Fold Up Acelerator Pedals

[Sterob]

A bit of a long-shot here, but has anyone fabricated one of these for their or someone else' s car?
My car has a LH accelerator pedal (I'm a AK amputee), but my GF wants to be able to drive it sometimes,so I am thinking about refitting a RH pedal and making both of them flip up.
I inquired to a business that does this, mod ( on the East coast) but they won't tell me how they do it and its not practical for them to do the work.
There is a u-tube video showing a mod, but it doesn't show the hinge or spring arrangement clearly.
Just thought I'd ask and see if been down this road......
If not I will try a design a mechanism myself.
Sterob

[Dave J]

Hi,
I think you could do this yourself.
Really need some more info if it's cable or rod set up, type of car, carby or fuel injected etc.
The first thing I would look at is fitting a standard pedal back in and running another cable to the engine bay.
Or you could look at using a piece of 10-12mm round bar bent into a large U shape as shown in the picture below.
With a bit more info and a few pictures of the pedal and engine bay set up, I am sure between us all we could come up with some ideas.
Dave

[Sterob]

Thanks Dave,
Its a VT Commodore and its cable operated, although I don't think I will have to mess with that part of it.
I will have to poke my head under there and get some photos. i have a couple of ideas for the hinge setup, but will have to fab a test piece and see if it works.
I've bought a couple of S/H pedals off ebay ( not arrived yet) so I have plenty of material to use.
I need a free 3D CAD program so I can post ideas. You know of one?
The car yard changed it for me when I bought the car and it a great job, but it is not set up for two pedals.
Sterob

[Dave J]

That makes it easy, my son has a VT and we have a VY commodore and also a 4wd with a commodore VS motor I put in it years back.
Do you have cruise control, because I know there is a spare cable connection at the throttle body for it.
I will have a look at it tomorrow.

Dave

[Dingo Dog]

Sterob

Have a talk to your friendly wheelie bin rubbish man. Them trucks they drive have duel steering and pedals. Check out how the pedals work in the cab. Go down to the council yard, am sure if you explain your reason they will let you have a look.

DD

[nadroj]

I need a free 3D CAD program so I can post ideas. You know of one?
Sterob

Google Sketchup.
Check out the tutorials - pretty amazing.

Jordan

[Sterob]

Sterob

Have a talk to your friendly wheelie bin rubbish man. Them trucks they drive have duel steering and pedals. Check out how the pedals work in the cab. Go down to the council yard, am sure if you explain your reason they will let you have a look.

DD


Not a bad idea Dingo. I never thought of that.

[Sterob]

I took a couple of pics last night to show my existing setup.
There is not much room under there.
The guy who modded it ran the rod under the brake arm, which is not the 'safest' way of doing it. I was nervous when I saw that , but the brake arm does not come any where near the arm.

Sterob

[Sterob]

Google Sketchup.
Check out the tutorials - pretty amazing.

Jordan


Thanks Jordan. I'll check it out.

[Stustoys]

Looks to me like he has just moded the end of the factory one. I'd get one from a wreakers cut it and join it to what you have. The only other thing I would add is some sort of foot rest on the left hand side the could be locked up when you are driving and folded down when anyone else is driving so they can't put their left foot on it by accident. Something hinged off the foot rest bracket shouldnt be to hard.
Stuart

[Dave J]

Looks to me like he has just moded the end of the factory one. I'd get one from a wreakers cut it and join it to what you have. The only other thing I would add is some sort of foot rest on the left hand side the could be locked up when you are driving and folded down when anyone else is driving so they can't put their left foot on it by accident. Something hinged off the foot rest bracket shouldnt be to hard.
Stuart

Stuart,
You wrote my post for me,thanks.:2tsup:
Great minds must think alike,lol
Dave

[Stustoys]

lol well thanks a Dave, nice to beat you for once :)
Now if I could just get time fo mod my own VT's A/C to let me have recric any time I want it. hehe
Stuart

[Sterob]

Looks to me like he has just moded the end of the factory one. I'd get one from a wreakers cut it and join it to what you have. The only other thing I would add is some sort of foot rest on the left hand side the could be locked up when you are driving and folded down when anyone else is driving so they can't put their left foot on it by accident. Something hinged off the foot rest bracket shouldnt be to hard.
Stuart


Thanks Stu,
I don't want to use a foot rest in front of the pedal because you loose too much leg room. That is why I want to use fold up pedals, best of both worlds......

hers a link to the U-tube movie:

YouTube- Flip Down Left Foot Accelerator

[Gerbilsquasher]

I didn't look at the photos, but here's my two cents...

Mount the original (RH) accelerator. Cut both off about halfway down the arm and weld rectangular plates on both sides of the top half of the arms. Drill through the side of the plate and through the top of the bottom half of the arm so that it forms a pivot. You might need to radius the forward top corner of the top of the bottom half of the arm so it doesn't bind, and if too much material is removed by drilling it may have to be reinforced. Drill another hole through the rectangular plates in a position which will hold the pedal out of the way by inserting a pin. Some fiddling and thinking might be needed to get it right.

There are other alternatives to a pin, such as a spring locking mechanism or a ball-bearing detent but it depends on how much time you want to spend.

A good idea might be to weld another small plate across the back of the lower end of the upper arm so the pedal cannot pivot futher than its 'operating' position.

Of course all this welding and cutting would preferebly be performed out side the car!:rolleyes:

[Dave J]

Hi,
Something like in the picture below would be easy to make without being to complicated and wouldn't take up much room.
Sorry about the crummy picture, I left out the stopper detail in the top one to show the detail of the hinge.
Dave

[Stustoys]

Thanks Stu,
I don't want to use a foot rest in front of the pedal because you loose too much leg room. That is why I want to use fold up pedals, best of both worlds......

I'm not sure I understand.
You won't loose leg room, the "foot rest" wont be there when you are driving.
Why do you want the right pedal to flip up?

Great video though.

I'm a little worried about where the bar crosses behind the brake pedal. VT's have a huge amount of "sponge" in the pedal(there is a saying amongst mechanics "commodores have had ABS since the VB"). If you can hit that bar it looks like its going to open the throttle....... thats not going to be good. Having said that, its a long way from the brake pedal to the firewall.
Stuart

[jatt]

If u cant get a look in a garbage truck.

From memory some driving instructor cars also have dual control setups. May help.

[nihilism]

Not a diy solution but a company that does this work in perth with pictures.

TL Engineering (http://www.tleng.com.au/pedal_modifications.htm)

[Sterob]

Thanks guys, they are both good ideas.
I have four spring loaded pins i bought from RS a few months ago ( needed one but had to buy five) so I may be able to use them to lock the pedal in either position and not use a spring at all.
A mate is wrecking a VR or a VS commodore and said I could have the pedal out of that so I am going to have plenty to play with soon. :0)
I just need a few hours free on the weekend to make a start and do some experimenting.
Sterob