finest City" One of the problems we had with the fires is now over, this weekend we had our first measurable rain in 187 days. Gives me a lot of time to work on the GT compared to others, but I pay for it with extremely high cost of living. You win some, you lose some.

Ron

dakotaguy · 11-03-2003

Holy smokes. 5 1/2 at GF? You know what wind chill is all about then.

If you remember, we N Dakotans love to pick on ourselves.
Cheap entertainment I guess. Glad you got to spend some time with us up here. Come back any ol time. We'd love to have ya!

Yeah, it only make it down to that cold a couple of times a year.

baronbors · 11-03-2003

Originally posted by dakotaguy
H
If you remember, we N Dakotans love to pick on ourselves.
C

I'm from Minnesota and now in Texas- Left Minnesota cause all there was to do was drink, have sex or watch TV- and the TV reception was lousey

dakotaguy · 11-03-2003

Are sure you didn't leave because you were tired of rooting for the Vikes to go to the Super Bowl, get there, then choke?!

Thank God for the Twinkies!!

As for the reception, you must have come from Iron Range country!

namba209 · 11-03-2003

Well let's see 5 1/2 years = 3 daughters and I didn't drink that much then or now. And I don't remember if I had a TV, yeh, I think we did. Chill factor? -200 degrees F. was recorded, we had 3 seconds before exposed skin was frozen, had to preflight the aircraft in relays. One year, the snow had drifted between the hangers roof top to roof top, the was an ice wave 50 feet tall that curled over and above the alert barn roof. I walked 20 feet under it on the roof. In the time I was there, the only month it did not snow was August. You can have it all

Ron

nobody · 11-04-2003

After the broken leg story I guess I'll tell mine. A few months back I bought a 71 GT. It was pretty far gone but had a load of parts and ran. After getting it back to the house I decided to put the driveshaft back in to start it up and see what I had. Tires were blocked and it was sitting in the level driveway. I was putting u bolts in and heard a very loud noise. The car came down ontop of me instantly. I caught the the end of the torque tube in the face, and it knocked me away from it. I was pinned and struggling to breath. I would try to push up with my arms but got little leverage. I started screaming the best I could but this was a very rural location, the neighbors were at least 1/2 mile away. One neighbor did hear me and came to my rescue. The really bad side of this is that my then wife was the one who kicked it off the jack and then walked back into the house, she listened to me scream for over an hour from 30 feet away. After she was gone I parted out what was on the top of the car. The divorce is progressing and I still like Opels. Was a cuncussion cracked sternum and partial colapse of my right lung. Yes My life did flash in front of me.

10-31-2003	#1 (permalink)
dakotaguy Opeler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: North Dakota. Check a map. you'll find us. Posts: 94 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	pedal closeness I find that occassionally the sides of my feet hit each other on the the pedals. Just wondering if anyone else ever has this problem and if anyone has ever modified the pedals to correct this problem? BTW my feet are only size 8.5 so we're not talking about the fact that my dogs are big. Thoughts appreciated. Doug Up here in lovely ND Still snowing!

10-31-2003	#2 (permalink)
Jim Branham Opel fan Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: N.J. Posts: 380 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	pedal sizes Boy, do I know what your talking about! I can barely manage when I'm wearing my work boots-10 1/2 wide , sneakers work best for me. If anybody has modified the spacing and has an easy solution, I would love to hear about it.

10-31-2003	#5 (permalink)
oldopelguy Have Opel, Will Travel Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Pickens, SC Posts: 1,610 Classified Rating: 0% (0) Logbook Entries: 3	just for the weekend? Why soldier just for the weekend? I do it all day every day. (Sailor, not really soldier, but still active duty E-6.) That said, you can get 1/4" or so movement to the left on the clutch pedal with a couple of washers on the shaft, and as much 1/2" more on the brake pedal by flipping the rood for the brakes to the other side of the pedal and adding washers. You'll probably have to get a longer bolt, but a 1/2" bolt will polish down to the right size with some emery cloth. At least you canon the Kadett, I'm away from the GT right now to check....

11-01-2003	#7 (permalink)
GTJIM 4246 Post Club Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: New Zealand Posts: 5,524 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	Close Pedals Size 14 feet - mine is an automatic

11-01-2003	#11 (permalink)
West Coast GT Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: San Francisco Bay Area Posts: 841 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	Too Close Pedals "Just wondering if anyone else ever has this problem...." Yeah - I've had two accidents where the closeness of the GT's pedals was a contributing cause. 1st accident back in 1980, I went to shift from third to forth, slammed on the brakes instead & got rear-ended by a pissed off motorcycle rider. (Other contributing 'cause might have been the alcohol, but I'm not sure). 2nd Accident was in 1986 and was the opposite. I missed the brake & hit the clutch instead. I ended up running over my own foot & leg, resulting in severe road rash and broken bones. But good news - alcohol was Not a factor in this one. No problems since then.

