throttle pedal

I bought one of those cheap, I mean inexpensive speedway spoon throttle pedal assemblies. What a piece of....I mean it doesn't meet my needs.
So I've decided to build my own. A piece of 1/4 inch rod, bent in the right places, ad a couple pillow blocks, drill a couple holes, weld on a spoon, and I'll have it.
My question is do I need to temper it or harden it to keep it from bending and hold it's shape?
Any help or tips will be appreciated.

Depends on what you are making it out of. But to temper steel, you heat it to a yellow orange, I use a forge, then quench it in oil, (or water). The oil will burst into flames so be very careful. Use as little oil as you can to avoid a big fire. Water works as well. The heat should be steady for a long period of time. With the right forge, you could heat it for an hour, then quench it. After it cools all the way down to room temperature, reheat to a dark shade or orange just above the color of raw steel. then let it cool on it's own.

IMO 1/4 inch is too thin, it will bend when you stomp on it, especially with a couple of stiff springs on the carb. What SW one did you buy because I have used several of theirs that have the indexing notches on them and they work great and hold up well.

Here is the one we are using from SW. I have one on my 27, one on my Son's rpu, one on my other Son's T bucket, had one on my 23, and am now using one on my new rpu. Never had a problem with any of them.





http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-Hot-Rod-Pedal-Scalloped-Arm,1144.html



Don

I'm with Don on this one, my brother picked one up for his 34 Dodge and it works really nice. The problem we ran into.... the firewall was moving on us.

I ran a bell crank setup with an old racing go kart pedal attached to it. It is mounted to the steering col on a mount that we have stiffened up twice now. So I also agree with Don, there is no way 1/4 will hold, we started thicker than that thinking it was enough and it wasn't.

I'm confused as well....I bought one of those "SW" pedal assemblies for my Graham, and it was just fine. For the money? I think it's perfect....I would have screwed around for hours making up something from scratch.....and I don't have enough time to work on my car now! Lol.

IMO 1/4" is too light. Factory setups all seem to be at least 5/16", and stiff as hell. Tear into one with a hacksaw and see how you make out.....

I'm also using a SW style throttle pedal with no problems.
It also allows a lot more room than some others I've used and flexibility with the spline adjustment.
1/4" is too small as BillM said, 5/16" rod diameter will work fine.

OK. I'm convinced....kinda
I went to the local scrap yard and pulled one out of a f's jeep. Using a cable from a mid 70 cj5 6 cylinder. All seems to be working out now.
Thanx for all the input guys.

I made one from a old Lugwig bass drum peddle (Speed King) and the linkage from the 65 Malibu that I am working on for my 52. Works great and took about 20mins.