Cheap and cheerful diy pedals in a box.

Tricky Dicky · Apr 28, 2018

I was in desperate need of some decent pedals but couldn't justify the cost of new or the time for scratch built diy. Then I had the idea, which I've not seen elsewhere, of adapting pedals from an actual car. A quick search on Ebay turned up a pedal box from an MG-TF for £16.50 including postage. I already had everything else including hall sensors, a load cell and a Bodnar LC board. It probably took longer to find all the bits needed in the cosmic chaos of my shed than to actually put it all together by trial and error rather than to any particular plan. The end result is not exactly pretty but works surprisingly well. The brake action is quite realistic. The combination of a 55 Kg load cell, the leverage in the pedal, a thick rubber washer to give a bit of squish and a little flex in the mounting gives nice progressive braking with a good bit of welly needed to reach it's full range without it being excessive. I don't suppose it will stop me coming last in the Friday night socials but might reduce the number of times I get lapped!

thepharcyde · Apr 28, 2018

lol - ghetto, but if it works...

Tricky Dicky · Apr 28, 2018

Ha, Thanks. It works well but I'm finding it needs quite a bit of tweaking and tuning still. Because the pedals are not attached to throttle or clutch the movement is a bit too much so I need to put stops in place to limit them. It all then needs tweaking in DiView and testing in game then re-adjusting, tweaking and checking etc. Patience needed. The throttle height to brake pedal is quite critical too. Because they are close together it is very easy to cover both with your foot and there is enough movement in the brake that pressing hard opens the throttle a bit so the throttle needs to be set lower. Too low and it becomes more difficult to get off the throttle and on the brake fast enough. And so it goes on. It really needs a wider and proper frame making instead of scrappy bits of wood and ply. That really is a joke. But at least it's proof of concept and fills the need of cheap and easy.