10-31-2003	#3 (permalink)
dakotaguy Opeler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: North Dakota. Check a map. you'll find us. Posts: 94 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	Although I don't wear them that often, I've found that my sh*t kickers work the best. The pointed front ends and all. I suspect that maybe some of our buddies down in good ol Texas can echo that. I'm hoping that someone out there knows of a direct swap out from some other rig. I haven't really looked at it all that close but if push comes to shove I'll bring her down to a buddy who works as a welder/fabricator and see what see thinks. Gotta play soldier this weekend so you all feel safe out there this weekend. (Hand Salute! a real one from an enlisted guy, not a sloppy officer type). That was just for you Cougar!

10-31-2003	#4 (permalink)
Long-gone Opeler Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Troy Al. Posts: 17 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	I know what ya'll mean, I smoked a clutch is 71 when my combat boot hung under the brake pedal.

10-31-2003	#6 (permalink)
namba209 6,000 Post Club Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Imperial Beach, CA South of San Diego Posts: 6,033 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	Gee, I have never had that problem, Of course I have a smallish foot 6 1/2 - 7 size. (All you active duty guys and semi-active, THANX, from a old retarded USAF MSGT). Ron

11-01-2003	#8 (permalink)
1972ACGT Opeler Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Arlington, Tx Posts: 42 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	I'm blessed with 13s... its not easy. I have to pay attention or I push 2 pedals with one foot.... I haven't tried driving with my cowboy boots...I'm pretty sure I would wreck....

11-01-2003	#9 (permalink)
greensmurf20 OPEL-LESS!!! Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Gobles michigan 49055 Posts: 2,110 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	size 12 here. never had a problem.

11-01-2003	#10 (permalink)
pvcar 4ZUA787 Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Rancho Palos Verdes CA,USA Posts: 668 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	i was thinking remove the peddal cluster and then heat up the barsand bemd them a little bit to move them farther aprart. i first noticed how close the pedals were when i first set in a gt.

11-01-2003	#12 (permalink)
Old Hippie Senior Contributor Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Paxico, Ks. Posts: 787 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	I had that problem back in the early 70's (forgot what make). I made a side stand for the clutch pedal and moved the pedal face over it, plus it had a little lip on the edge. I wasn't doing any speed clutching with it so it lasted longer than the car did. (hand salutes right back at ya's all! [4 yrs NAVY, 17.5 Air Guard])

11-02-2003	#13 (permalink)
Dan Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Spokane, WA Posts: 237 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	I wear a 13 and actually prefer the pedals as close as they are. It is nice for heel-toe and quickly switching between left foot braking and shifting.

11-03-2003	#15 (permalink)
West Coast GT Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: San Francisco Bay Area Posts: 841 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	The "run over my own foot" story I would leave for work before dawn, and the garage shared a wall with my son’s bedroom, a toddler at the time, who has since grown and rebuilt and totaled an Opel GT of his own. So not wanting to wake him by firing up the GT in the garage, I would open the passenger door, pop the car in neutral, and walk around behind it as it rolled out of the garage, down the driveway. As it rolled by, I would open the driver’s door and slide in, one leg (left) still out of the car, and put the brake on. One day I missed the brake pedal. After three tries, I ran out of time, and luck. The car ran up onto the brick flower planter box, dragging my foot, then my whole leg under the pan of the car. The GT finally came to a stop, resting on my foot, ankle, and leg. Mostly the foot. Trying not to pass out (‘cause it would be several hours before someone found me) I had to dig around in my briefcase (of course there’s no functioning interior light in these cars), find the keys, jam it in 1st gear, and let the starter drive the car up the driveway off that planter box. Grabbed my briefcase, and the morning paper on the sidewalk, I closed the garage door, locked up the GT, and limped up to the front door, wondering about that nasty flopping noise. Was that damned-awful flopping my shoe or my foot? Went inside, turned on a light, and almost passed out again at the sight. Read the paper for about 15 minutes waiting to see if shock set in. Figured after 15 minutes if I could walk, nothing major would be broken. Turns out I could walk, kind of. Since I had a presentation for Amdahl that day, I changed my shoes (left one was ripped apart). I didn’t find my sock till later. Part of it was in the flower garden, part of it still stuck to the underside of the GT, and part of it was mixed in with some messy foot tissue in the shoe. (that tissue turned out to be the skin removed from my foot) Changed my suit too since part of the leg was shredded. By then I was into heavy commute traffic and had to stop & go it all the way from East Bay to Santa Clara. Man that clutch foot hurt. Anyway, I didn’t take anything for the pain ‘cause I thought it would make me a little goofy for the presentation. Turns out I wasn’t thinking too good, and really blew it. Didn’t get the contract, and the rest of the team’s been a little leery of me ever since. Most have retired by now, so what the hell, right? And yes, my wife finally made me go to the doctor two weeks later. He xrayed my foot, said there were some broken bones, wanted to know how I did it. Of course I didn't tell him. But you guys drive Opels - so you're OK.

