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In researching options for converting an automatic car to manual, there seems to be various opinions about how to deal with the pedals. Some say the wider automatic tunnel makes driving with the manual pedal assembly in place impossible, so say it's easily possible with small shoes, etc. I figured some other people in my position might find the information below useful.
This is where the manual pedals land when installed in a stock automatic car. There is about a quarter of an inch between the gas and brake pedals. My feet are not big (10.5) and I wear pretty slim shoes, but it was pretty obvious this would make driving pretty difficult.
The most frequent solution seems to be taking a chunk out of the transmission tunnel and moving the gas pedal to the right to generate the needed clearance.
I was trying to avoid hacking up the tunnel, not because I'm some "don't permanently modify the car" purist, but because I wanted to keep the wide tunnel in the event myself or the next owner wanted to go down the path of installing a T5.
I figured the easiest solution would be to jog the clutch and brake to the left by the needed amount. After measuring some of the other manual cars in the family, it seemed like an extra 2" between the gas and brake would be about right. A couple of cuts, grinds, and tacks later this is what I ended up with.
They obviously still need to be gusseted and fully welded, but I wanted to check the fit in the car before going too much further. I think it will work out pretty well, giving enough room to work everything in a comfortable position, but it still clears the foot dipper switch with room to spare.
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