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It has been a while for sure....finally got my Clipper back. Let me catch y'all up on what has been happening to big blue.

Found a mechanic that wanted to work on her. Very inexpensive.....

Overhauled carb
Bought overdrive transmission
Bought clutch assy
Bought new gas tank and sending unit
Mechanic installed all of the above

Mechanic called me and said it wouldn't go into reverse. I visited shop and found that 1/ reverse linkage was hitting up against the OD solenoid. Told them to shift arm and adjust linkage

Mechanic called and said car would be ready. Went for test drive. Holy hell what have they done to my car. Clutch pedal was two inches off the floor, brakes good, but now engaged about two inches from the floor, car wouldn't shift into 2. No OD. I took the car back and told them about my issues. Said he would fix. That was three weeks ago. I drove by the shop and saw that it wasn't moving even though he promised it would be ready soon. Got tired of it and picked up car this morning. Clutch pedal now out so that is good. Everything else the same. Spent about 3 hours under car adjusting linkage and engaging solenoid. Now have smooth 3 speed with OD! Brake pedal still engages at the floor. Something has been moved or changed. Any ideas there?

I paid 250 for all of that work. I guess I got what I paid for. It's good to sit here this evening and see my 53!

Congratulations on getting the OD in --- and to have it work with what sounds like minimal issues is an accomplishment.

I don't remember if you have power or manual brakes but on either system first check the level of the fluid. If it is low it is possible air has entered and the brakes need to be bled.

If power, those have no height adjustment. The pedal height is entirely dependent upon a spring inside the vacuum portion pushing the power piston to the rear of the canister and raising the pedal. Brakes should fully engage at less than an inch of travel. If you are saying the pedal on a power brake is going almost to the floor there are serious issues. Low fluid is the thing that might cause the pedal to go low and yet still have some brakes but why it would suddenly be low is a serious matter. Fluid being sucked into the vacuum side is one possibility but the car needs to be parked until the issue is resolved. Old BTVs that have sat and then been put into service without a complete going thru have this little quirk of stopping at one corner and rolling thru the next.

On a manual brake system a spring keeps the pedal at normal height but there is a threaded pedal free play adjustment which is at the end of the rod just before the master cylinder. The rod has a threaded on end portion which goes inside the master to push against the piston. If that is seriously out of adjustment the pedal could move quite a distance before the piston moves. The adjustment should allow for approx 1/4 to 1/2" of pedal travel before the piston starts to move. If that adjustment fixes the problem and there is no obvious damage or mis positioning of the rod I would wonder why the mechanic messed with it.

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Thanks for the information. Let me ask this though...is there a common pivot point or adjustment for the clutch and brake pedals? Both were down. They fixed the clutch by extending the rod (welded o extension) to raise the pedal. Seems like there is something in common between the two, but I don't know what at them moment. I have manual brakes....

The only thing common is both pedals are on the same shaft. I believe one end of the shaft goes thru a hole in the frame rail for it's support and the other end goes thru a bracket which is bolted to another portion of the frame. If that bolted bracket is loose that could cause a bit of an issue with pedal travel.

The brake rod attaches to a pin on the base of the pedal along with a spring. As the pedal is pushed down the base and pin rotates and moves the rod forward to push the piston into the master. The only adjustment is the overall length of the rod and end piece as determined by the threaded connection. The shorter the rod the more the pedal goes to the floor before the piston starts to move fluid to the wheels.

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