Fairmonts could be had with a manual transmission. It uses the same quadrant type operating system that all foxes do. But, As hard as it is to find a manual pedal assembly for a mustang..finding one for a fairmont would be damn near impossible, and the fact that I’ve modified the existing pedal mount to support the EPS system, my decision to fabricate a custom piece was about all I could do.Damn Mike you just cant catch a break can you? This is the reason why building everything yourself can be so darn frustrating if it does not work you have no one to point at... on the other hand the car was never meant to have a clutch pedal installed in it, I wonder if the firewall is weaker in that area because of that or if its from all the modifications you made to the transmission tunnel.
If anyone can get it figured out its you, do you have the assembly through bolted? or are you going to have to weld the support plate into place? In my mind I imagine a 10g plate with a gusset to the frame rail or even a bar, it would be nice to make it removeable.
The firewall is weak there because I made it that way. When I cut out the tunnel, I dramatically removed structural integrity with regard to the firewall. Despite the fact that the section that I cut out is now bolted back in, there is still a cut line at the firewall with nothing holding the firewall to that part of the tunnel.
Secondly, when I mounted the clutch master cylinder, I cut out another piece of structure behind the firewall that triangulated the steering/brake mount assembly to the firewall…It interfered with the master cylinder pushrod.
It’s no wonder the firewall is flexing there.
I’m well on the way to solving that though. At lunchtime, I went home and starting the rough-in for a piece of 1”x .125” round tubing that spans between the firewall where the MC is located to the pinch weld at the front upper radiator saddle.
Additionally there is a leg tied back to the strut tower to take some of the load off of that front mount. It’s all removable.
That will probably solve this problem, but I can always run another leg off some other way to some other point to try and add back the rigidity I’ve lost.