Yeah...I spaced the gas pedal a little bit and added a pedal cover only on the gas pedal that I offset a bit to move it closer to the brake pedal. Once that was done heel toe came easily.
I wanna get my pedals ajusted I outta raise the gas pedal would still be nice if the clutch pedal was a bit bigger to make it easier. Any pedal sets out there for stangs that make the heel/toe easier that anybody knows of? Or if all the pedals are level does it work fine?
The pedal postions in the Mustangs does make the "heal n' toe" a little odd but it can be done once you get used to it. Actually just use the ball of your foot and pivot at your ankle to get the job done.
To learn how, I'd start with just sitting in the car and put your foot on the brake pedal and slide your foot over to the gas pedal pivioting it at the ankle just until you can touch the gas pedal with the right side of the ball of your foot. (If a car is carburated don't actually move the gas pedal while sitting still but just go through the motions.) Once you can move the gas pedal by pivoting your ankle without changing the pressure you have on the brake pedal you go out and drive. Then practice stopping with the clutch in and blipping the gas in the manner you practiced while sitting in your car. Once you can slow the car down smoothly and blip the gas at the same time go ahead and throw in the downshifts.
If you want to go the extra step throw in a double clutch, by that you would let the clutch out at the same time you blip the gas and have the shift lever inbetween the gears as you make your downshift. Ideally this bumps up the input shaft to match the tailshaft speeds as well as keeping the engine RPMs matching the axle speeds. This also helps wear and tear on the syncros and dogrings. Like in the beginning you might want to get the hang of this by going through the motions while just sitting in your car while it's parked.
If the heal n' toe method of downshifting is done to perfection by matching the engine/transmission speed with the rear wheel speed on all your downshifts you will save some wear and tear on your clutch, drive train and as well, the rear tires. The added bonus is adding a little more to do while driving your Mustang, which in itself is a joy to do.
I'll add to hotrodnut's excellent comments - the whole idea behind heel and toe is matching engine speeds on a downshift so that engine compression braking doesn't lock the rear wheels. In road racing, it's an important part of getting the most out of any car and not upsetting the balance/locking the rear end up while turning into a corner - for obvious reasons. Once I learned to do it at driving school, I find that I do it all the time - 20 years now of driving cars on the street and every downshift is with engine speeds matched. It feels awkward to get in a car that has pedals that won't allow it.
The term is a bit of a misnomer in most cars today as you don't really use your heel and toe anymore. You simply hit the brake on the right side of the pedal/left side of the ball of your foot, and then rock/roll your foot to the right (your right knee will actually swing an arc from the steering column towards the center console) - in that rocking it will contact a well placed gas pedal and open the throttle. Practice and it will become second nature - you won't even have to think about it. Most brake pedals can be adjusted a bit closer to the floor. Here's the thing though -- proper adjustment calls for the gas pedal and the brake pedal 1) to be close enough together that the width of your foot at the ball can span them, and 2) they be at roughly the same height WHEN YOU'RE UNDER HEAVY braking. If you set them for the right height under light street braking, then the brake pedal is usually too low under heavy braking resulting in it being easy to hit the throttle accidentally while braking. I can tell you that SIGNIFICANTLY increases stopping distances. Nice thing about stainless lines, rigid calipers and hard pads is that once the brakes 'hit', pressing harder doesn't move the pedal a lot further down.
Best thing is to do once your pedals are set up correctly is to have someone who can do it show you. Meanwhile, crank the car up (brake pedal height usually changes slightly with the engine running - vacuum power brakes and all) and practice. Brake on with left side of your foot and your knee pointed towards the steering column; arc your knee towards the center console while holding your ankle stiff and the right side of your foot should roll onto the gas pedal causing the engine to rev.
Have fun! By the way - the pedals in the Volvo and my wife's BMW are PERFECTLY positioned for heel/toe from the factory. Funny enough, the last complete Ford I owned, 94 Explorer, had it's pedals perfectly positioned for it too. Go figure. And it's REALLY fun to match revs on the bike - but of course, you don't have to "heel and toe" to do it. Requires a learned right hand technique - squeeze front brake while rolling on throttle - fun!
for downshifting (with crappy pedal location), I actually don't heel/toe. Just press the right side of the brake pedal & use the side of my foot to bump the accelerator before the downshift....I should really get them adjusted
I also do it in my car. I have some cheap pedal covers that are not that great to look at, but they allow me to "roll" my foot as described above from the brake to the gas in order to "rev match" on a downshift. I love doing it in traffic as I know people are like WTF when they see me slwoing down and hear a nice blip of the throttle at the same time!
nmc - while having the clutch pedal where you want it, that of course doesn't affect heel/toe; it's brake pedal/gas pedal relationship that's critical. Clutch pedal can be anywhere - high or low.