550 owners: heel & toe ?

I'm not a heel toe expert, but the 550 I just bought has a Momo gas pedal that works better for heel toe than any other setup I've tried in any of my cars (f-car or otherwise).

Why isn't this pedal an option to solve the problem? Just curious.

Tim
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shark; custom for you, or small production run?

 

This is great thread guys,

Very informative, glad you found a solution too.

PS - Agree about the look of the Momo pedal !

Seb

 

I thought I would revive this thread, since I've been trying to raise my brake pedal relative to the gas for better heel-toe shifting. I am ALMOST there (it's about perfect, but I'd take just a smidge more brake pedal height if possible).

This is what I did:

1. Had dealer max out brake pedal height by adjusting linkage in pedal box.
2. Noticed there was a bit of slop in the gas pedal at idle, so I tightened the idle rest stop on the gas pedal (this lowers the pedal a bit). It's easy to know when you've gone too far or not far enough as the throttle bodies are sprung and you can tell if there's play or if the cable pulls more than snug and idle starts to rise.
3. Adjusted the brake light switch. As someone mentioned, when the brake pedal linkage is adjusted, you don't get a brake light turn on, unless you press pretty hard. The switch is easily adjusted (remove the wiring connector, loosen the white nylon lock nut, and turn the whole switch body counter-clockwise. Once you're happy with the adjustment, tighten the lock nut and reconnect the wiring connector). Switch is easily seen inside the pedal box - it's on the far left of this shot:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=23923&stc=1&d=1079344248

One other thought: Since my gas pedal had a bit of slop at idle, I think the cable may have stretched a bit over time. If true, it means I might not be getting full throttle anymore when the gas pedal is floored against its stops. I'll have to look at this later. So, the car might go faster as well as enable proper downshifting technique when all is said and done

 

Wow this is an old thread from the past!

You can adjust the throttle cable at BOTH the pedal and engine side. I lowered my throttle pedal quite a bit this way and now heel & toe is easy. Limiting factor on how much you can lower your pedal is when pedal hits the floor.

To check if your are getting full throttle just have some one floor the pedal and then look at engine side if the throttle butterfly lever is at wide open position.

30 minute job.

 

Yep, that's my plan - thanks!

 

Ultimate Pedals will make a gas pedal any size and shape you want and can also provide larger brake and clutch pedals, if desired. I had a set on my C6 Z06 that made heel and toeing very easy. The ideal height for the pedals for me was to have the gas pedal adjusted to be level with the brake pedal when the brake is fully depressed. Stock, very difficult to heel and toe, modified you did not even have to think about it.

Inns Ireland once said he only owned one car he did not have to modify the pedals for proper heel and toeing, and that was a 308.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

I've owned mostly Porsches and I generally have to add an aftermarket adjustable gas pedal to raise the level of the gas (brake pedal too much higher than gas). I was very surprised to encounter the opposite situation with the 550. Seems that very few people could adequately heel/toe with the stock position. Not sure what Ferrari was thinking.

Here's the gas pedal I used in my 73 911 (street/track car):
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My brake pedal spacer, made several years ago in a similar fashion. My 550 is safer on the track now:
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Tim,

It is a good option for heel and toe shifting in its literal sense. With that extension on the gas pedal you won't have to go through these contortions:
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With the brake pedal spacer and stock gas pedal, the "heel and toe" is really a rolling of the outside edge of your right foot outward and downward to touch the gas pedal and "blip" the throttle during a downshift, as shown below. The stock height configurations of the brake and gas pedals make this very difficult to do.
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Here's a good reference article on heel and toe shifting appropriate for the Maranello: http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/howto/articles/45792/article.html

The article stresses pedal configuration by stating: "The pedal design on some cars makes this easier to do than on others." The brake pedal spacer makes this type of heel and toe shifting safe and easy. I feel it's a necessary modification not only for performance driving, but for everyday driving too.

