Pedal Adjustment

The default setup of the pedals when it arrived was pretty much a straight line across for the Accelerator-Brake-Clutch. This wasn't a problem at first because the accelerator was quite a distance away from the brake (72mm), which meant if I was going to hit the brakes, the throttle had little chance of being accidentally pressed.

For a Caterham (and most cars) this distance of 72mm is massive, I think the S3 chassis is likely to be a lot closer but for example my 340i pedals are about 45-50mm apart which I'm much more comfortable with. With this 72mm distance between pedals there is zero chance of attempting any heel and toe driving at all.

There is a need for heel and toe, especially in Caterham's as when changing down, the engine braking can be severe enough to cause slip and this make the car slide out. This is mainly due to the lack of weight over the rear wheels on an already very light car. I had it happen a few times, when I wasn't even pushing the car, so certainly being able to heel and toe will be beneficial on a track when the car is pushed. The premise is simple, you need to dab on a few 1000 RPM's when the clutch is down, whilst braking, so the engine will not brake when changing gear, basically you a rev matching your speed to the gear you choose.

So I decided that I would widen the pedal as per my upgrade blog post about this. Of course widening the pedal meant that if I should press the brakes now, or go for them quickly, there is a chance I'd catch the accelerator as it is protruding forwards to much. Quick testing confirmed this.

So with this in mind, I needed to adjust the pedal distances correctly. The basic idea is that you will want the accelerator pedal at rest to be the same distance as the brake pedal pressed down, and the clutch will simply match the brake pedal distances.

Accelerator Adjustment

I decided that I would first move the accelerator as far back (into the footwell) as possible before attempting to setup the brake pedal. This involved setting the throttle stop to the absolute minimum I could get away with, and then adjusting the throttle cable at the plenum end so ensure that when it is fully pressed, the throttle is fully open. Once this position was found, I then adjusted the upper throttle stop to match the "idle" position. This was a little tricky as the location of the nut and bolt are awkward, so I ended up removing the pedal to do this.

Brake/Clutch Adjustment

This was a bit simpler in comparison to the throttle adjustments, it simply involves loosening the locking nut and then turning the master cylinder piston until you achieve the desired position. Once you are happy with the position, tighten it all up and lock it into place with the same nut.

For the brake lights, you will need to adjust the brake button as well to suit.

Once happy with it, I decided to mark it all with a red pen so I can see if anything has moved over time.

Finished Positions

Resources

There are a couple of other excellent resources that I used to help me with this:

And this great video from Turn7