Rebarreling and Home-Shop Machining

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

            I wanted to install a set of pedal covers that would be more pleasing to my large frame on a new 2005 Ford Focus ST which has the new for 2005 Duratec 2.3 L double overhead cam four cylinder that is also shared by the Mazda 3 and 6. My MOMO pedal set does not quite look like, what I assume is, the improved set on the MOMO Web Site The improvement is the one piece rubber.

            My pedals which are shown in photo 1 have three separate rubber pads. These are held on by a combination of double-sided adhesive tape (yuck) and some screws. The gas pedal, I like. It has two screws on each rubber pad. The brake and clutch pedal have two screws on the bottom pad, but only a single one on the side pads. I added a couple of screws to each side pad. The finished brake pedal (center pedal) is shown in photo 1. This way the pads may stay on for a while.

            A couple of problems with the focus gas pedal for me is the pedal is too short. The most comfortable knee position for me when cruising is with my foot near the bottom of thepedal. I really need it a little lower. The longer MOMO pedal should cure this. The MOMO pedal is also wider which allows me to hit the accelerator with the side of my foot to downshift on the occasions where I have clear road ahead to corner in a more sporting fashion. I read a note from Bob Bondurant to delay this downshift as much as possible so as to use the brakes to slow the car rather than the engine. Brakes are cheap. It sounds so cool doing it wrong though. I will be able to space the pedal out from the firewall a bit also.

            The Ford focus gas pedal is a really cheesy all plastic unit. It doesn’t get much force so this is probably OK. The brake and clutch have nice steel pads. There is an all steel ford SVT gas pedal available, but I hear it is a bit difficult to reach the screws to replace it.

Pedal Modifications

            Note that the pedals don’t necessarily need modifications. I decided to add a few more screws.

            I used an indicator to make the fixed jaw of the vise square to the bed. Photo 3. I used a Wiggler with a .25 inch ball to find the fixed jaw. With the ball wiggling, advance the ball into the fixed jaw with the carriage until the ball stops wiggling. Drill is now ½ the ball or .125 inch away from the fixed jaw. Move the fixed jaw away from the spindle an additional 1/8 inch (.125) to the location of all the screw holes from the edge of the pedal. I tightened the pedal in the vise with a small piece of 1x2 under it for support. I located the holes along the long dimension of the pedal by using a pointed tip on the wiggler which I adjusted with my finger to run true while spinning. I put the Wiggler tip on the fourth rib in the rubber side pads for the top holes by eye and on the 8 th rib from the bottom of the pad. From the 10'th rib would be better to completely miss an oversize factory hole hidden underneath the rubber.

            First center drill and partially counterbore the rubber with a center drill. Then drill to size with a bit for the 4 mm flat head machine screws.

            I tried several tools to countersink the rubber at 82 degrees to match the screws. I used a Weaver sight base piloted counterbore tool first. It was not really sharp enough. It would require too much pressure and then cut all at once. I used an 82 degree counterbore from Harbor Freight tools which worked OK. Not really sharp enough though. Then I ground a stone for the Dremel at an 82 degree angle by eye. This worked pretty well at full speed on the Dremel and had much better control than the other two tools. I ground the countersunk holes by hand.

            These screws along with some shortened nuts on the back will provide steel pads for the pedal cover to seat well on top of the factory pedals whose factory rubber covers will be removed.

            The locations I chose for the upper extra screws happened to coincide with some holes in the MOMO pedals. The hole was too big for a #4 screw. I shimmed the hole smaller with a 1/8 inch long bushing cut from thinwall 3/16 OD brass tube from the hobby store. The tube bushing and tubing cutter are shown in the photo 10 of the pedal backside. I shortened the nuts and screws with my angle grinder while they were screwed onto a scrap 1/8 inch thick metal strap.

            I punched holes to clear the nuts on the backside of the pedal with a hollow gasket making punch from a set.

            I will use Red Loctite on all the screws and between the MOMO Pedals and the Steel Factory Pedals. This should provide a maintenance free installation. Time will tell.

Pedal Install

            I put a couple of horizontal strips of double sided adhesive on all the pedals for a trial fit. Once I established a good position for the screw holes and the pedals I hammered a 3/16 transfer punch through the adhesive tape to mark the pedals location for the screws. When you remove the tape you can center or offset the pedals to your desire by using a ruler and repunching each hole to the side the same measrured distance. For example I moved the brake pedal 1/8 inch right to avoid the welds on the back side of the pedal the best and also to let me blip the throttle with the right side of my foot while braking. I moved the clutch pedal as far left as possible. This centered it on my big foot. This also let me secure the pedal with four screws while just avoiding the welded on clutch arm. The topleft screw was near the edge but provided a full contact on the nut. I moved the gas pedal to the left and down from the factory pedal. It still completely covers the stock gas pedal. I had to drill this pedal twice and move the pedal up 1/4 inch to avoid the ribs bracing the back of the pedal with the screws. You have to avoid these ribs so that you can tighten a nut onto the securing bolts. If I was doing it again I might draw the rib design on the face of the pedal to aid in locating the holes before I drilled. I think the ribs are just an X pattern.

