Easy Pedal Mods for Nitwits (Like Me)
by: Scott Deeter
ISRA#: 0527

Like everyone else who haunts the hallowed halls of ISRA, I've got a serious case of the C.L.A.P.P. But like most other folks (though not all), I'm on a capital, "B," Budget, so I've got to choose the mods I make, wisely, which was hard, since I spent a good portion of my first, "real," winter, sitting in my garage, chain-smoking, while staring at my dormant, gorgeous Road Star, fantasizing over what chrome baubles I wanted to hang on her and contemplating what performance modifications demanded to be installed. Of course very few of these pipe- dreams will ever come to fruition any time soon, but every now and then, I get some inspiration (usually from other ISRA members, in this case, Tony Orihuela) and can actually afford them.

Diagram of the ISO Brake Pedal

All of the pondering led me to this relatively simple and comparatively inexpensive modification to the brake pedal and shift pegs on my Road Star. The pedals themselves are part of the Kuryakyn ISO line of controls: the brake pedal being the, "ISO Longhorn Brake Pedal," p/n: 8044 for $23.95 USD and the shift pegs are the, "Standard ISO Shift Pegs," p/n: 8004 for $10.95 USD (qty: 2 for heel-toe shifter).

The Brake Pedal was the easiest to modify. The stock brake pedal is actually a steel plate that is covered by a thick rubber pad. Just looking at the back of the ISO Brake pedal tells all about how you should go about mounting it. The ISO pedal is tombstone-shaped with rubber padded stripes on the front side, and a rectangular recess on the back side. That rectangular recess is what you must reshape the existing brake pedal to fit. All you'll need to do this is a Dremel Tool, a heavy-duty cutting wheel, and about a half-an-hour to wait while the Dremel takes its sweet time to cut through the pedal. Just be sure to heed your 9th Grade Shop teacher's warning and measure twice before you cut.

Shortened Stock Pedal w/ Kuryakyn ISO

Once you've cut the pedal down to size, you will need to drill a hole through it. Take the ISO pedal and set it atop the brake pedal and seat it flush against the top left-hand corner. Then take a magic marker and mark the brake bedal through the screw hole on the ISO pedal so you will know where to drill. Remove the ISO pedal and drill through the marker spot; you won't need to tap the hole or anything, so just a general estimation for the bit size will do.

Now that the pedal is cut and the hole is drilled, you can do one of two things: bolt that sucker on and call it done, or be really anal-retentive (like me) and cover the newly cut edges with some kind of protectant. In my case, I used Goop automotive adhesive, to serve two purposes. One, to make sure that my newly cut/drilled edges didn't rust and Two, I applied it to the top of the stock brake pedal to ensure that the ISO pedal didn't rotate around the single mounting- point screw. Once you've done this and bolted the ISO pedal onto the stock pedal, all that's left to do at this point is take the loose rubber stripe, peel the backing off the adhesive, and place it in the socket that covers the mounting screw. Now you're finished and your brake pedal is looking shinier (and better) than ever!

Finished Brake Peda

Here comes the tricky part: the Shifter Arm. The shifter arms on all of the Stars come with the shift pegs permanently affixed to the arms, so that means if you want to add aftermarket shift pegs, you're going to have to cut those boogers off and drill and tap what's left. It sounds difficult, but if you follow my lead, you should be ok.

My lead in this instance is to know what you want done to the shifter assembly, be able to describe what you want done to the shifter assembly, then take said shifter assembly down to a competent machinists, describe what you want done, pay the ten or so bucks, and save yourself the trouble of possibly creating what could be a fairly expensive mistake.

Shift Pegs: The Finished Product

But, it really shouldn't be too difficult to do on your own, as long as you have the right tools for the job. In this instance, the right tools would be a hacksaw or Dremel Tool, a drill press (to drill a reliable 90-degree hole) and a tap and die set. All that really needs to be done is a) cut off the shift peg(s), b) grind down the area(s) on the shifter arm where the peg(s) used to be so that it's smooth to the touch, c) measure the bolts that come with the ISO shift pegs, then d) drill & tap a hole(s) to spec into the shift arm. It's pretty simple (in theory), but since I don't own a bench grinder, nor a drill press, I felt it was best left to someone who did.

Once you've completed this step, then it's a simple matter of adding some Loctite to the bolts and screwing those puppies into place. And viola, you've successfully added a nice touch to your foot controls, and all without breaking the bank.