Anyone With Contemporary Brake/Clutch Info

cobrajam · #1 (**permalink**) 01-25-2008, 07:26 AM

Does anyone have any detailed photos, info, suggestions regarding the floor mounted brake and clutch pedals used on Contemporarys? My frame is set up for the floor mount, I am leaning that direction instead of the swinging pedals. I have made up a couple of a templates that achieve a 6.5:1 ratio. The frame setup suggests a pedal with the pivot point between the ends are required. The master cylinders appear to mount on the back side. Any ideas on types/sizes of master cylinder? How far the pedals should extend above the floor?

John McMahon · #2 (**permalink**) 01-25-2008, 07:46 AM

I've never seen a floor mount setup on a Contemporary ever...they have always been hanging units. I don't recall seeing it in the manual either. They may exist, but in all my years, I never saw one.

I would think since most of these cars have generic applications, you could simply go to ERA for their setup. When I was building my Contemporary, I used a lot of their ideas ad parts.

edit: I see the setup utilizes the sponson.

mickmate · #3 (**permalink**) 01-25-2008, 08:48 AM

Measure the holes you have. It looks like the 1.5" hole with 5/16" holes on a 2 1/4" spacing. That will make it fit the original style Girling masters or a Wilwood update in whatever bore sizes you need to match your calipers. Are you using E type brakes? Standard number is to have 7" from the floor to the pedal pad center. I have a lot of drawings and numbers for these if you need any info. We're putting a floor mount original style pedal box in Jeffs car right now that has the back of the box attached to the frame extension you show in your picture.

cobrajam · #4 (**permalink**) 01-25-2008, 06:11 PM

Below is a sketch of where the m/c and the pedals attach with some measurements. M/C holes measure 1.6250", mounting holes 2.30" apart, and the center to center measurement for the brake masters are 2.50".

I am using 11" vented rotors up front with Wilwood Superlites, 10" vented Dynalites rear. I have seen the pics of the original style footbox for Jeff's car, looks good.

mickmate · #5 (**permalink**) 01-25-2008, 06:17 PM

Is that the pedal mounts in front of clutch and between brake masters? That looks like a good way to get dual masters with max road clearance.

cobrajam · #6 (**permalink**) 01-25-2008, 06:36 PM

Yes, his master cylinder will point towards the front and pivots at the bottom, whereas mine is set up to point towards the rear, and pivots in the middle.
I have looked at the ERA, and they use a set up where brake/clutch ride on a single shaft.
Below is a 'cardboard prototype'. The mounting point for the pad is about 8" above the floor surface, measuring my foot in shoes, this would hit the ball of my foot. The distance from the pivot hole to the pad center (I am using the cast aluminum AC pads) is 10". From the pivot to m/c is 1.5". I curved the pedal so a foot would only engage the pad as it was depressed.

mickmate · #7 (**permalink**) 01-25-2008, 06:46 PM

A good book I've been using for a lot of calculations is Paved Track Stock Car Technology, Steve Smith. It says you should have a min of 60% of your braking done by the front brakes. Measure your caliper piston diameters and it's all based on pedal ratios which you have and P=F /A. Typical input is 100 lbs of leg force in a panic stop.

cobrajam · #8 (**permalink**) 01-25-2008, 06:47 PM

Below is a pic to give an idea of how it would 'look' installed. And having the M/Cs towards the back would offer some protection, esp from stuff coming up from the front wheel. The only downside would that it may be slightly less accessible.

1985 CCX · #9 (**permalink**) 01-26-2008, 12:40 PM

Use Mickmate as a source for CSX OEM type pedal arms. He has made me a CCX specific floor mounted pedal box that will look 100% the part as OEM CSX.

It will loook like this one:

Email me at jdgagnon1@juno.com and I will send you pics of the work in progress....Great to see another CCX is improving on stock set up.

cobrajam · #10 (**permalink**) 01-27-2008, 02:49 PM

So how do you like the floor mounted pedals vs the swinging ones? Do they feel much different? How far apart are the pedal arms at the pad end?

concobra · #11 (**permalink**) 01-27-2008, 05:59 PM

To Cobrajam

My car is a Contemporary and has the below floor mounted pedal/master cylinder system as you pictured above. To make the system effective for me took quite a bit of modifying. I would be happy to dialog with you regarding this if it serves your needs.

