The last few days have been spent researching and rereading all the information I could find on installing a 71-72 C10 cable operated throttle pedal on a 60-66, along with ordering various bits and pieces.
Part of me doesn’t want to make the change at all. As a pre-teenager I grew up saturated with hot rod magazines showing Moon pedals in numerous rods and race cars. In my junior year in high school someone brought in a genuine Moon pedal to use as a casting pattern in metal shop. Disappointedly this was a senior class so I had to wait another year to attend. Just about every kid in the class ended up with a replica Moon pedal. Even if they didn’t have a car, they had that pedal as a badge of distinction. Man I wanted one of those things. Unfortunately by my senior year there had been enough burn injuries that things changed and there were no more Moon pedals being cast.
For many years I drove the GMC with the original gas pedal. It finally started looking pretty ratty so I installed an aftermarket replacement. Due to inferior materials, within a month or so the pedal was bent in about ½” in the middle. So it seemed like a good time to go for a Moon pedal.
My son gifted me a used original and it went right in the truck. It was not a good fit. The pedal was too tall and too wide for a truck with a high hump floor. I couldn’t find a decent angle for it. It also had a tall heel cup and shoe traps on both sides. Stepping on the brake pedal brought my shoe down far enough to land on top of the left edge trap, accelerating the engine. Not cool. To make a long story short I kept trimming pieces off the pedal until it looked stupid and was ruined:
I ended up finding an original Cal Custom pedal on Ebay which fit and worked perfectly – almost. I’ve made numerous adjustments and improvement to the pedal including position/angle changes and adding a large block of Delrin to the back. I love the appearance, but I’ve never been able to achieve smooth-as-glass throttle operation. After years of improvements and annoyance, I decided it was time for another change.
As of this morning it still looked like this:
I broke out the wrenches and so far the pedal has been removed along with the firewall pivot and all the linkage up to the carburetor. The carb stud for the cable connection has been installed, and the cruise connection has tentatively been reinstalled.
The nutserts in the floor have been plugged with silicone sealant followed by a pair of 1/4x20 button head Allen screws. Tonight I’ll be drawing up plans for a block off plate for the firewall pivot so my son can machine one up. Not a whole lot to show at this stage so I’ll be posting pictures over the next few days as more parts arrive.
As a side note I also got to enjoy the first time benefit of having removed the inner fenders. Missing 2 spinal discs and having 2 bad knees puts the 1960 pedal pivot from outside the engine compartment out of my reach. Even with the hood on it was relatively easy to climb into the passenger side of the engine compartment, stand on the floor, and reach over the engine to access the firewall. I’ve been modifying the truck to make it easier to work on for a long time, and I’m certainly enjoying it now.