Today I met Scott so that he could give me a set of 5-speed AutoVation Racing Pedals that were sent to him for a review. Scott asked me to write up a quick review about the pedals, so here goes.

What I got:
1 dead pedal
1 gas pedal
2 pedals (clutch & brake)
Instructions
Fastners
Allen wrench

I got home this afternoon, looked over the installation instructions with the kit and online. They are pretty straight forward for the mustang. Remove pedal covers, test fit pedals, mark bolt locations, drill holes & mount!

Sounds simple right? Well, I have to say this; if I never install a set of pedals again, it will be to soon! This was the most miserable experiance I have had to date with regards to installing a component on the car.

Now, that being said, I can not blame AutoVations for this. The reality is that the area in which to work is small, and if you are right handed as I am, you will wish you were double jointed in your elbows, wrists, and shoulders! It's just so hard to get into such a tight area holding a lock nut on the back of the pedal as you wrench down the bolt with the supplied allen wrench! AutoVations claims an average installation time of 30 minutes, this is probably possible, however I can not say for sure because I had to take breaks to recharge my drill's battery and let my arms go back to a normal position. If you do this installation yourself definately make sure your drill is fully charged (unless you have a corded drill) before starting. AutoVations does note this in the instructions, I was just unlucky in the fact that I had not recharged my drills battery!

As I stated earlier, the installation is really straight forward; fit, mark, drill, & mount. An issue I ran into was the bolt locations on the pedals, you'll notice in the pictures that my brake pedal is missing the lower bolt. Reason for this is the way the Ford pedal is made. In the center of the pedal plate there is a pocket where the plate connects to the lever, this caused one of the 3 mounting holes on the AutoVation pedal to always fall over that pocket no matter how I positioned it. This may or may not be the case on all Mustang pedal plates, but it only happened on my brake pedal. The clutch worked out fine.
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Installation of the dead pedal was very easy, I removed the plastic cover (with some force) and noticed that the holes in the AutoVation pedal matched up with holes already in the dead pedal plate. I just took a couple of supplied washers and bolted the AutoVation dead pedal in place. Very easy, except once again for lack of room in which to move.

The Gas pedal installation was just as simple. Ford uses a plastic pedal mounted directly to the lever, so all you have to do is use the supplied self tapping screws and mount the AutoVation pedal in place. I prefered to predrill the holes in the plastic pedal, it makes for a much easier installation than just trying to get the screws to drill their own hole.
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Overall I would have to rate this installation as simple DIY project that should realistically take 30 minutes to an hour. My only complaint is the area in which to work, it's just not a fun installation, your twisted, contorted and sprawled out in so many odd positions that it just makes this simple project a pain in the tail pipe!

Let me once again state that I can not blame AutoVations for the installation nightmare I had! Their pedals, instructions, and fastners are of a quality that all aftermarket manufacturers should strive for, kudos to AutoVation's for that!

*****

Today I was able to get out and give the pedals a decent test. First thing I can say is the surface area is much larger, I caught myself catching my foot on the side of the clutch pedal. The second thing I noticed is the improved grip you have on the clutch, brake and dead pedal, the raised edges really help your foot stay planted. The gas pedal has a smooth finish on it to allow your foot to slide up and down more easily.

These pedals are designed to allow for easier "heel toe" however this is nearly impossible with the pedal set up on the mustang. The difference in height between the gas and brake pedal is nearly 2.75" This makes just placing your foot on each pedal nearly impossible. I found that I would have to slightly depress the brake just so I could put decent preasure on the gas pedal. As with the installation, this in not a fault with which I could place on AutoVation. In actuality the extension they add to the gas pedal would make "heel toe" easier, you would just just need to bring the gas pedal up closer to the height of the brake pedal.


Ratings:
Product: A
Instructions: B
Installation: C-
Function: B

Overall: B

 

Pedal heigth is one thing I've never figured out from Ford. In yours, the gas pedal and brake are uneven, but yet in my cobra they were even, but the clutch was a good 3" higher than both.

I feel in the cobra these pedals would have been great because of the gas and brake being level.

Something else I've learned that makes working under the dash much easier is to remove the seat. It is 4 bolts and a few misc. electrical connectors. It gives you amplitudes of more room to work with and the option of laying on your back to work in the area.

Good write up Matt, I look forward to trying them out in your car. We might be able to raise your gas pedal through an old DIY mod i've seen before.

 

I was talking to Jason at SVP and he told me that the easiest way is to just remove the pedal assembly, I actually thought about that, because I heard it wasn't that hard, but I didn't want to pull them out and not really know what I was doing.

As for the pedal height difference, it really is odd why they are so far off! There really isn't a need for the brake and clutch to be the same, but the gas and brake would make sense. Go figure!

I remember reading somewhere online about a simple way to raise the height of the gas pedal, but I didn't mention it because I couldn't remember where I read it, or anything that it involved.

 

Gas Pedal Mod

I found the mod to adjust the gas pedal height. Looks really simple but effective. I'm definately trying it out. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumb.gif[/img]

 

Cool, thats the one I was thinking of, thanks for finding it!