Build The Short Rib

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Hey guys. I still have a pile of both the door handle and tail gate springs. The door handle ones are pretty fancy (torsion with two ends); the tail gates less so. Regardless I had them all made by a legit spring maker, having quickly bottomed-out my abilities to fabricobble by hand. Details are in my signature - glad to help just let me know!

Calvin
 
Some of the better hardware stores have a good variety of springs in stock...
 
I remember searching for one for my 40, I found one that was good enough but I can’t remember where I found it. Good hardware stores in my region are few and far between. I am going to go hunting though.
 
I found my brake and clutch springs so here's a bit more information for you. As already shown they are 4 1/2 long overall and the coil portion is 1/2" diameter and 2 1/2" long. At "rest", the brake spring is stretched approximately 2 1/2" and at the end of travel of the brake pedal it's stretched approximately 5". I used a 0-10 lb pull gauge and measured just under 4 lb stretched 2 1/2" and a full 8 lb stretched 5". So that's 1.6 lb/inch of travel.

So unless I'm doing something incorrectly, that McMaster Carr spring I referenced is likely too stiff.
 
@WarDamnEagle

You rock!

So just to break this down:
4.5” long at rest
9.5” at max extension
.5” diameter
Wire diameter: unknown
Spring Rate: 1.6 lbf/inch

This looks pretty close to me:
www.mcmaster.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
www.mcmaster.com www.mcmaster.com
 
kbahus said:
@WarDamnEagle

You rock!

So just to break this down:
4.5” long at rest
9.5” at max extension
.5” diameter
Wire diameter: unknown
Spring Rate: 1.6 lbf/inch

This looks pretty close to me:
www.mcmaster.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
www.mcmaster.com www.mcmaster.com
Click to expand...
Agree. The only issue I see is the ends aren't hooks. The pedal end will probably loop over just fine but the anchor end needs a hook. There's another spring that I found on McMaster Carr that was very close except max extension was only 9". I will look it up tomorrow and post. I would be tempted to try it first.

Also, the legs are pretty long and the body of the spring is only 1.5" long. Guessing there would be some interference with the pedal if the spring body went all the way to the hooks. Here's another two photos of the spring.

FWIW I can measure the wire diameter if you want it. I didn't because I don't know the material and the two kind of go hand in hand.

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I would give this spring a try. Spring rate is a little higher but I doubt that's a problem. Only potential issue I see is it could be a tad short on maximum extension but I didn't take really precise measurements when I said 9.5". I have my pedal assembly all back together but haven't put the springs back on; mainly because I need to ream the holes out in the pedals before I can get the spring retainer pins back in. But I will try to do that sometime this week and see if I can get you a more precise measurement.

Edit: FWIW I did look at two or three spring manufacturer's websites but found their filters imperfect for a quick search. However, it might be worth a call or email to one or two with the specs to see what they have. If you pitch this spring as a replacement for potentially many different customers they might even send you a free sample. It's happened for me in the past but, admittedly, not for a long time.

www.mcmaster.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
www.mcmaster.com www.mcmaster.com
 
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Had a few minutes this morning so I pressed the spring retainer pins into both pedals. Powder coating is nice but it sure makes reassembly difficult when the tolerances are tight. I can confirm 9.5" for both springs with their respective pedals fully depressed. FWIW the brake spring (on the left since it's upside down) goes in the bottom of the two holes (bottom as it sits in the car); otherwise it rubs on the assembly bracket.

1776869292994.webp
 
I figured out why I ran out of adjustment on the brake booster, there was a metal spacer plate glued to the firewall. Removing that cured that issue. The spring seems to fit ok, there is not a whole lot of tension at rest as it is not stretched very much, but it should be fine. I appreciate everyone's help with this piece of the puzzle!

Does anyone have any pictures of how the brake lines are routed from the factory in the engine bay? Mine are a mess, I was hoping to to simply re-bend them to get them to fit the new master, but I need to start fresh. So close to being able to fire it up again.



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IMG_9324.webp
 
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Is the "T" for the front brake lines down on the axle? Mine has individual lines coming up from each side with a crossover on the firewall. This looks like it was done for axle flex, which has me wondering how much flex this thing has to have the lines like this.
 
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