Malwood underdash hydraulic kit for A-Bodies

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DionR

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I just found this also. It's kinda spendy considering you have to buy the hydraulic bearing also. However takes all guess work out of the pedal geometry.
 
I just found this also. It's kinda spendy considering you have to buy the hydraulic bearing also. However takes all guess work out of the pedal geometry.

And everything is mounted under the dash. No beating in your inner fender to clear the cylinder and drilling holes to mount something to the firewall.

My only question would be; what if the MC size isn't right to match the slave? Can't tell it it can be swapped for a different one or if there is only one MC that fits.
 
I just found this also. It's kinda spendy considering you have to buy the hydraulic bearing also. However takes all guess work out of the pedal geometry.
it's really not that bad considering the master is 200 by itself, then add in a reservoir and the line and hardware for another 200-ish.

and if you had to source a pedal set it'd be what? 300 bux or so? then the hydro stuff.

as you mentioned the guess work is gone, supplies the pedal and everything bolts up under dash all neat and tidy.

if i was going in that direction it'd be a no brainer.
 
And everything is mounted under the dash. No beating in your inner fender to clear the cylinder and drilling holes to mount something to the firewall.

My only question would be; what if the MC size isn't right to match the slave? Can't tell it it can be swapped for a different one or if there is only one MC that fits.

It says it's a 3/4 bore supposed to a common size. I'd just ask the bearing company
 
It looks nice, but I cannot figure why anyone would want "ALL THAT" under the dash.
 
Not a bad setup, I just finished my swap to a hydraulic bearing. Finding a spot for the master was the hardest part, something that mounts under dash would be ideal for packaging. I looked at going that route with a Wilwood setup, it was considerably cheaper, but didn't include made to fit mounting brackets.
 
Not a bad setup, I just finished my swap to a hydraulic bearing. Finding a spot for the master was the hardest part, something that mounts under dash would be ideal for packaging. I looked at going that route with a Wilwood setup, it was considerably cheaper, but didn't include made to fit mounting brackets.

Wilwood makes an underdash setup?
 
It looks nice, but I cannot figure why anyone would want "ALL THAT" under the dash.

Depending on your set up there isn’t all that much real estate to mount it on the other side of the firewall either. If you go straight through you have to blast a pretty large hole in the firewall, and it’s not actually straight through you have to offset the pushrod from the clutch pedal to get it far enough away from the brake MC to get at it. If you use the clutch rod hole the angle puts most MC’s very close to interfering with the frame rail down in the corner between the inner fender, frame and firewall. That set up would keep it all contained, and be a cleaner solution for all of those clearance issues.
 
Depending on your set up there isn’t all that much real estate to mount it on the other side of the firewall either. If you go straight through you have to blast a pretty large hole in the firewall, and it’s not actually straight through you have to offset the pushrod from the clutch pedal to get it far enough away from the brake MC to get at it. If you use the clutch rod hole the angle puts most MC’s very close to interfering with the frame rail down in the corner between the inner fender, frame and firewall. That set up would keep it all contained, and be a cleaner solution for all of those clearance issues.
Ifin you say so. There's room for factory stuff.
 
Ifin you say so. There's room for factory stuff.

Having mounted the clutch MC on the firewall of my own car, there’s less room than you think. The firewall is not flat for a large area, there’s the indent for the brake MC, a stiffening rib, the emergency brake cable, etc all in that area. Plus you need to make a bracket to hold the clutch MC back there to go straight through.

Here’s where you have space to put it

IMG_4741.jpeg

Here’s the bracket so it mounts flat and toes into the pedal box…
IMG_4742.jpeg


And here’s all the space you get on the other side
IMG_4743.jpeg

Easy right?

For the other style, the factory push rod goes down at a steep angle, and mounted in that location the clutch MC rapidly runs out of real estate. That’s what the other hydraulic clutch kits do, but they’re also limited to a couple of different MC’s that are short enough.

Here’s the American Powertrain unit, you can see with a 90° on the line this will be very tight
IMG_4744.jpeg


And here’s one a member here designed. Better than the AP one but still tight.
IMG_4745.jpeg

Link to the FABO one

Clutch Master Cylinder Mounting

It ain’t as easy as it seems when you start doing it.
 
Having mounted the clutch MC on the firewall of my own car, there’s less room than you think. The firewall is not flat for a large area, there’s the indent for the brake MC, a stiffening rib, the emergency brake cable, etc all in that area. Plus you need to make a bracket to hold the clutch MC back there to go straight through.

And here’s all the space you get on the other side
View attachment 1716097469
Easy right?


That's how I mounted mine too. I ended up welding a ~1.5" threaded spacer to the outboard side of the clutch pedal arm
I have the pushrod mounted to that so it's a straight shot into the master. It would be nicer if the firewall was flat there, I'm gonna fab up some spacer someday to even out that area. Definitely not easy to package. The under dash setup would be easier, if there was a good way to mount the actual pedal. I tried the angle mount to use the factory linkage hole, but my headers were in the way.
 
That's how I mounted mine too. I ended up welding a ~1.5" threaded spacer to the outboard side of the clutch pedal arm
I have the pushrod mounted to that so it's a straight shot into the master. It would be nicer if the firewall was flat there, I'm gonna fab up some spacer someday to even out that area. Definitely not easy to package. The under dash setup would be easier, if there was a good way to mount the actual pedal. I tried the angle mount to use the factory linkage hole, but my headers were in the way.

Yeah I run a similar spacer between the clutch pedal and the pushrod. I bought the aluminum bracket in the link I posted for a future upgrade with a remote reservoir. My current set up works ok but I want to lose the spacer and run a better MC anyway. And weld up the hole in the firewall.
 
Having mounted the clutch MC on the firewall of my own car, there’s less room than you think. The firewall is not flat for a large area, there’s the indent for the brake MC, a stiffening rib, the emergency brake cable, etc all in that area. Plus you need to make a bracket to hold the clutch MC back there to go straight through.

Here’s where you have space to put it

View attachment 1716097468
Here’s the bracket so it mounts flat and toes into the pedal box…
View attachment 1716097470

And here’s all the space you get on the other side
View attachment 1716097469
Easy right?

For the other style, the factory push rod goes down at a steep angle, and mounted in that location the clutch MC rapidly runs out of real estate. That’s what the other hydraulic clutch kits do, but they’re also limited to a couple of different MC’s that are short enough.

Here’s the American Powertrain unit, you can see with a 90° on the line this will be very tight
View attachment 1716097471

And here’s one a member here designed. Better than the AP one but still tight.
View attachment 1716097472
Link to the FABO one

Clutch Master Cylinder Mounting

It ain’t as easy as it seems when you start doing it.
You do some nice work!
 
To be fair, it should be pointed out that @Boony405hp and @Dragger40 both were able to mount a late model Challenger MC under the dash, similar to this kit.


For my build, I need a clutch switch. And the Challenger one has it integrated, which is nice.
 
Just to follow up on this, my brother mounted his Malwood kit and found that the stock under dash e-brake setup no longer fits. The MC interferes with it.

He is going to an electric actuated e-brake rather than a hand pull setup. But maybe not for everyone so thought I would make it known.
 
Just to follow up on this, my brother mounted his Malwood kit and found that the stock under dash e-brake setup no longer fits. The MC interferes with it.

He is going to an electric actuated e-brake rather than a hand pull setup. But maybe not for everyone so thought I would make it known.
That is good to know, I was just about to pull the trigger on this setup. That was not made known to me, and is certainly a game changer. Thanks for the info.

I am going to reach out to Ross at Malwood for verification.
 
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