Foot Pedals

Ford Focus ZX4 ST Modifications - Foot Pedals - Phil Usher - May 2006

$27.90 Including Shipping

The stock pedals in the ZX4 ST are not suitable for heal and toe driving.  There are several aftermarket solutions offered including one from Ford SVT which is generally preferred but requires replacing the throttle pedal and arm.  Some reports suggested this was not as easy as you might expect so I decided I might try an easier and cheaper alternative. 

Searching eBay I found these and ordered them from Racing Dimensions.

 May 18th: Arrived - Fast shipping.

The pedals are as described but the throttle pedal (while convex) is not at all close to the same shape as the current throttle pedal.  The "no drill" clips while of some use for the clutch and brake pedal are useless for the throttle.

I spent about an twenty minutes using a small vice a rubber hammer (see footnote) and some elbow grease to bend the reasonably pliable aluminum into a shape which could be screwed into the pedal.

Installed but not entirely happy:

  • While I think the throttle pedal is attached pretty well I am less confident about the break and clutch where I am using "one drilled hole" and the clips.

  • I am going to carry a small screwdriver with me in case the clip screws loosen.  If I keep the clip setup I think I will use some lock-tight on the clip screws.

  • The dead pedal is not currently installed.  I want to examine what is under the carpet before start drilling.

  • One odd thing is that the brake pedal has a lot more lateral movement than I would like; the pedal can move from side to side almost 1/2".  I need to check other Focus's to see if this is a common problem.

However, the pedals do make the gap between brake and throttle closer so heal and toe is now much easier.

Conclusion

If heal and toe technique (see Shifting Technique) is something you do (or want to learn) then you will need to do something about the stock pedals.  The pedals I selected were cheap, arrived quickly and did the job but better, prettier and easier to install pedals are available.

Before

After

 

Rubber Hammer

Most race car drivers have bodywork repair stuff.  This is because we often suffer minor contact and need to bang bent panels away from the bits which rotate.                               

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