MTFCA Forum

Hello,
First I want to thank everyone who has responded to my past questions. You are all such a blessing. When I was a teenager and had my first T I there was an old man named Jack Henderlite who was a blacksmith mechanic. He would just make anything that he didn't have and knew everything about early Fords. He, sadly, died decades ago as did everyone else here around the county that knew anything about T's. You are a great resource and a combined fountain of knowledge and I thank you all.
Here is my new stupid question. On my 27 tudor, I recently installed a rubber mat for a touring car to save my ancient carpet. Since then I have had to pull back the clutch and the brake with my toe to get the pedals all the way back. The mat does fit tightly around the pedals, as you know, but i don't think that it should provide enough resistance to over power the springs. The brake releases enough not to drag without toeing it back but the clutch will not fully engage high without doing so. Otherwise, the clutch is good and doesn't slip. I can simply cut out around the pedals in the mat to fix the problem but I thought I would see what you all thought. I am going to reline the bands soon anyway so I could replace the springs while I am in there. I also thought about adding an external helper spring to overcome the resistance from the mat. The main reason I don't really want to cut the mat is that it does reduce the drafts a little in these cold months.

Thanks and God Bless,

Joshua A. Powers

I also use a touring rubber mat on my 27 Tudor. Besides checking the springs you also may need to adjust the pedal linkage to the clutch shaft. you may be close to going over center on the clutch shaft.

As you depress the pedals, you will find the left pedal moves toward the right as you push it down, the other two pedals move to the left. So the slot needs to be wide enough to allow for that movement without binding. You could attach an external spring to the pedal below the floorboard level to help pull it back when you release the pressure. But if it works fine without the floor mat, it's best to leave the internal parts as is.
Norm

I cant remember the last time i didnt need to replace all 3 band springs with new lining. have them on hand. compare old to new. note how much shorter the old ones are - 1/8 to 3/8 typically. the problem is exaserbated with new, thick lining. they are only a buck a piece.