            I made a short test drive. The pedals worked great. Easy to blip the throttle while braking. No problem hitting the wrong pedal as the gas and brake are still the MOMO recommended 50 mm apart. The gas pedal easily clears the floor mat and carpet in this lowered position.

            Drilling the lower mounting holes was easy. The upper holes really needed a right angle drill. What I did was start the holes with a Dremel and a 1/8 inch bit. The Dremel body could be placed above the bottom edge of the dash so the drill would start straight. After I had a good start I finished with my normal drill motor and the larger 4 mm drill bit. Note that Dremel now sells a right angle attachment.

            I had extra flat head 4 mm machine screws from a Kyosho kit available at TowerHobbies.com. I used 1 washer on each lower mounting screw between the factory pedal and the MOMO Pedal. I used 3 washers between the upper screw’s square nut and the factory pedal. This allowed me to tighten the pedal up with a metal to metal fit and no spring from the differing curvature of the MOMO pedal and the factory pedal.

            I measured the pedal positions after installation with a ruler. I measured the horizontal position from the farthest left part of the factory pedal pad.

Final Pedal Positions

Clutch 7millimeters (mm) left from left side of factory pedal pad to left side of MOMO Pedal, 4mm down from the factory pedal pad bottom to the bottom of MOMO pedal. This position allowed me to use four mounting screws. You can move the pedal farther right by eliminating the lower left mounting screw and replacing it with one of the short MOMO screws. The factory steel pedal pad extends slightly from the right of the MOMO Pedal pad in this position

Brake 2 mm left, and 4 mm down

Accelerator 15 mm left and 18 mm down. 15 mm down would have cleared the ribs on the back of the factory pedal a little better. This left position allows you to blip the throttle to downshift with the side of your foot while braking. The extra 1/4 inch thickness of the MOMO Pedal added to the factory pedal also helps. There is no interference with the carpet or mat in this position.

Wear and Tear

            After 3000 miles the MoMo logo fell off my brake pedal. Another owner that has the same pedals reported that the rubber on his pedals had failed after six months, although, he did not modify it with extra screws. Apparently these pedals are not really made to be used. The rubber and logo would be well bonded if that was the case instead of using crummy double sided adhesive tape.

My take on the Ford Focus ST

            This is a truly remarkable car from Ford at a reasonable price. The chain drive double over head cam cross-flow head engine has been made as close to a zero emission engine (PZEV) as possible by an expensive effort at Ford all the while putting out 151 horsepower with a 6,800 RPM redline. One of the performance companies has run a 14.8 second quarter mile with nothing more than a pair of slicks. I have read that the Pirelli rubber limits the quarter mile time to 16.0 seconds or so for a bone stock car launched at about 3,400 RPM. Once the launch is over with, it feels like the 14.8 second car to me. I am quite satisfied with the performance and the 24 mpg average hot rodding it at every opportunity (33 highway). The reviewers found some problems shifting into third. I did not. It is easy to shift with a flick of the wrist, elbow resting on the center console. Maybe they were power shifting or letting the clutch out early. If you take a look under the shift boot you will see plenty of little plastic bits on the ends of the shift cables that should encourage you to be more gentle than with an old Ford Mustang toploader with Hurst Shifter.

            The skidpad numbers in the magazine are only about 0.8 compared to 0.9 for a Special Vehicle Team ( SVT) Focus of years past. These numbers don’t tell the whole story of the cornering potential as the car has to go around a full circle and has plenty of time to transfer most of its weight to the outside tires reducing cornering grip. The response near the beginning of the corner (turn in) is especially quick and satisfying probably cornering quite a bit better than 0.8 g’s. I’ll have to get one of those g-loggers. Now the real advantage of the Pirelli P 6000 tires that the reviewers complain about in the dry is their performance in the rain. It is spectacular. Almost as good as dry.

            The four wheel independent suspension, although it includes the SVT shocks from the previous year, is comfortable and very well balanced. When cornering at the limit you can lift on the throttle and the rear end will come out as the front tires develop more grip. With good power applied the cornering is very neutral. Neither end tends to give way first. And as usual, on a front wheel drive car, when cornering hard on a longitudinal crack in the road the car will dart around some. Get off the crack. Off the crack it feels very good.

            The exhaust tone is perfect for me. Sporty when you push it. Quiet at cruise. Would hate to mess that beautiful sound up.

            The brakes are four wheel disk brakes with 4 channel antilock brakes. The front rotors are increased in size to about 11 inches this year. The four channel antilock brakes work much better than previous cars that I have owned with two channel or rear only antilock brakes; both of these seem to reduce front braking at the worst times suchas when the rear encounters a bump. The Focus does not have this bad quality.

            The 300 Watt Sony Stereo with the large subwoofer in the trunk sounds really good if you listen to music at levels that don’t permanently damage your hearing.

            Now when is somebody going to offer an emissions legal 4 tapered throttle body intake to bring the horsepower up to 208 without nitrous, supercharging, or turbo charging. Never mind. Probably could not afford one anyway.

These topics in my Journal may also be of interest

 Freeway dyno/ Focus-Sport Cold Air Intake

Cold Air Intake AirBox “Fording Kit”

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