GSpeed Gas Pedal Kits

[GSpeed]

We've got a few gas pedal kits sitting on the shelf, and I thought I'd take this opportunity to answer a few questions we've been getting about them lately.

What does this do?

It moves the gas pedal closer to the driver by almost an inch, and slightly closer to the brake pedal. This makes for a more comfortable heel-toe movement for aggressive downshifting.

What's the difference between this and a pedal cover?

Pedal covers, while great, don't do anything to move the gas pedal itself. They often provide extensions off the side to aid in heel-toe downshifting, but the offset between the pedal heights remains.

Can't I just adjust my brake pedal height?

Technically yes, but nowhere near enough to make a difference. You've got less than half an inch of adjustment (in pedal position) before the brake lights would be constantly engaged. That factory adjustment is meant to be used in master cylinder installation and adjustment, not for pedal position.

How hard is it to install?

Extremely easy. It can be done in under fifteen minutes with a 10mm ratchet. Installation instructions can be found here.

If you're interested in picking one up, feel free to check out our store here. I know there's a few members here running them, and we'd love to get more feedback.

Thanks,

Jake

[Trueweltall]

I like what it does but that price is insane.

[GSpeed]

Originally Posted by Trueweltall

I like what it does but that price is insane.

I understand, but I think you'd be surprised how low our margins are on these things. Designing and making parts locally for a niche market is surprisingly expensive. If we knew we'd sell 1000 of these, they'd be much cheaper. As it is, we have to get them made in runs of 25 or so.

[Yoshoobaroo]

Geez, did you guys design it to be as expensive as possible?
Why is it all pocketed out? That's over half of your machine time right there. You could keep it light by just switching to a polymer instead of pocketed aluminum.
I don't see a good reason why it cannot be a solid rectangular piece of plastic with 4 holes and 2 studs pressed in.

I understand It's a niche product, but making it simpler would make it much cheaper without affecting its performance.

[GSpeed]

Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo

Geez, did you guys design it to be as expensive as possible?
Why is it all pocketed out? That's over half of your machine time right there. You could keep it light by just switching to a polymer instead of pocketed aluminum.
I don't see a good reason why it cannot be a solid rectangular piece of plastic with 4 holes and 2 studs pressed in.

I understand It's a niche product, but making it simpler would make it much cheaper without affecting its performance.

Pockets actually don't add much machine time. We have a good relationship with our machine shop and routinely go back and forth to get things as cheap as possible. These pockets are added to an existing setup and add a minute or two.

Sure, we could have made it out of plastic, and saved a few bucks on materials, but it's just that. A few bucks. 1" x 6" x 6" of 6061-T6 is $35 on McMaster, and a 1" x 6" x 6" piece of Delrin is $25. Of course, our machine shop has better material sources than McMaster, but for the sake of illustration, you're talking about MAYBE $5 of savings per part for a material that's much weaker and more likely to break over time. Sure, plastic will machine a little faster, but again, that's a marginal improvement.

This part also isn't anodized or laser etched, which saves a little bit of money off the bottom line. That's a new policy we have, that we anodize and laser etch everything now, but we're going to leave this part as-is instead of raising prices.

Our rationale (for most everything we make, not just this) is that since our quantities dictate higher prices to recover design time, we might as well make it high enough quality to justify the price. Parts like this also have to help pay for the Solidworks licenses, utilities, salaries, basically everything involved in getting this from an idea onto customers' cars.

Hope that makes sense. We don't want to be perceived as taking the community for a ride, we place a lot of value on community input for these sorts of things.

Jake

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by GSpeed

Pockets actually don't add much machine time. We have a good relationship with our machine shop and routinely go back and forth to get things as cheap as possible. These pockets are added to an existing setup and add a minute or two.

Sure, we could have made it out of plastic, and saved a few bucks on materials, but it's just that. A few bucks. 1" x 6" x 6" of 6061-T6 is $35 on McMaster, and a 1" x 6" x 6" piece of Delrin is $25. Of course, our machine shop has better material sources than McMaster, but for the sake of illustration, you're talking about MAYBE $5 of savings per part for a material that's much weaker and more likely to break over time. Sure, plastic will machine a little faster, but again, that's a marginal improvement.

This part also isn't anodized or laser etched, which saves a little bit of money off the bottom line. That's a new policy we have, that we anodize and laser etch everything now, but we're going to leave this part as-is instead of raising prices.

Our rationale (for most everything we make, not just this) is that since our quantities dictate higher prices to recover design time, we might as well make it high enough quality to justify the price. Parts like this also have to help pay for the Solidworks licenses, utilities, salaries, basically everything involved in getting this from an idea onto customers' cars.

Hope that makes sense. We don't want to be perceived as taking the community for a ride, we place a lot of value on community input for these sorts of things.

Jake

Thanks for the clarification! I didn't mean to come off saying you're doing a bad design job, or taking customers for a ride. It makes sense most of your cost is overhead with the quantities you're moving.

-Josh

[Deep Six]

I prefer rolling the ankle and catching the pedal with the right side of my foot. This should make a huge difference with being able to maintain consistent brake pressure.

[Jonsey]

It is a very nice kit, I really enjoy that everything feels natural now and I no longer have to consciously think about where my feet should be.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Delrin does fine in bearing suspension bushings, I would be worried about it breaking behind a gas pedal.

[GSpeed]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

Delrin does fine in bearing suspension bushings, I would be worried about it breaking behind a gas pedal.

The pedal mount itself is aluminum, the only acetal part is the stop under the pedal. It's totally in compression under the gas pedal, and it's about 1" thick, at the narrowest point. I will personally pay for a replacement if one snaps under "normal" use. Not gonna happen.

Jake

[Joesurf79]

Originally Posted by GSpeed

The pedal mount itself is aluminum, the only acetal part is the stop under the pedal. It's totally in compression under the gas pedal, and it's about 1" thick, at the narrowest point. I will personally pay for a replacement if one snaps under "normal" use. Not gonna happen.

Jake

I'm anxious to try this out. Just ordered one after discovering that there were others in the universe that felt the exact same way about their BRZ's pedal location

[Bramick]

Originally Posted by Joesurf79

I'm anxious to try this out. Just ordered one after discovering that there were others in the universe that felt the exact same way about their BRZ's pedal location

I'm very happy with mine. When I first installed it it felt weird because my muscle memory was so engrained. After some use it's second nature. I pretty much forgot I installed it because it's so normal feeling now.

[Joesurf79]

Originally Posted by Jonsey

It is a very nice kit, I really enjoy that everything feels natural now and I no longer have to consciously think about where my feet should be.

Having run two track events now with the kit installed, I can say I echo Jonesy's sentiment. Pedal /spacing just feel like they should. No more conscious thought devoted to hunting for the gas pedal when blipping to downshift!