Barry

 

http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/how...2/article.html

There are three steps missing here:
2.1 shift to neutral
2.2 release the clutch
...
3.5 press the clutch

That's why they call it "double (de)clutching"!
Without these steps you won't help the synchronizers....

;-)

 

Double clutching and a heal and toe downshift are two different things. The article is accurate for a heel and toe downshift.

The primary purpose of a heel and toe downshift is not to help the synchros, but instead to match the engine speed to the rotational speed of the drive wheels. Do this wrong (or not do it at all) and you run the risk of momentarily locking up the drive axle.

Double clutching is intended to smooth the shift on non-synchro boxes and is rarely practiced on a modern gearbox that uses synchronizers. Synchros largely eliminated the need to double clutch.

 

I double clutched my 550 from 1st to 2nd (poorly synchronized), then I woke up and quit using 1st at all. Ample torque to just take off in 2nd.

 

keichii tsuchiya, The guy who did all the drift scenes for the Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klMur6TPkrM

 

there is something wrong with your car

 

AC- If you are having trouble downshifting to first while stopped, something is definitely wrong, as FBB stated. Second gear starts will eat you clutch fairly quickly.

Try a different transmission oil and see if that makes a difference. The OE Shell oil is not that good. Try a good 75W-90 full synthetic like Redline or Valvoline and see if that helps. Brian Crall recommends changing out the transaxle oil once a year because 360/550/575M transaxles tend to be hard on oil.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

+1.


Onno

 

So impressed that you can smoke your cigar, text message and heel & toe all at the same time

 

So, I was going to post a question about raising the brake pedal height, since the factory manual is terribly lacking in this regard:

Tie rod 2 (Fig. 5) connecting the brake
pedal to the brake booster transmission
lever must be adjusted so that the pedal is
in the correct position when at rest.
Once the brake pedal is in the correct
position, the stop light switch must be positioned.
The full brake pedal travel is 89 mm, measured
next to the centerline of the pedal
plate.

I did my due diligence searching for what had already been posted and found this thread. I race formula cars in a pro series regularly and the pedals, while quite simply designed (primitive?) are completely adjustable in all aspects. And yes, you want to be able to match revs on a downshift under braking...primarily when you re-engage the clutch on that gear you are going to use through the corner and on corner exit. I don't track my street 550, but I still want to accomplish a downshift properly. I can't see a damn bit of difference between the 550 and the racecar brake pedal in being able to set height at rest (and as a result where it sits with brakes applied) by adjusting the length of the actuating rod where it screws into the clevis to change at rest height, except for the brakelight switch - which of course formula cars do not have.

I followed the links to Hill Engineering, and it seems they just make wider pedals. I have no problem rocking my foot to the throttle, the brake pedal is just too low relative to the throttle. I just need to raise the brake pedal a half inch or so. It looks to me like I can just loosen the jamnut on the actuating rod where it goes into the clevis, lengthen the rod and then adjust the brakelight switch appropriately so it comes on at the right time. There aren't any mechanical stops on the brake pedal that I can see, although at rest the pedal lever seems very close to the sheet metal forward of the steering column mounting, so maybe there isn't enough clearance to get it high enough?

There are adjustable stops on both ends of the throttle travel...is lowering the throttle the way to go? It appears that folks have been able to lower the throttle pedal and still achieve WOT before the pedal hits the floormats...Is this the right way to go? Short of putting blocks on the brake pedal, I'm just wondering what I'm missing.

I appreciate any help from the good folks on this forum in mitigating my confusion!

Best regards,
Eric

 

Eric,
I also race open wheel and yes, they are wonderfully adjustable.

Looking at Ricambi's drawings my first option would be to put washers between the pedal and the drilled pad, trying different amounts of washers to get the pedal height I wanted then I would make up an aluminum spacer to go under the drilled pad. Might need longer screws but I'll bet McMaster Carr would have them.

I don't much care for the appearance of a block on top of the pedal, I'd rather have the block/spacer under the drilled pad.

This method should not change the pedal angle as much as lengthening the rod at the clevis would and it should not affect the brake light switch.