Well it’s getting close to winter so back at it again…
The manual drum brakes were starting to get a bit sketchy, probably in need of a new master cylinder so I decided this would be a good time to rip out the old stuff in the system and put in a new power front disc setup. To make this easier from the start I pulled the export brace, driver’s seat and steering column out of the car.
Once I had the old MC, pedal box, dist. block, lines out of the car I modified the openings in the firewall to work with the power brake booster. The interior side of the firewall has knockouts you can follow as a template. I used a die grinder with carbide burrs, made quick work of it and was able to cut pretty clean.
I fogged over the firewall with some black chassis paint as best I could.
Now since I’ve had a T5 swap on the wishlist for a while, I thought it would be crazy not to install a clutch pedal and linkage while all this stuff is apart. I decided to go with the Modern Driveline hydraulic setup, so I also modified the firewall to accommodate the clutch master cylinder. The MDL bracket just barely clears the parking brake assembly, but it interferes with the hole for the speedo cable. I’d like to keep the grommet so I slightly trimmed the bracket to make room. Again the die grinder made short work of this.
Here’s the new pedal box completely assembled. I went with the Modern Driveline bolt-in clutch pedal (which I had to trim slightly to clear the top edge of the pedal box). This might be overkill but I also put the roller bearings in for the clutch pedal.
Working upside down under the dash isn’t fun, but got pedal box in the car.
