pedals: aligning for heel toe

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  • Nsquared97
    replied
    Originally posted by ELVA164
    There are a few ways to do it, but the way I've found works pretty easily is resting the ball of your foot on the right half of the brake pedal and rolling the right half of your foot onto the accelerator. It's pretty easy to pull off without a ton of knee movement, and with some practice should become pretty natural.
    This, never had any issues heel-toeing with my car.

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  • mcaden
    replied
    Originally posted by jlevie
    The brake pedal is connected to to the booster via a threaded connection. You can loosen the lock nut and shorten the threaded connection.
    Just to close the loop on this thread - what Jlevie said is correct. In fact, if you look in the Bentley manual there is a section devoted to adjusting your Clevis (their word, not mine)... that will in essence control your brake pedal travel length. There are other threads discussing how to remove the pin and brake pedal to adjust the Clevis, BUT that process is unnecessary. You can simply take a small pair of vice grips and then turn the rod that attaches to the brake booster. Rotate the rod counter clockwise if your brake pedal is too high and clockwise if your brake pedal travels too far (e.g., it will feel like there is air in the system when there isn't).

    This is a very tight area to get to (push your driver's seat all the way and possibly bribe your small buddy with a six pack of beer), but it can be done and really doesn't take all that long. Just remember to check that your brake lights still work once you have adjusted the pedal. I had to adjust the brake check switch a little after I was done.

    E30's are normally very east to heel/toe downshift, so it was frustrating not be able to do this (my brake pedal simply would not depress downward enough to also reach the accelerator). Adjusting my brake pedal with the rod attached to the booster did the trick!

    -Marc

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  • Jaxx_
    replied
    Originally posted by ELVA164
    There are a few ways to do it, but the way I've found works pretty easily is resting the ball of your foot on the right half of the brake pedal and rolling the right half of your foot onto the accelerator. It's pretty easy to pull off without a ton of knee movement, and with some practice should become pretty natural.
    this. I am 6'1" and I have no issues heel-toeing with size 12 US shoes. I think that the throttle is the right height once you start mashing on the brake.

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  • mcaden
    replied
    Gas pedal extender sold here, but could probably also be self-made: http://www.rennline.com/Rennline-Adj...ductinfo/PA71/

    Here is another thread discussing the issue from the SpecE30 site. Again, they discuss making your own block of wood, etc to build up the gas pedal. I see that Jim is also on that forum. :-)

    Link here: http://spece30.com/forum/16-general-...edal-positions

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  • mcaden
    replied
    I just posted about this same issue in another thread the other day. In short, in my E30 325is, its easy to heel/toe, but in my vert... the accelerator is too low to reach using either H/T method. I wasn't sure if it was a vert thing or some adjustment was needed in the pedals (if possible).

    I will look into the brake pedal adjustment noted in the thread above. Another option would be to screw an overlay onto your accelerator pedal to give it more height... so it is closer in height to the brake pedal... thereby allowing heel/toe.

    If you solve, please let me know.

    [Note: This is not a technique thing for me - I know the heel/toe method and can do in my other BMWs, but for my vert you would need high heels to reach the gas pedal on a heel/toe maneuver. Now if I had a softer brake pedal, I could probably pull it off because the brake would be lower... but having a soft brake pedal isn't a good thing.]

    Here is my thread: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=269597
    Last edited by mcaden; 11-20-2012, 12:26 PM.

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  • Varinn
    replied
    Originally posted by ak-
    This is what I do and thought what everyone does.
    It's kind of hard to literally use your heel and toe in the limited space.
    That's something I've thought of, but never really attempted. Maybe I should give it a shot and see if I can do it a bit better

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  • ak-
    replied
    Originally posted by ELVA164
    There are a few ways to do it, but the way I've found works pretty easily is resting the ball of your foot on the right half of the brake pedal and rolling the right half of your foot onto the accelerator. It's pretty easy to pull off without a ton of knee movement, and with some practice should become pretty natural.
    This is what I do and thought what everyone does.
    It's kind of hard to literally use your heel and toe in the limited space.

    Leave a comment:


  • Eric
    replied
    You could also remove the rubber pad on the brake pedal and stick some skateboard grip tape on them.

    I have a boosterless setup now with willwood pedals, but it's the same concept.

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  • bmwguy325is
    replied
    The E30 is so easy to heal toe its not even funny. But then again I wear a size 9

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  • ELVA164
    replied
    There are a few ways to do it, but the way I've found works pretty easily is resting the ball of your foot on the right half of the brake pedal and rolling the right half of your foot onto the accelerator. It's pretty easy to pull off without a ton of knee movement, and with some practice should become pretty natural.

    Leave a comment:


  • jlevie
    replied
    Well, if the rod is set too long, the booster won't disengage when the pedal arm hits the stop. But adjusting the pedal lower causes no problems.

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  • Varinn
    replied
    I have difficulty attempting heel toe in my e30 as well and I always just assumed it was because of my height (6'3") and lack of flexibility. I've never been able to twist my ankle/knee to the correct angle that lets me hit the gas pedal with my heel. I do sit very close to the steering wheel despite my height and the backrest nearly bolt upright. I've always thought the adjustment on the brake booster rod physically moved the brake piston as well. When I did the pedal box conversion on my e30 I had to play with that rod to get the brakes to stop engaging with the pedal fully at rest.

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  • ApexAddict
    replied
    About how much adjust-ability is there? My 350z is perfect and trying to adjust to the e30 is a bit hard with how much the gas pedal is lower than the brake.

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  • jlevie
    replied
    The brake pedal is connected to to the booster via a threaded connection. You can loosen the lock nut and shorten the threaded connection.

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  • aznbo187
    replied
    How do you adjust the pedals? You mentioned there is a slight adjust-ability to them.

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