Not exactly lighting the world on fire with the speed of this project, but I did reach a minor milestone this past weekend.
When I came across a complete and refurbished 1985 hydraulic pedal set from Jeff at AZ Parts Locators (1774btcrew on here), it finalized my decision on which direction to go with the pedal conversion.
I dug up this picture that’s been floating around with dimensions for the master cylinder/brace strut holes in the firewall. Don’t know who the original author was, but thanks to them. Once the manual pedal assembly was installed, I made a template, made all the measurements and positioned the support struts to make sure all three agreed on the location before drilling the firewall.
The truck originally had dual tanks, but they were removed by the PO. The tanks were gone, but all of the original wiring was still there. Unfortunately the grommet/hole in the firewall for the wiring was right in the mount area. Ironically the hole diameter was 1.125” and the master cylinder fit through it perfectly, but the location was off by about and 1”. I figured out a way to maintain the original wiring without making a new hole, but unfortunately I had to make a plug and weld up the original hole.
Almost done. The last easy step was to bolt on the reservoir with the factory bracket that uses two of the wiper motor mount bolts. Not quite so fast, this is when I realized the wiper motor body shaped had changed between 1974 and 1985 and the bracket wouldn’t fit. In hindsight, shouldn’t have been a surprise. Worked out okay, because I found a spot on the firewall between the wiper motor and hood hinge that would accept the factory bracket.
Maybe I’ll actually have the tranny in before the original post is a year old……maybe.
Jim