Hi all - long time no see.
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I've had a few projects on the fire.
![Image]()
A while back I ordered a set of the Heico pedals from iPD, along with the footrest. Finally had a chance to install them over the Memorial Day weekend in my V50. I also made a slight mod/adjustment to the clutch travel by reducing it using a spacer.
I can say that I find the changes to be a quite dramatic improvement. The clutch is easier to actuate, and the reduced travel makes it much easier to smoothly engage the clutch.
One helpful factor though is that magically, around 5000 miles (I have about 6200 on it now), the throttle response improved as well. Previously it was very sluggish, almost dead to a quick stab at the accelerator. Now it's basically almost normal. Still a slight delay, but not at all bothersome. So that helped too, but is really just icing on the cake - the mod was worth it.
Anyway, here is the installed pedal set:
![Image]()
Although the brake pedal is somewhat larger (and squarer) than the stock pedal, I was able to mount it slightly farther to the left, making for enough clearance to the accelerator to make an improvement. Heel and toe is a snap, with the brake pedal corners to roll off and the rubber pads to give some grip to the throttle. Plus, the pedals are nicely convex, which really helps.
As for the clutch, the pedal gives better feel, which is half the battle. Again, the corners and convexity are helpful in knowing where my foot lands, and helps to roll on and off it. But the bigger change is that I added a block behind the pedal arm which holds it about 1" off the back wall. This makes for a solid stop, and 1" less play before take-up. I tried to fine-tune it but discovered that 1 1/4" was too little. (If you try this, I would suggest starting high and moving down, making sure you have full disengagement as the same time you remove the excess slack.)
BTW the clutch and accelerator pedals are plastic, while the brake pedal is steel. The plastics are easy to attach to, the brake is definitely not, for two reasons. One, the screws are quite small and take a nylox nut behind the pedal, and two the angle you need to drill makes it impossible to get straight on to without a right-angle drill head. I was able to centerpunch a spot and drill at a slight angle, with great care I must say.
I'm less excited about the footrest, though if I really tried to toss the car I would probably appreciate it more. Basically I think it's a little bit more cosmetic, but I don't regret adding it, it looks nice and gives a good feel.
Here some pics/details:
The footrest, believe it or not, isn't on the floor. It's on a hunk of wood or particle board which is backed up by a wedge of foam. Behind the foam is a wiring harness and a sort of plastic clip which must hold some option I don't have:
![Image]()
I used some 1/2" #4 aluminum sheet metal screws to attach the footrest, which avoided any possibility of piercing the wires you can see snaking vertically down the center of the photo, but I moved them aside anyway:
![Image]()
The footrest is the overexposed triangle below the red hood release latch and the yellow-banded black wire is the same one in the previous photo. I then simply screwed the footrest over the existing rubber platform, due to the tiny screws no drilling was needed, and the backing board holds them quite well. I used aluminum screws because they are more compatible with the aluminum Heico rest.
On to the clutch, I fashioned this shim block:
![Image]()
It's about 2 1/2" long and, in this initial photo, about 1 3/8" high. The flat side at the top right goes against the back of the clutch pedal and the slight curve to the front left corner is intentional because of the shape of the carpet.
Here it is painted black and mounted:
![Image]()
Note that the opper tie-wrap goes through the pedal web. This is needed because the pedal arm tapers toward the actual pedal, the block slides down otherwise. This hole does not compromise the strength of the arm in any way as it only goes through the central web and is quite small.
Here it is in operation:
![Image]()
It may not look it, but the block is flush against the floor. After some trial and error I trimmed off about 3/8" of the height so it is now 1" thick, reducing the clutch pedal travel by about that much.
Actually maybe I should say making the clutch "solid" at about 1" off the floor. What I was finding is that the darn pedal went so far down, and so far past what was needed to disengage the clutch, that I lost the feel for where the engagement point was. Having a nice firm stop changed all that.
So, two http://********************/smile/emthup.gif http://********************/smile/emthup.gif for the clutch and pedals after this, for me at least. Thought this might be interesting to some.
Tom.
Edit - OBTW the screws provided with the kit are metric hex-drive screws of some very strange size in-between 2mm and 2.5mm. I discovered that a T8 torx fit them perfectly however.
Also, be VERY careful when following iPD's otherwise very helpful instructions. They recommend drilling a 5/32" hole for the plastic pedal screws, whch is waaay too large for the selftapping screws provided. On the metal pedal they recommend a 1/8", which in my opinion is a gaping hole for the purpose. I used 5/64" with good success, though I might drill them a speck larger if I wanted some wiggle room to adjust that pedal for square.
