[sparky66]

Ok I give up. I'm replacing (alright, have already replaced) the pedals in my '66 coupe. When I took the old ones off, I was missing the spring-thingy for the accelerator, which I promptly went out & bought. I see a hole in the end of the bolt that screws in, but other than that, I can't figure out how the spring is positioned so that the pedal doesn't fall back. Can someone either walk me through it or post pictures? Thanks!!!

[Wifes66]

Yea, that thing is like some kind of chinese torture test.

Sorry, no pictures. All I can do is tell you this:

Try to imagine it installed in the car. The spring holds the plastic pedal out toward the driver at the top. I thought it was the other way around but with the spring installed the top of the pedal will be held out toward the driver and the bottom of the pedal held down toward the floorboard. The half loop in the spring hooks over the round steel accelerator rod. Hard to describe but picture the rod hanging from under the dash with no pedal on it. The loop on the spring hooks over the rod from the right side and is at the top. The loop will contact the rod about half way up the length of the upper portion of the plastic pedal. There should be witness marks on the old pedal to guide you where the other end of the spring contacts the plastic pedal. The spring forms a very slight "V" shape and the bottom of the "V" faces the floor board while the two top legs of the "V" face the driver. Confusing enough so far?

I have to say that thing does'nt fit all that great and mabey that is why they all break eventually. Mine was a little easier as I had the entire pedal assymbly out of the car and was able to figure it all out while on the bench. It took like two beers but I finnaly got it.

Hope this helps,

Steve

[sparky66]

Thanks, wifes66 - that actually did help a lot...made a lot more sense. Come to find out though (after trekking to my local Mustang parts store & getting an exploded schematic - thanks B&M!!) that I had the entirely wrong bolt, and no retaining nut. So I think, great, no wonder I couldn't figure it out. Got home...new bolt won't fit. Wouldn't fit w/o the pedal either - the threading was all wrong. After a 1/2 hour or so of swearing & sweating, I walk away. Then it dawns on me...the original bolt - which fit beautifully, of course, couldn't have used a retainer nut - it had a COTTER PIN!!! After about 5 minutes of trying to find said cotter pin somewhere in my tool box (used one left over from reupholstering the seats), it goes right in and is working like a charm.

My poor car must have been assembled on the day they ran out of those screws, I dunno. All I care is it WORKS!!!

[Cobra6]

These are what you are looking for --------
I will either post a pic or something out of the service manual (only place I know that has a pic)
Steve's description is excellent - but it is still hard to figure if you haven't seen one already properly installed.

[sparky66]

Yep, those are them - but the bolt wouldn't thread into the rod - I actually almost stripped the head off trying to get it in. Even tried it backwards. I'm sure it's just one of those fluke parts...this car is a sort of Frankenstein anyways.

[hennaj]

Brand new to all of this, so please bare with me. I didn't realize that i would be turning into a mechanic at this age, but still learning to learn. I read above posts, and sorry just not getting it. Does anyone of any suggestions? Even a picture would help. I have the listed parts, but please note that my bolt does not have a place for a cotter pin...and maybe this is why it came apart in the first place. I've owned the car for 3 weeks

Thanks for you help

[Icerat]

The bolt should not have a cotter pin at least no Mustang I ever owned had one . The threads are in the throttle rod that hangs down that you attach the pedal to. It threads in from the drivers side in towards the tunnel and should just locate itself in the pedal not lock to it so that it pivots. The spring end should locate into a little punched out area on the back of the pedal that looks like a C the other end pushes out at the top edge once the bold is installed. It is very tricky and a real pain trust me.

[hennaj]

Thank you Icerat
Attempting to reply to you again...this may be a duplicate reply. I now see what you are talking about the thread...i believe I was putting the bolt in from the other end I was also able to check out another thread that "victoria" had attached a picture to. I'm assuming that this illustration can be used for the 66 as well. I will try when I get home. Thanks again for your help
tj

[Veronica]

Originally Posted by Icerat

The bolt should not have a cotter pin at least no Mustang I ever owned had one . The threads are in the throttle rod that hangs down that you attach the pedal to. It threads in from the drivers side in towards the tunnel and should just locate itself in the pedal not lock to it so that it pivots. The spring end should locate into a little punched out area on the back of the pedal that looks like a C the other end pushes out at the top edge once the bold is installed. It is very tricky and a real pain trust me.

Hello. I'll check with Victoria to make sure, but, I think that's upside down. The screw comes in from the tranny tunnel side. The green arrow in the picture is pointing at the top side of the pedal and the red arrow is pointing at where the screw comes in from. The threaded part is on the arm that the pedal attaches to. It really is very frustrating if you don't know exactly how it's supposed to go. Once you do, everything pops together very easily. Here's that picture so that you can blow it up some.

[hennaj]

Thanks Veronica....sorry for the wrong name My bad, I was dealing with a migraine when I last posted. I still have not been unable to try it out but I'm grateful for your help. I'm sure I will be successful tomorrow

tj

[Icerat]

So have all of my pedals been on upside down? They have always threaded towards the tunnel......I am really confused now and I wasn't before.

You don't need the pedal anyhow, just rest your foot on the rod and forget all of this silly engineering

I certainly trust Veronica as much as everyone else and her info has always been very detailed, accurate and helpful so I would do it the way she suggests.

[hennaj]

I did it! I must say that I wouldn't have been able to without that picture. Thanks Veronica again!. I do agree with Icerat... it works just as good without the pedal. My husband was reluctant to drive the car today thinking that I didn't fix it yet! Little did he know that I had driven it without the pedal a couple times....Thank you both for helping me out. I'm sure I will have more questions about something else

[Veronica]

Originally Posted by hennaj

I did it! I must say that I wouldn't have been able to without that picture. Thanks Veronica again!. I do agree with Icerat... it works just as good without the pedal. My husband was reluctant to drive the car today thinking that I didn't fix it yet! Little did he know that I had driven it without the pedal a couple times....Thank you both for helping me out. I'm sure I will have more questions about something else

Hi again. I've found that the less my husband knows about certain things, the happier he seems to be.

And, Icerat, it is entirely possible that all of your cars have had the gas pedal on upside-down. People do that all the time. The reason for that being you can't use a normal screwdriver to tighten up the screw unless you put the pedal on upside down. You need to either have some type of 90 degree ratcheting screwdriver, or, do it like Ford did and put the pedal on before you put the rod that it's attached to on the car. If you go to a car show and really look at the gas pedals on these cars, most of them will A) have the pedal on upside-down and, B) won't have that spring on there.