AK recommends fitting the pedal box to the body before installing the body on the chassis. Most builder's blogs also suggest that installing the brake servo and master cylinder is a much easier job if done with the body off the car. So that was my next job!
I obtained my brake servo unit, from a Rover 200, via that renowned internet auction site. When I was looking for this, there seemed to be none available in the UK and I ended up having mine shipped from Lithuania!
My unit arrived looking in not too bad a condition. Importantly it also came with the grommet and the spigot for attaching the engine vacuum line. I gave it a quick scuff-up with a scotchbrite pad, masked up the bolt threads and bellows and applied a couple of coats of primer, followed by some matt black spray paint.
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| The servo unit was given some gentle abrasion... |
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| ...followed by a couple of coats of primer... |
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| ...and some black spray paint |
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| Looking almost as good as new! |
The master cylinder from a Rover 25 or Rover 200 is also needed. However, as I had opted for the big brake upgrade kit I needed to also upgrade the master cylinder.
This got a bit confusing for a while as I really struggled to find the right part. AK suggested that the required bore of the master cylinder was 22.7mm as opposed to the standard Rover 25/200 component, which has a 22.2mm bore. This meant that I needed to search for a master cylinder from a Rover 220 Turbo model, which according to Jon at AK is easily identifiable as the brake pipe outlets on the master cylinder point to the outside of the car as opposed to pointing toward the engine bay.
I completely failed to find any Rover master cylinders with a bore of anything other than 22.2mm and the majority seemed to have the outlets facing the engine. In the end, I bought a brand new unit from TRW, which had the outlets on the correct side, but still had a bore of 22.2mm; so fingers crossed it works!
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| New master cylinder unit - bore 22.2mm |
The master cylinder was bolted to the servo unit using some M8 Nyloc bolts, remembering to install the rubber O-ring between the master cylinder and the servo.
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| Servo and master cylinder |
In hindsight, it might have been easier to install the servo into the engine bay and then bolt the master cylinder on. There is not a lot of space between the pedal box firewall and the inner wheel arch. It required a lot of careful jiggling around, taking care not to scratch the stainless steel engine bay cladding before I managed to get the servo and master cylinder in place.
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| In place - and it's not coming out again! |
I'm running a 'Drive by Wire' (DBW) throttle set-up so I needed to drop the GM DBW throttle pedal (which includes the position sensor and electrical connector) off with AK so they could modify their normal pedal box and install the new pedal.
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| Modified Pedal Box with DWB Throttle Pedal |
I had hoped that I could use the studs from the brake servo to 'hang' the pedal box off while installing it to make life a bit easier. Unfortunately, the weight of the box and its centre of gravity conspired against me. So installation of the pedal box is definitely a two-person job.
The pedal box is secured to the firewall with M8 bolts. I bought some stainless steel Allen-head bolts, which as they will be visible in the engine bay, I treated to a bit of an extra polish to match the shiny engine bay cladding.
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| Shiny! |
With me standing in the engine bay, trying to hold the pedal box against the firewall with my fingers through the hole for the clutch master cylinder and holding an Allen key into each of the bolts, and with my son lying in the driver's footwell with a socket and extension bar, we did manage to get the pedal box installed into place and secure the brake servo in place. It is impossible to get a socket onto the upper bolts, so we had to resort to a spanner for those.
While my son was trapped in the footwell I also took the opportunity to install the clutch master cylinder. I bought a Girling unit with a 0.75" bore from Car Builder Solutions. Again this was installed using 2No. shiny 8mm Allen-head bolts.
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| Another "easy" job completed... |
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| ...and as seen from the inside! |
And with that done, I am one step closer to getting the body on!
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