Moving pedals over for hydro clutch and ZF swap

I spent the last couple days moving the pedal box to the left side of the steering column. I'm swapping in a ZF5 so I had to install a hydro clutch master and I didn't like how the kits did it. Here's the result:


I re-bent the pedals so the offset was 2.75" to the right instead of 2" to the left.


The box is moved to the left 7" and the pedals go back 5" so they still end up 2" to the left of where they used to be. They could be bent into more of a Z bend to offset them more but that makes the pedals shorter. I may just move the gas pedal to the left a bit.


I used the existing hole in the clutch pedal that matches the brake pedals link pin. I welded a pivot pin in to the hole and drilled a cotter pin hole so that it's the same setup as the brake pedal. I then cut and lengthened the stock 88 F250 clutch master pushrod to reach. I made it adjustable, but it's right around 2" longer. I cut it right at the eye because the clutch switch uses all the straight section of rod. The clutch switch is not installed in this picture.



The process goes like this:
Remove brake master cylinder.

Remove steering column.

Remove clutch linkage from pedal and frame.

Unhook the speedo cable and pull it through the firewall.

Take out all the bolts holding the pedal box in and remove it.

Cut the 11 spot welds holding the firewall reinforcement to firewall, this becomes your template.

Use a straightedge and draw lines across so the line of the firewall holes goes over to the fender. Use these to line up your template so that it's close to the steering column opening but still leaves enough space for the column sealing boot to screw to the firewall.
Draw circles of all the bolt holes and brake master cylinder hole on the firewall using the template.

Drill all the holes. Holesawing the brake master hole is an issue because there's an existing hole but not centered. I clamped a piece of 1/8" steel to the back side of the firewall with the holesaw guide bit hole in it.

Clamp the firewall reinforcement in it's new location using a couple bolts and nuts.

Holesaw the smaller hole for the clutch master in the same horizontal plane the brake master cylinder hole is in. Use the reinforcement plate that came with the clutch master to set it's spacing. You need enough room for the upper nut to clear the pedal box on the inside. The lower stud hole will only go through the firewall, not the firewall reinforcement as well.

Remove the pedals from the pedal box

Bolt the box up in it's new location, just temporarily.

Draw the holes where the two vertical bolts go into the base of the cowl under the dash.

Remove the pedal box and drill the cowl holes.

Install 3/8x16tpi nut-serts in the blind holes in the cowl. They're a rivet with threads inside. You can buy a tool or make one out of a bolt to install them.

Take off the plastic bushings including the washer on the brake pedal pivot pin and bend the pedals the opposite way with a torch. Make them the same, you want the spacing between the pedals to remain constant.

Use a cutoff wheel and an air chisel to remove the linkage tab off of the clutch pedal.

Find a bolt with a 1" long shanked portion that fits snugly though the clutch master pushrod's plastic bushing. Drill a 1/8" hole through the flat faces of the head, then grind the head down to the same diameter as the shank, that's your cotter pin hole.

Use a drill to clean up the hole through the pedal, then tap it for the bolt size. Thread the bolt in, cut off the excess on the other side, and weld it in on both sides. The threads are not good enough to hold it, you must weld.

Put the pedals back in the box and bolt it all up into place.

Put the steering column and brake master back in. The brake lines may need to be lengthened to reach the new master location.
Remove the clutch pushrod from the cylinder, it just pulls out of a clip if you yank it hard.

Cut it right where it's been flattened at the eye end. Or cut it anywhere if you don't plan on using the ford clutch switch. Add 2" to it's length. Make sure it's straight, a bend will cause it to fail over time.

Install the clutch master. You will want to make a new inner reinforcement plate, the stock one has a step in it by the upper bolt hole and it doesn't spread the load wide enough in the firewall so it flexes.

Drill a new 1" hole for the speedo cable through the firewall and reinstall the cable.

Extend the brake light switch wires over to reach the new pedal location.

The brake pedal and the clutch pedal should be at the same height and the clutch pedal should create the little bit less than 1.5" stroke needed at the clutch master going from full up to the floor. Clutch is nice and easy to work because you have the full leverage of the pedal instead of the other setups that have you drill another pivot hole partway down the pedal.

I've got the clutch master cylinder inner reinforcement plate left to do and I'm dong a hydroboost install, so I'll have more pictures in a couple of days.

I'm assuming you did this to get a lighter pedal feel? I used the kit and am not real stoked with how heavy the clutch is. Still thinking about changing, but truck is all together, painted and finished and I don't have it in me to cut it up again. How much angle do you think you could have between the pushrod and MC without having issues?
Nice writeup BTW.

Bend petals where you want em and use a spares to cut out extentions from to get your 2" back weld and brace em till ya happy

Shouldn't need bracing, the clutch pedal in my tacoma has a good 4" offset factory. I didn't want to cut and extend the pedals so I'm OK with where they are. Someone else could bend them more and extend.

I did this to get the master cylinders over the fender instead of over the engine and to get good pedal feel.

You may be able to get the same leverage on the clutch master by moving it up on the firewall and using the stock hole in the pedal, but it may interfere with the steering column with the pedal box in the stock location.

So, made some progress on the ZF swap over the last week. It runs and drives now!

I used a np205 transfer case rather than adapting the dana 20.

Here's the crossmember I built. I re-used the stock frame brackets, just trimmed them down a bit. It's 1.5" 0.25" wall box tubing. It doesn't hang any lower than the NP205 does below the frame, and they're all pretty equal height with the stock radius arm mounts. I can't tuck it any higher because the trans and transfer would be hitting the floor, even with the 1" body lift.




Then I had to build a transfer case shifter. I re-used the lever from the 88 F250, just re-bent it, flattened and drilled the end for the shift linkage, and welded it to a sleeve for the pivot. It was easy working on it due to the massive hacked hole for the 3spd floor shifter. I couldn't bend the shift lever quite how I wanted it because you can't heat it next to the bonded plastic knob, so I had to make a kickout in the tunnel patch. I used door bottom brushes as the shift boot.





The ZF shift tower stuck a ways up through the floor, so to use the stock shift boot I had to raise the floor. I built a sheetmetal box 2.5" tall to do that.




So that's where it's at for now. The ZF shifts nice and the gearing is adequate for what I'm doing with it. It's used to feed hay in the winter, so you get out with it idling in 4lo 1st and toss bales off the trailer, then hop back in the truck at the end of the field. It used to move at a brisk walk, now it's a slow amble.

Here's the crossmember in the truck:



The front driveshaft isn't in yet because I'm swapping the d30 for a d44.
The exhaust is also temporary, it was a dual setup but the np205 blocks that. Right now it's literally held on with baling wire. I have to make a crossover to the passenger side.