replacement pedal design coming...

[Jamescmr2]

All,

One of the few parts of the Noble which disappoints me, especially on track, is the pedals! Having sorted the gear change out it is next on my list of major changes and i know many of us have complained about not being able to heal/toe due to the throttle pedal not being in a good place when on the brakes. Also, the pedals in my car are not very well constrained and don't have that solid feel i like. The final nail in the coffin for me is they don't look great either.

I understand the constraints of modifying the current pedals due to the space in the foot-well and as such i have come to the conclusion i need design a bespoke pedal box especially for the Noble. I work as a mechanical design engineer and having just completed a major project i think i have chance to devote some time to the design. I intend to design the solution using the latest 3D CAD and i will ensure strength/durability using a mix of hand calculations and finite element stress analysis software. Finally i intend to use the supply chain i know through the company i work for to get the prototype manufactured and test it myself on road and track.
My final year project at Uni was a race car pedal box so i've had a little go at this sort of thing before. got a 1st for it so i'll see if i can follow that!

Assuming i am successful i would then look to offer the Noble specific pedal box to you lot as well!


So, i am looking to get some feedback on:

- whether others are interested to start with (i'll be doing it anyway)?
- what style people like?
- what people would like to pay?
- what features people would like?
- underslung or overslung?

here's some examples of existing boxes. until i model the footwell of the car i am not sure what will be possible of course.

TVR


racey









AP Racing




ferrari enzo



Carrera GT




F430




F1





I quite like the racey stuff, F1 and the Carrera GT personally

I intend to put as much adjustment in it as possible, proper bearing mounts. If people are interested i could look at brake bias adjustment and new master cylinders but i'm not sure its worth it for a road going/track-day car.

interested in any thoughts positive or negative


cheers

James

[Gadgeroonie]

the travel on the throttle is too long imo

[JBliss]

I agree!. Pedals feel sloppy. I was going to adjust my throttle cable so the pedal sat higher which might make heal and toe a bit easier.

Id be up for a different solution. I would imagine overslung would be easier for space

[Jamescmr2]

agree with you guys so far.

keep'em coming...

[Gadgeroonie]

you may have to sell the new pedal box with a differnt throttle cam to get the throttle to open correctly ( might be possible to borrow a throttle cam from another car - eg mondeo 2.0 )

the pedal boxes you posted all look pretty good

what sort of cost are we looking at ?

can the exisiting pedals be modified with bushes etc ?

[Hollowpockets]

I'm interested.

The pedals need to be floor mounted, i think similar in style to the Carrera GT and function of the TVR would be good as my Sag pedals are great but sometimes slippy.

Reduce the throttle travel slightly but not too much or you risk loosing any vague modulation we do have.

Sound like an interesting project!

[Adrian W]

I spoke to a bloke at AP about the M400, he said they tried everything but could not find a set up narrow enough for the noble so they gave up,

[mgbond]

Adrian W said:

I spoke to a bloke at AP about the M400, he said they tried everything but could not find a set up narrow enough for the noble so they gave up,

To be fair though Adrian, they probably tried to find/modify an existing solution and probably Noble couldn't afford a design study at the time.

If our feet fit and there is room to heel and toe (which there is) then it can be done.

Sounds like James is the man.

[andygtt]

Love the idea and very interested as my clutch means I absolutely have to heal and toe regardless of how hard it is with the pedals.... Problem is, all your examples are floor mounted servos and ours are hung... You can't change to floor mounted without a chassis and complete master cylinder change.

Looking forward to seeing what you cone upnwith :-)

[AMG Merc]

A lot of work for a small return IMHO. I had the factory reposition mine - will look for photo.

[Adrian W]

mgbond said:

Adrian W said:

I spoke to a bloke at AP about the M400, he said they tried everything but could not find a set up narrow enough for the noble so they gave up,

To be fair though Adrian, they probably tried to find/modify an existing solution and probably Noble couldn't afford a design study at the time.

If our feet fit and there is room to heel and toe (which there is) then it can be done.

Sounds like James is the man.

Nope, they were designing a custom box (it was always Nobles intention) I can't remember the blokes name at AP, I had a long chat with him at Autosport, he said they tried everything but the footwell was just too narrow,so noble came up with the bodge we have now as a compromise, after that I attacked mine with a crowbar. Tilton don't do anything to fit either.

[TuxMan]

Hi James , great idea mate !! will defo be interested as its something that needs sorting , cost wise i would have thought something around £500 to £700 but i have no idea what it will cost to produce it , overslung for me as i would like it to fit with existing throttle cable and master cylinder positions , thus making it relativly easy to fit !! let me know if any it can be made in carbon

Tux

[Jamescmr2]

Interesting stuff guys.

Adrian, it's interesting what you say. I had assumed nobody had tried so I'll have to take your comments as a challenge :-)

Andy, you may be right. I intend on trying to progress 2 concepts if I can find a way to work it, 1 floor mounted and 1 hung.

I'd be happier if it was just a well constrained version of the current scheme with some better looking pedals but I want to make sure I have explored all the options.

Cheers

James

[Jamescmr2]

TuxMan said:

Hi James , great idea mate !! will defo be interested as its something that needs sorting , cost wise i would have thought something around £500 to £700 but i have no idea what it will cost to produce it , overslung for me as i would like it to fit with existing throttle cable and master cylinder positions , thus making it relativly easy to fit !! let me know if any it can be made in carbon

Tux

Haha, bloody carbon ;-). I was hoping to push it down to the £500 mark which I think will be hard to achieve but it all depends how crazy I go with the pedal design. I may well end up having a few different options at diff prices.

I'm really looking forward to the design challenge. First job is to get the footwell model built up in CAD

J

[TuxMan]

Great stuff , i'm having all my master cylinder out in a couple of weeks let me know if you need any pictures/measurements ect .

Great project mate !!

Tux

[Jamescmr2]

Cheers mate, I'll let you know. I'm thinking I'll model up the current pedal arrangement so I can overlay designs and compare

[Adrian W]

Jamescmr2 said:

Cheers mate, I'll let you know. I'm thinking I'll model up the current pedal arrangement so I can overlay designs and compare

If you can do it a balance bar would be good

[Gadgeroonie]

AMG Merc said:

A lot of work for a small return IMHO. I had the factory reposition mine - will look for photo.

did they just move it to one side ?

[GTO600]

James, I think it's far more likely to design a new pedal box for GTO's & early 3R's as the footwell is wider than M400's & later 3R's.
Personally think to be a worthwhile upgrade needs to be floor mounted & yes l would be interested.

[andygtt]

If you go to floor mounted you will loose the servo assistance to the brakes... I've had yogi as with aps and no servo assistance and hated it, great on track, horrible on the road