Putting the "Woah" to all your "Go" !

After you went out and mortgaged your children to buy the biggest set of tires you could possibly wedge into the fenderwells of your rig, you proceeded to add that extra several hundred lbs. of rotating mass to your vehicle. Pride filled you, as every kid in the neigborhood thought you were part of a monster truck racing team. Or mabye you own a Baja or desert car. Big rubber is a must for off-roading, as the stock tires are barely adequate for pavement duty.

In either case, you quickly discover a couple things. 1. - your brakes become less effective. A lot less. 2. - You smell burning clutch plate a lot more often. So like any red blooded , dyed in the wool off-roader, you do the only logical thing. "I'll put in a 9800lb pressure plate with a 2 puck hyperferamic carbon-fiber alloy clutch disc and a set of 4 wheel disc brakes with 19 in. rotors, dual 8 piston calipers and 90 weight gear oil for brake fluidarg argh ARGH" ! (apologies to Tim Allen ;-) In all honesty, after upgrading the clutch and brakes, we rarely give a thought to the pedals, then wonder why our legs feel like thier ready to fall off after a couple miles on the trail, or that our "state of the art" braking system doesn't have the stopping power it should. The fact of the matter is that stock pedals, wether the manual brakes of a VW, or the hydraulics of a Toyota were designed to carry stock loads under "normal" driving conditions. Hard core Off-roaders with upgraded vehicles do not meet this criteria, and that's putting things mildly.

When ORC's Rail recently underwent a massive upgrade, Hydraulic Pedals were a must. The big rubber made locking the brakes up impossible, and in fact, the car was unsafe to drive, as maximum leg effort resulted in minimal slow down. On the clutch side of the equation, the stock cable clutch pedal would have made life less than enjoyable with the Kennedy pressure
plate, in the tight, twisty trails where the rail spends much of it's time. The final selling point was the position adjustablity. As the rail has several drivers , ranging from 5'7'' to 6'1'', we could never settle on a "happy medium".

CNC Inc., manufactures a wide variety of high performance / extreme duty hydraulics, for the automotive aftermarket. In fact, they offer over 1000 combinations of slave, pedal and master cylinder combinations. Their pedal assemblies have graced everything from the lightweight sand rails of the dunes and Baja 1000 winning trucks, to the rock crawling Jeeps of the Rubicon. There's a good reason for their popularity. They work.

Here's just a glimpse of the options CNC makes available to you

• High strength precision aluminum castings

• Steel pedal arms

• Spring return

• Adjustable balance bar (for dual cylinder apps.)

• Polished aluminum, chrome, or red / blue / gold Anodizing

• Standard or metric fittings

• Easy fill covers

• Non-skid foot surface

• Lightweight adjustable mounting brackets

• T6 7075 non corrosive pistons

• Total seal rubber boots

Initial Impressions

Hydraulic clutch and brake pedals - The pedals are built to last. Period. They are lightweight, yet solid. All hardware and fittings (my pet peeve) are definitely top notch, as are the gaskets. The foot pedal rubber is thick and looks like it will provide a long service life. Chrome plating appears quite thick, and looks like it will last indefinitely.

Cable Throttle Pedal - The pedal is a rugged unit with a built in 12 degree angle (to the right) and side foot rest. The built in return spring is strong, and will lessen the load of the carb/injection side-springs considerably.

Adjustable Mounting Plate - This machined aluminum plate provides a secure mounting method with a relatively quick method of adjustment over a 3 position / 4 in. range.

Mounting - Sand Rail

While other companies offer a quicker method of adjustment (fore and aft), the CNC system is far stronger. The solid machined plate must be flush mounted to the floor. For our application (Johnny's Speed & Chrome "Warrior" chassis) an aluminum plate was fabricated in the
"floorboard" area to serve as a secure mounting site. Once aligned, and fitted to the drivers positions, the floor was drilled and the adjuster plate installed using the supplied hardware (4 bolts, nuts and lockwashers).

With the plate securely in place, the pedals were installed with CNC's mounting system. CNC uses "Feet" adjusters to slide below the holes of the mounting plate. When the pedals are pushed forward into thier "locked" position, the "feet" are tightened down (via 4 - 7/16 in. head
bolts.

Rubber or braided steel brake hose must be installed between the master cylinders and the hard line, in order for the pedals to be allowed to move. Our choice was braided stainless steel line. While considerably more expensive than "normal" brake line, it provides for a longer service life, and better pedal "feel", and braking effectiveness .

When a rubber brake line swells under pressure, less force is applied to the brake shoes. Braided steel lines have minimal "swell" and thus, make better use of the fluid pressure.) )

Next up was the installation of the clutch slave cylinder. The cylinder mounts on the transmission with supplied hardware, and is a straightforward procedure. Run a hard line up to the flexible line at the pedal assembly, and you are ready to add fluid and bleed the system normally. With all the air out of the brake and clutch lines, the clutch can then be adjusted to specs via the threaded shaft of the slave cylinder.

The Cable throttle uses the same plate as the hydraulic pedals, and mounts in the same fashion. Cable adjustment comes from a drilled hexagonal rod (3 position) that hooks to the throttle cable. The rod is secured to the pedal by a clevis pin, making for quick and easy adjustments when necicary.

Conclusion

The difference is incredible! The clutch action is incredibly smooth, and pedal effort for the 1700lb. pressure plate is minimal. Once on the road, (off the road ?) the increase in braking force was astounding. For a second, I forgot that these aren't power brakes. Now the brakes are smooth, controlled, powerful, and you won't injure your leg using them. All in all, the car is much easier and safer to drive. In High performance driving conditions, they are a dream to use, and add to the drivability of the car. Where we used to fight an ongoing battle with the VW pedals, the CNC's are smooth, responsive, and easily controlled. We have over 1000 miles on the assembly without a problem, and have no reservations in recommending CNC products to you on any level. CNC's pricing is reasonable, their quality is excellent, and most importantly, they work as advertised.

Your money is well spent with CNC products.

CNC Inc.
1221 West Morena Blvd
San Diego CA. 92110
Phone : 619-257-1663
Fax : 619-275-0729
Catalog available