Concobra

mickmate · #12 (**permalink**) 01-27-2008, 08:29 PM

The CSX's have a straighter pedal in a side view. To get the clearance you're talking about they are tilted back with a swivel pedal pad.

JF427COBRA · #13 (**permalink**) 02-22-2008, 02:43 PM

I have a Contemporary purchased in the early 90's. The floor mounted pedals were an option along with the coil over front suspension. My frame is similar to you pictures. I have the assymbly manual with some pictures (somewhere). I can also take some pictues of the completed assymbly. The clutch master cylinder is 7/8"(I am currently working on it.) The two brake cylinders have tags on them but the car is at home and I am at work. I can send information if you still need help.

cobrajam · #14 (**permalink**) 03-20-2008, 10:32 PM

After setting body on, I cut slots in botton of footbox relative to the Contempory brackets. I made up some cardboard clutch/brake arms and installed to see where I needed to adjust for fit. With a straight arm, the brake is about 5" from the trans tunnel. The clutch is 4" to the left of the brake, and about 6" to the right of the outside of footbox. The arms also appear to need to be bent/curved towards the driver as the attachment points are almost clear to the front of the footbox, as well as needing bent 1" or so to the outside of the footbox.
Does anyone know how far from the front of the footbox the pedals need to be, and also the spacing for the pedals?

1985 CCX · #15 (**permalink**) 03-21-2008, 06:21 AM

CJ

Look's like your pedals are way too forward? Your pedal arms are also straight from a front to back direction. The original pedalarms are ~3.75" apart on center. In the Contemporary the pedal arms rest 7" behind, towards driver, from the front of the footbox to the pedal pad itself. This space gives you plenty of room for the pedal arm pivot. You are also centered in the footbox which leaves no room for the gas pedal. Cobra clutch and brake pedals are often off center and to the left since room is a concern.

Maybe your pedals should be behind the frame towards the driver? From the current picture it does not look like they will work very well as there is no space for the arm to move. Maybe a pedal arm redesign is in order? This is where I would start.

Drop me a PM with you email so I can send pics of my car's set up.

ERA Design

KMS design:

AC Style: CSX2252 Thanks Bill for the share!

CSX2411 - Thanks again Bill!

CSX3240 car(pretty sure of #)

mickmate · #16 (**permalink**) 03-21-2008, 07:14 AM

You'll see ERA is using a common mount for the brake and clutch hence the big offset bend on the clutch. Your pedals need a good offset to get them over as Jeff says for gas pedal. The ones we've been making have a 7/8" offset you might want more than that. I would suggest also cutting your slots back further so the pedals can get back from the footbox front and give you some travel. Jeff with the inch of clearance of the back of the box to pedal it gives about 8" from footbox to pedal pivot on my drawing. You have the "working" model so the 7" you said should be close. That's good progress on them, keep going! How's do they look from underneath?

cobrajam · #17 (**permalink**) 03-21-2008, 02:59 PM

Using the Contemporary mounting position, I am kind of limited as to where I can bring the pedals up through the floor. That is why on one of my previous posts I attached the pic of the template and it had a curve back towards the driver, since the Contemporary is so far forward in the footbox, that is the only way I could think of fabricating it to get full pedal travel. The last picture I posted almost looks 2 dimensional, when in fact the pedals are resting about 6-7" behind the front of the foot box. In addition, I should be able to get some adjustment depending on how far I screw on the heim joints to the masters (?) I could probably make these work, but how far from footbox should they set (I guess I will need to install the accelerator pedal assembly too and get some relative measurements). I was just curious what the typical spacing was, and it does seem to be at least an 1" or so tight to the inside.

1985 CCX · #18 (**permalink**) 03-23-2008, 08:27 AM

Butler set up!

1985 CCX · #19 (**permalink**) 05-28-2008, 05:53 PM

And now for CCX3682 Spring 2008:
Image of Shelby Pedals - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Image of CCX Interior with new pedal box - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

What a great upgrade!

badrich · #20 (**permalink**) 10-20-2008, 05:11 PM

My floor mounted clutch master cylinder just started leaking. It is cast iron with no reservoir and markings other than the serial number 81H7326 (the 8 may be a B and 1 may be a lower case l). It is similar in size to the two aluninum Girling brake master cylinders along side it. Any idea just what it is? Might it be off an XKE, as this car has lots of XKE components? Thanks for any help, Rich.