Pedal placement

I have a new project that will be my next big build. It's a 35 Plymouth coupe. Plan is to use my 512 stroker motor, and maybe a 4 speed. Question is, is it better to mount the pedals under the dash, or up through the floor? Will up through the floor cause me trouble with exhaust and such? Thoughts?

A 35 Plymouth has a pretty narrow firewall. A power brake booster takes up a lot of space on a firewall, and will want to occupy some space the motor will want to occupy. I would recommend against using the small diameters brake boosters, I've not heard of many that did not experience issues with the small diameter boosters. If you can get by with a non-power brake master, that frees up a lot of firewall space, and I would want the master mounted on the firewall rather then under the floor. Installing 3 pedals between the trans tunnel, around the steering column, and keeping everything inside of the body at the firewall can add a lot of interesting challenges to the deal. Hopefully the 512 is offset towards the passenger side, and you have small feet.

Under the floor master cylinders require the pressure valves, which are not usually a big deal, just something else that could cause problems down the road. I don't like the master under the floor, they are a pita to fill. You are also limited to pedal position by the frame location, exhaust, and clutch linkage. There are some advantages, with the proper brackets, you can move the master towards the rear of the car more, and also closer to the frame rails, which may help with exhaust clutch linkage, and starter clearance.

I much prefer to hang the pedals off the firewall, but that might be just me. Gene

I did the in-the-floor on my last project (460 '51 f1 automatic) to keep the firewall engine compartment clean. All my future projects will have under dash pedals with messy firewalls. It was and is a pain, not worth it IMO. REAL CRAPPY picture, the only one that I have of the brake pedal, well kind of.

Thanks Gene. No power brakes on this one. That motor doesn't pull enough vacuum.I'll probably go with a hydraulic throwout bearing too. That will help with the linkage issues.

I always mount them on the firewall

On my 31 Plymouth coupe, I used a Wilwood triple master race car setup that hangs under the dash, but keeps everything out of the way under the dash. One master is for the clutch, one is for the front brakes and one for the rear. It has an adjustable balance bar between the 2 brake master cylinders to mechanically adjust front/rear brake bias. I like it.
FOr the gas, I used a '64 Buick Riviera setup that has a nifty little firewall pass thru for the throttle arm. I cut it down to fit as needed, and welded a little foot pad on it. Very simple, compact and reliable.

I used a similar method to what HemiJoel used with the Wilwood under-dash setup but I used a 2-cylinder mount on my 37'. I also machined-off the Wilwood pedals that are cast into the pedal arms and I machined the arm to accept pedals that looked more correct for a 37' era car or pickup. There are also ways to use cylinders that do not have reservoirs and then use a remote reservoir (or multiple reservoirs) under the hood.

- EM

speedway offers units at a more reasonable price than wilwood-------for circle track cars and hot rods----firewall mount and under floor mount...

joel, that's a trick tilt wheel mechanism you made !