Something I've been wanting to do for 2 years:

Raise the level of the "dead pedal" or foot rest of my '03 XKR.

It's not like I'm particularly short (I'm 5'11"). But with the seat and steering wheel in a comfortable driving position my left foot could not "rest" on the pedal Jag provided for us - It was just too far away to be of any use.

I figured that there HAD to be an adjustment for the pedal, right? WRONG! It IS where it IS.

Its hard to see just how that pedal is mounted, so here is a description of Jags design: There is a thick but basically flat plastic mounting plate on top of the carpet. It is secured with 2 deeply recessed 8mm bolts to the floor/firewall of the car. Another wedge shaped somewhat wimpy IMHO foot rest having two attachment male "prongs" designed to press-fit into the female recesses of the mounting plate. With a hard "tug" the foot rest will come out off the mounting plate. On some of our cars the foot rest has a thin polished plate attached to the foot rest by three 3mm recessed allen bolts.

Perhaps the dealer "could" have provided other foot rests of varying heights, but I don't know if any other size foot rests were ever available.

I order to raise the rest in my car, I drew an outline of the top of the existing foot rest and used that to fashion a spacer out of wood - made to place under the polished plate and on top of the OEM plastic foot rest, using longer bolts to secure it. I then pushed the raised pedal back into the recesses in the floor plate.

Piece of cake! Took me about an hour and a half of time and cost nothing but some crap I had laying around my shop. The result can be seen in the first two pics I have attached. Too me, the pedal is now actually useful - and MUCH more comfortable as a foot rest while I'm on the highway.


Now, here's an offer: Forum member The Coupe had an extra foot rest that he very graciously sent me for FREE (this, before I was aware that what he was offering was exactly the same as was already installed in my car). So to pay his goodwill forward, if anyone else out there needs one of the factory foot rests for their XK8 or XKR (I don't believe it is the correct piece for XJ saloons) I'd be happy to send it to you post paid (within the states) First to PM me gets it!

To keep this fine little footrest from becoming the "White Elephant" gift that keeps making it's rounds among forum members, please do what I did not - Get down of your hands and knees and take a look at what you have in your car before deciding that you "just gotta have it!

Also included below are pics of the plastic foot rest I'm referring too.

 

I am 5' 10" and find that the foot rest is practically useless also. When my foot is on it, the pressure underneath my left thigh is too high. I will work to move mine outward as well. 'Good idea.

 

Well guys, I'm 5' 5" (on a good day) and the dead pedal is just that to me...dead. Maybe with 2 good size phone books I could reach it, but that might interfere with the brake operation.

I too have played around with this idea and now I have no excuse. Time to get creative. It would be nice to ease my leg on those long trips and it should help with spirited driving.

Thanks Max.

 

OBTW, I got excited when I read somewhere that there was an optional extension for the footrest. Turns out what you show in your pictures is it. If you pull off the plastic piece the flat part left is the default footrest/dead pedal. You already had the extension, as do I. Still useless as designed.

 

I used two lengths of vacuum cleaner extension pipe and a couple of extra long bolts.

 

I've had exactly the same idea of using a wood "shim" to raise the dead pedal but haven't had time to play with it. The vacuum tube idea is also good, I'll experiment with both. I'm 5'10" and find the dead pedal completely useless. Do Brits all have very long right legs? :-)

Mark

 

The reason you waited a few days was because I beat you on the original PM to The Coupe

I had to pass because the X308 has the same problem, but the "dead pedal" is actually a piece of rubber glued into a recess in the carpet. It's all good, because now I know that I can pull it up to use as a template to knock out something in a block of wood.

Maybe you should initial the back and see how many rounds it makes

 

Maxwdg,
That engine of yours must be working well - you're starting to fiddle.
Just keep the bonnet closed this time, please.

 

Yup, my car is running very well right now...

Steve? What? Me? Fiddle?.... NEVER!

Let's see, yesterday I climbed in and around my car for four hours. I was installing the second phase of what will be a progressive H2O/methanol injection system for my car - to be employed during the blazingly hot midwestern months of summer and fall.
See this new thread if you are interested in what I'm playin' with now...

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-ground-89422/


Ummmm, yes, I guess I'm fiddling...... Guilty as charged.

 

At 6'3", I've found the pedal not out of reach personally, but at too much of a vertical angle. Wearing driving mocs, I have to 'toe-in' at the top and sink my heel down on it, so not much clearance there either. Seems narrow too, but I haven't writhed my head down into the recess to see what my options are yet. Half the time I have my leg propped up where my knee is nearly at the window.

 

Chris I totally know what you mean about writhing! My 51 year old, 220lb body was really difficult to worm into the drivers foot well (upside down with one leg on the headrest and the other leg out the door) in order to do some wiring under the dash Sunday night.

Man, what I wouldn't give to have my 20 year old 135lb body back again?!

 

Aw, YEAH! I shaped a 1" thick piece of balsa wood, then heat-formed a skin of Kydex (flexible PVC sheet) over it. After trimming, I lightly scuffed the surface of the factory OEM dead pedal and adhered the pedal extension with industrial grade Scotch fastener (like super strong Velcro). I drove home with my new modified dead pedal in place. It made a HUGE difference in the way that I felt connected to the car. =)

 

Man, that looks real good Jeff!

Funny... I didn't like the look of the wood that I ended up with either - so I stretched a piece of an old bicycle tube over my block. That gave it a nice smooth look on the sides.

Very nice.

 

Did GordoCat's modification and it works great. Used 1/2" black sprinkler riser and cut 1/4" bolts down to the length I wanted (I'm 5'11'' and cut the bolts to 3-3/4"). Not perfect fit in an 8mm thread but, it holds well. Cost of modification - $2.12, place to put my foot - priceless. Photos below

 

^^

Geez, what was Jaguar thinking? That's enough space for a mini-toolkit!

Jeff?

 

DaveC,

I like the look of your fix. Are there any issues with side to side movement? I may have to go longer with mine (not 5' 11'') and am concerned about it wobbling or even snapping off if I put weight on it in the corners.

 

If I were to go farther out I would use a larger plastic pipe(see Gordocatcar in this thread). Then it would go over the part that sets into the carpet. When I have my foot on it the pressure goes to the outside of the car and it is quite stable. For the cost of materials a little experimentation wouldn't hurt.
Dave

 

Too true: I was actually thinking it would be a great place to hide a small gun, or maybe the pack of cigarettes the wife/husband doesn't know about.

OK. Now it's up to some entrepreneur type with way too much time on his hands to design not only the foot rest fix, but also the custom fit, leather luggage piece (Jaguar embossed, of course) to go along with it.

 

It was in that space that they hid the miniature missiles that came out of the door on the evil Zao's XKR on the Bond movie "Die Another Day!"

 

soo....I'm rather new to this game. You're saying that if I pull hard enough on the footrest that it will come off ? I would love to be able to extend it as well , and I'm 6'3" with a 35" inseam !!