11-03-2003	#16 (permalink)
baronbors I'm slow but GT is fast Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: League City Texas Posts: 1,076 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	Man- that hurts just reading about it!!!!

11-03-2003	#17 (permalink)
dakotaguy Opeler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: North Dakota. Check a map. you'll find us. Posts: 94 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	OOOO Man. I can see myself in that same scenario. Only probelm is we don't any hills in ND. Our mountain removal project is complete! I thought there might be a few others out there who had the same problem. Allright you Gters out there with some designing talent, give this thing a shot and help us out here. BTW Am proud to be a ND Guardsman for 18 years (small break in service). Served as medic and am now heading up a mess section for helicopter unit. Glad to see we have so many other Vets out there. Hand salute to ya'all. Cougar, watch your six out there buddy (er, I mean Sir). Snowing yet again, up to 5 inches by morning! ND...80 below keeps the riff raff out!

11-03-2003	#18 (permalink)
namba209 6,000 Post Club Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Imperial Beach, CA South of San Diego Posts: 6,033 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	"ND...80 below keeps the riff raff out!" I kinda take umbredge at that I was stationed at Grand Forks for 5 1/2 years. That and 7 years off and on in SEA, plus New Mexico, and the other high desert here in SoCal, makes me appreciate that I'm living in "America's Finest City" One of the problems we had with the fires is now over, this weekend we had our first measurable rain in 187 days. Gives me a lot of time to work on the GT compared to others, but I pay for it with extremely high cost of living. You win some, you lose some. Ron

11-03-2003	#19 (permalink)
dakotaguy Opeler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: North Dakota. Check a map. you'll find us. Posts: 94 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	Here come the ND JOkes Holy smokes. 5 1/2 at GF? You know what wind chill is all about then. If you remember, we N Dakotans love to pick on ourselves. Cheap entertainment I guess. Glad you got to spend some time with us up here. Come back any ol time. We'd love to have ya! Yeah, it only make it down to that cold a couple of times a year.

11-03-2003	#21 (permalink)
dakotaguy Opeler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: North Dakota. Check a map. you'll find us. Posts: 94 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	Are sure you didn't leave because you were tired of rooting for the Vikes to go to the Super Bowl, get there, then choke?! Thank God for the Twinkies!! As for the reception, you must have come from Iron Range country!

11-03-2003	#22 (permalink)
namba209 6,000 Post Club Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Imperial Beach, CA South of San Diego Posts: 6,033 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	Well let's see 5 1/2 years = 3 daughters and I didn't drink that much then or now. And I don't remember if I had a TV, yeh, I think we did. Chill factor? -200 degrees F. was recorded, we had 3 seconds before exposed skin was frozen, had to preflight the aircraft in relays. One year, the snow had drifted between the hangers roof top to roof top, the was an ice wave 50 feet tall that curled over and above the alert barn roof. I walked 20 feet under it on the roof. In the time I was there, the only month it did not snow was August. You can have it all Ron

11-04-2003	#23 (permalink)
nobody No Access Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: in transit Posts: 3,873 Classified Rating: 0% (0)	After the broken leg story I guess I'll tell mine. A few months back I bought a 71 GT. It was pretty far gone but had a load of parts and ran. After getting it back to the house I decided to put the driveshaft back in to start it up and see what I had. Tires were blocked and it was sitting in the level driveway. I was putting u bolts in and heard a very loud noise. The car came down ontop of me instantly. I caught the the end of the torque tube in the face, and it knocked me away from it. I was pinned and struggling to breath. I would try to push up with my arms but got little leverage. I started screaming the best I could but this was a very rural location, the neighbors were at least 1/2 mile away. One neighbor did hear me and came to my rescue. The really bad side of this is that my then wife was the one who kicked it off the jack and then walked back into the house, she listened to me scream for over an hour from 30 feet away. After she was gone I parted out what was on the top of the car. The divorce is progressing and I still like Opels. Was a cuncussion cracked sternum and partial colapse of my right lung. Yes My life did flash in front of me.