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MG MGB Technical - Leg room

I own an '80 B and love the car except for the location on the gas pedal. I have to warp my heel inward to drive. I am 6'2" and probably a bit big for the car. The clutch pedal is just right so I suspect that even if I was shorter something would be off. The car has a weber carb so I am not sure if that make a difference.

I talked with another owner that installed an aftermarket cruise control for the same reason. I know there are lots of smart folks out there and you can't learn if you don't ask.

Bob Patzwald

I'm 5'10" but I still found the accelerator pedal in my '78 to be very awkwardly positioned. I ended up removing it from the car and using a torch to heat the metal I bent it into a better location.
Gerald O'Docharty

B!tch b!tch b!tch....I envy you guys. Try pushing the clutch all the way down when you're 5'3". Wish they made pedal extensions....

Brian
Brian

Well , I'm 6'0" and have a 32" inseam , the gas pedal is O.K., not great , what _I_ want is a left foot rest as I bounce around too much when having fun and the seatbelts don't hold me tightly enough . foot flopping on the dipper switch at night is disconcerting .

-Nate
NSH

You might want to look under the driver's seat at the seat rails.

Maybe there's an extra set of mounting holes on the rails that'll let you set the seat farther back a bit.

Also, it's not too difficult to remove the accelerator pedal arm and bend and tweek it on a vise to better
suit you.
Daniel Wong

When I had a ’71 MGB I never thought about the gas pedal, the pedal in the ’77 is awful. My knee is way too high. MG changed the pedal design to put the gas even with the brake to allow both pedals to be more easily operated with one foot at the same time. I didn’t find this to be a problem with the earlier and intend to alter the pedal. At 5’8” I have to use the end of my foot to operate the clutch.
George Champion

Convert to RHD.
Paul Hunt

I agree when I adjust the seat to comfortably depress the clutch, the gas pedal is too close. It's OK for in town but my leg cramps on long trips. Anyone have a suggestion for altering the pedal?
Arlen Patrick

I tend to agree with Gerald's idea. I did relocate the seat back just a bit. The room gets tight for putting the top down. I looked at modifing the pedal linkage but was looking for someone who had attacked the problem with success. There is plenty of legroom and it looks like plenty of travel in the pedal. The situation just needs better coordination.
Bob Patzwald

I am 2.00m tall and also found the legroom a little bit crampy. What helped me is to move the seats about 25mm backwards. I made new holes in the slider strips. Furtheron i fitted a spacer of 20mm between the steering wheel and the boss. I will also modify the accelerator pedal by cutting about 15mm from the bar where the pedal is fitted on. The height of the pedal will be different from the brake pedal but this 15mm will help a lot and the height difference will not cause problems.
There is also a bolt in the engine compartiment for adjusting the accelerator pedal but i assume you already found and adjusted this.
Regards
Peter
Peter van de Velde

With the weber carb on a 79B, the travel of the gas pedal needs to be lengthened to allow for the secondary venturi to open wide. This made the gas pedal pad stick out further then the clutch and brake pedal. I took the gas pedal out and cut the bar to the pedal pad at the midway point, and drilled two holes for bolting the bars back together again, one on top of the other, thus eliminating two inches. Probably could have had it welded, but it didn't take long to do.
Bob Johnson

Thank you all. I think I can fix the problem.

Bob
Bob Patzwald

Hi folks,

I cut about 1 1/2" out of the linkage this afternoon. I followed by a ride in the unusual 72 degree F. weather. All is good. The extra legroom will make cuising much more fun.

Don't worry about the Kansas weather. If you don't like it, just wait 24 hours. The proof is tomorrow night is predicted at 10 degrees F.

Spring is on the way (I hope).
Bob Patzwald

This thread was discussed between 20/02/2002 and 25/02/2002

MG MGB Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGB Technical BBS is active now.