A while back I ordered a set of the Heico pedals from iPD, along with the footrest. Finally had a chance to install them over the Memorial Day weekend in my V50. I also made a slight mod/adjustment to the clutch travel by reducing it using a spacer.
I can say that I find the changes to be a quite dramatic improvement. The clutch is easier to actuate, and the reduced travel makes it much easier to smoothly engage the clutch.
One helpful factor though is that magically, around 5000 miles (I have about 6200 on it now), the throttle response improved as well. Previously it was very sluggish, almost dead to a quick stab at the accelerator. Now it's basically almost normal. Still a slight delay, but not at all bothersome. So that helped too, but is really just icing on the cake - the mod was worth it.
Anyway, here is the installed pedal set:
Although the brake pedal is somewhat larger (and squarer) than the stock pedal, I was able to mount it slightly farther to the left, making for enough clearance to the accelerator to make an improvement. Heel and toe is a snap, with the brake pedal corners to roll off and the rubber pads to give some grip to the throttle. Plus, the pedals are nicely convex, which really helps.
As for the clutch, the pedal gives better feel, which is half the battle. Again, the corners and convexity are helpful in knowing where my foot lands, and helps to roll on and off it. But the bigger change is that I added a block behind the pedal arm which holds it about 1" off the back wall. This makes for a solid stop, and 1" less play before take-up. I tried to fine-tune it but discovered that 1 1/4" was too little. (If you try this, I would suggest starting high and moving down, making sure you have full disengagement as the same time you remove the excess slack.)
BTW the clutch and accelerator pedals are plastic, while the brake pedal is steel. The plastics are easy to attach to, the brake is definitely not, for two reasons. One, the screws are quite small and take a nylox nut behind the pedal, and two the angle you need to drill makes it impossible to get straight on to without a right-angle drill head. I was able to centerpunch a spot and drill at a slight angle, with great care I must say.
I'm less excited about the footrest, though if I really tried to toss the car I would probably appreciate it more. Basically I think it's a little bit more cosmetic, but I don't regret adding it, it looks nice and gives a good feel.
Here some pics/details:
The footrest, believe it or not, isn't on the floor. It's on a hunk of wood or particle board which is backed up by a wedge of foam. Behind the foam is a wiring harness and a sort of plastic clip which must hold some option I don't have:
I used some 1/2" #4 aluminum sheet metal screws to attach the footrest, which avoided any possibility of piercing the wires you can see snaking vertically down the center of the photo, but I moved them aside anyway:
The footrest is the overexposed triangle below the red hood release latch and the yellow-banded black wire is the same one in the previous photo. I then simply screwed the footrest over the existing rubber platform, due to the tiny screws no drilling was needed, and the backing board holds them quite well. I used aluminum screws because they are more compatible with the aluminum Heico rest.
On to the clutch, I fashioned this shim block:
It's about 2 1/2" long and, in this initial photo, about 1 3/8" high. The flat side at the top right goes against the back of the clutch pedal and the slight curve to the front left corner is intentional because of the shape of the carpet.
Here it is painted black and mounted:
Note that the opper tie-wrap goes through the pedal web. This is needed because the pedal arm tapers toward the actual pedal, the block slides down otherwise. This hole does not compromise the strength of the arm in any way as it only goes through the central web and is quite small.
Here it is in operation:
It may not look it, but the block is flush against the floor. After some trial and error I trimmed off about 3/8" of the height so it is now 1" thick, reducing the clutch pedal travel by about that much.
Actually maybe I should say making the clutch "solid" at about 1" off the floor. What I was finding is that the darn pedal went so far down, and so far past what was needed to disengage the clutch, that I lost the feel for where the engagement point was. Having a nice firm stop changed all that.
So, two http://********************/smile/emthup.gif http://********************/smile/emthup.gif for the clutch and pedals after this, for me at least. Thought this might be interesting to some.
Tom.
Edit - OBTW the screws provided with the kit are metric hex-drive screws of some very strange size in-between 2mm and 2.5mm. I discovered that a T8 torx fit them perfectly however.
Also, be VERY careful when following iPD's otherwise very helpful instructions. They recommend drilling a 5/32" hole for the plastic pedal screws, whch is waaay too large for the selftapping screws provided. On the metal pedal they recommend a 1/8", which in my opinion is a gaping hole for the purpose. I used 5/64" with good success, though I might drill them a speck larger if I wanted some wiggle room to adjust that pedal for square.
