Accelerator pedal strength

[Howardm]

Started stripping the interior of my EM1 today and found a steel block wedged between the accelerator pedal and the bulk head. Now was wondering if this is common practice or a one off, I can easily bend the pedal anyway as it looks quite weak in its construction. Any thoughts on this and is a beefing up conversion been done by any forum members. Don't want it to bend while belting around the track.
Thanks

[Hondarally]

Looks like they've bent the frame up slightly to move the pedal up - either to give more travel for the pedal, or to raise it and make it easier for heel-toeing. The frame which mounts the accelerator is quite flimsy, and easy to bend. I'd suggest that they have put the block under the frame in order to hold it in its bent position.
In its normal position, the frame will sit solidly, as it's supported by the firewall, but if they've bent it up, then you will need support to keep it there (assuming you want the pedal to remain in its current position).

How does the pedal sit if you bend the frame back down against the firewall, as it should be?

[Howardm]

Thanks Hondarally for your thoughts, I think that you may be right that the previous owner has bent the pedal up. I like to have it level with the brake pedal when its fully depressed when under brakes then i can roll my foot over for toe/heel braking.
I plan a under floor mount pedal box (TILTON) for the car so will have to fabricate some changes to the current set up till we have changed over, like a full throttle stop which is lacking and a larger brake pedal.

[Hondarally]

That sounds about right - slightly higher or lower than the brake pedal under reasonably heavy braking.

There is a straight bolt-in floor hinged pedal box available from OBP - supposed to be a direct fit, though I'm always sceptical about those claims. I don't think that their quality is as good as Tilton though. I had a top hinged pedal box from OBP, which would have taken a massive amount of modding to install, so I have gone for a custom twin cylinder brake pedal, with standard clutch and accelerator (keeps within the IPRA regs re: not moving pivot points more than 75mm).

Here's a work-in-progress photo of my little project. It's a major head f**k, but I'm slowly getting there.

[Howardm]

Hondarally, opps thanks for the heads up, i want to run the car in improved production as well so will have to revisit the rule book, i have read pedal boxes are free but the location is now under question. Are you using the CAMS rule book or IPRA rule book.
Keep up the good work.

[Hondarally]

I've been using the CAMS regs for group 3J, the latest of which can be found here.

If you look at section 13.2 which I've copied below:

13.2 CONTROLS:
All driving controls must retain the role laid down for them by the manufacturer. Footrests and heat protection panels may be added to the driver’s footwell cavity.
Pedals and pedal boxes are free, but the
radial location of the pedal axes must remain within 75mm of the original.

this basically means that you can't move the pivot points more than 75mm. I queried this with an IPRA EO, since the accelerator pivot and brake pivots are more than 150mm apart, meaning that changing to a standard top hung pedal box would automatically be illegal according to my interpretation of the rules. I was told by the EO that this isn't the intent of the rule, and accelerators are a "special case" (mainly because of the number of different types of accelerator arrangement in various cars).

This was why I elected to leave the accelerator and clutch as standard, and only modify the brake (which is all I was trying to achieve, after all - ie balance adjustment). I didn't want to go for a hydraulic bias valve, as these have proven to have some consistency issues over the years, compared to the mechanical balance bar type. Also, the box that I had would have hit the steering column in several places, needing fairly major cut and shut. Was easier to start from scratch, just using the balance bar and master cylinders from the kit. Everything else I've designed and built from scratch.

In summary, floor mounted pedal boxes are illegal in IPRA (unless originally fitted) but top hung boxes are ok s long as the pedals you're replacing retain pivot axis within 75mm of the original (and they are happy for you to move the accelerator pivot outside the 75mm - this has been accepted on many cars).

More information is available at the IPRA forum .

Good luck with building the car. There are a few Honda IPRA guys in Sydney, most of whom are more than happy to help a fellow competitor.

[Hondarally]

Just a heads up on some of the other rules which have caught out competitors in the past:
- Control arms can't be changed, meaning that significant camber changes are hard to achieve, since you can't change any of the camber arms with aftermarket items (which are so abundant)
- Can't use spherical joints / rose joints where they weren't originally fitted. Rubber bushes can be replaced with poly, but not steel / brass / rose joints
- You must retain some type of door trim (upholstered alloy sheeting is OK, I think that even CF wrapped alloy is OK)
- Must retain working headlights, tail lights, indicators, wipers etc. I think that this reg is fairly loosely followed though. I'm ensuring that mine complies with everything, just to avoid hassle.
- Must retain a full dash, including glove box. can remove things like radio, air con, replace gauges, can remove the lower half of the dash etc.
- Must retain the rear interior trim from the windows down (though I think that hatch trim can be removed - not certain about the last bit)
- Can't run a 6 speed box (this affects the K swap guys). Easy to mod a K series 6 speed to lock out first though, giving a close spread of the remaining ratios.
Most of these rules are aimed at distinguishing the cars from sports sedans, hence the strict adherence to production specs. Other

[Howardm]

Thanks for the links, revist time ahead as well as some internet surfing, my plan was to be able to run Time Attack as well as IPRA with the same car so maybe will just can one and concentrate on the other.