Hi All,

This is going to sound really weird, but i have a question that i would like to ask everyone?

How does everyone go with the pedal assembly and changing gears? I am fitting up my seats at the moment and as such i am finally able to feel what the sitting / driving position is like. I did get a chance to run the old bug around the yard a few times but that was nearly 5 years ago now :cry


Anyways I made a weird discovery. I am not able to use the pedals without lifting my feet. How does everyone drive their dub. Do you all wear oversize shoes, or put large pedal faces on?? Usually i just rest my heel on the floor and work the pedals, but i don't think that is going to be possible now.

What is it like for racing purposes? i suppose heel toe action is good because the pedals are close together, but usually you shouldn't rest your feet on the pedals, and it would get very tiring holding them up all the time.


Cheers,

Matt.

i made a set of extenders for my wife worked great for me i didn't need them but they were on so
very easy i mearly bolted some cut 4.5 mm steel to size hope that helpes

Thank Christ for this post !!-- this is something that has quietly puzzled me for freekin years---I personaly try extremely hard not to think about what my feet are doing and drive purely by sound and feel ---cause the second I think about where my feet are at I'm rooted-- like at the moment I've just got a new clutch --not in the same possy as the old one ---right ---now dont start thinkin about feet ---- right---
I postulated large Krauts in jackboots but the pedals specialy in the early ones like I've got-- way to close together--I have found purely by accident that if you purposely verticaly offset the pedals it makes for easier driving if you have a wide foot --or ug boots on.
But as to hieght only answer I've got is they were modeled for an extinct race with long feet and no-one ever got round to changing the specs when they died out,
Cheers ,
:beer
Al .

freaks, the lot of ya!:alien

got no idea what you are talking about. press the right one to go, the middle to stop. just like the millions of other beetle drivers.

lift your feet easy as

yup... i'm a racer myself... i'd suggest using the pedal on the left to change gears, preferably in conjunction with the one on the right to rev the engine... and as far as i can tell, the one in the middle makes you stop!

if you wanna get tricky, you can use the one in the middle and the one on the right, to slow down and rev at the same time as using the one on the left to double clutch... thus changing down without losing power/synchro. this means using your right foot on two pedals at once... but i'd master using each pedal by itself for starters.

now i could be wrong... but have you tried actually placing your feet on the pedals and practising the tricky 'up down' motion that it requires? :duh

I've tried changing gears without lifting the right foot but that made extremely loud expensive noises, even though I stomped the left pedal momentarily. It worked fine the first 99 times, the 100th time not so much. I blame the evil car breaking spirits that inhabit Mt Panorama and the evil Mr Berg for providing me with so much leverage. It did make that expensive red synthetic gear oil sparkle nicely though.

Interesting that everyone thought that i was not able to drive.

Well the easy answer is yes i am perfectly capable at driving, i was just curious how everyone went with the pedal assembly. I understand the whole process involved, i.e. which foot has to be pressed and when.

However i have driven multiple cars, like many of you, other than the vw. in other cars like all different manufactures, the pedals can be spaced out or close together, etc, which can be good or bad depending on how big your feet are.

No if you are into drifting and racing close together can be a bonus because it enables the heel and toe action with the accelerator and the brake and leaves the left foot open for the clutch, however this all depends on the fact that you don't left foot brake.

I was really only asking how everyone got on with the height of the pedals. my feet are not all that small, and i can just hit the bake and clutch pedal with the heels resting on the floor. in all the other cars that i have driven this is not the case.

if you race a dub, i just wanted to know how you went with keeping your feet up, i.e. not having to hold them up all the time. do you extend the pedal faces, etc?


i understand that this may be a silly question and i suppose i was always told, ask a silly question get a silly response, however it is just general chit chat after all....


Matt.

i barely noticed it, my first car was a kombi, when you have to press the pedals down through the floor and the accellerator is about 10cm below the clutch and brakes you tend to get used to hovering feet, so when i changed to the type 3 having a floating left foot seemed natural. having said that it did get a sore ankle on occasion. as far as improving the situation, the issue with lengthening the pedals to keep you feet on the ground is that you will get less torque, therefore less force on the pedal (believe me, i am studyign engineering) if you wanted to make a modification so you could drive with your heels on the floorboards, i would recommend raising the floor a little, that way you wont sacrifice the energy you are putting into braking/clutching

I know where you guys are coming from! The difference between VW's and most other cars is the pedal assembly mounts are at the bottom floor, so the pivot/ movement is a downward motion. Most other cars pedal assemblies are mounted from the top, so pivot differently.(accelerator pedal is the same though)
It is easier to push kick something upwards than it is downwards, as the vws are.
I guess if you have small feet it would feel a little uncomfortable.

cant heel toein the kombi the brake pedal is too much higher than acc pedal.

just drive it like ya always do the car isn't guna het any faster either way

This is one thing that detracters of VWs bring up all the time i.e. my elder brother (who by the way has had about 7 or 8 vws possibly even more!). I've always had VWs so never really noticed, I suppose when you get used to it you wont think about it either. BTW my buggy has an extension on the accelerator and the pedals itself set back so it's in line with the other pedals.