Disclaimer: These are not instructions to perform your own modification; if you do it in spite of this caution, I will not be held responsible if something bad happens.

My wife recently became the proud owner of her own Spyder, an F3 Ltd. For her to be comfortable, the floorboards are back in the number 1 position but the shortest brake link rod causes the brake pedal to be very high and uncomfortable to use. I looked at other solutions and decided to cut the rod, shorten it and weld it together.

The rod is actually a tube 1/2" OD and 1/4" ID. After cutting it in two pieces, I used various thicknesses of wood blocks to experiment with a comfortable pedal height. We found 1-3/4" between the bottom of the brake pedal and the top surface of the floorboard to be the best for her. That equated to cutting approximately 1" out of the brake link. I cut a piece of 1/4" steel rod slightly shorter than the remaining length of the brake link and inserted it into both pieces of the brake link. I could now temporarily reinstall the link on the Spyder so she could test for "panic stop" full depression of the pedal to ensure she did not run out of brake pedal throw (this was done while sitting in the garage, not on the road). I ground a bevel on each cut end of the link and used some "T" shaped steel pieces to keep the clevises aligned. The 1/4" rod inserted in the ID maintained linear alignment. I used my TIG welder to make the full penetration weld, ground the weld bead flush with the OD of the link, and sprayed it with gloss black.

My wife is now very comfortable with the brake pedal position and that's what matters!

H2O