Quote:
Originally Posted by RHD
The RHD and LHD exhaust manifold clamp bolts are all the same. For RHD the trick is in the positioning of the bolts. There is only one possible satisfactory position where the clutch pedal arm will not interfere with the clamp and bolt, and the bolts can actually be tightened without the steering column getting in the way. That is why the RHD clutch pedal arm is an odd shape. As the exhaust heats up it expands and makes any initial clearance given even tighter. I have heard many a 'choice' word spoken while an owner is trying to fit his clamp in the right position, with someone in the driving seat pushing the clutch pedal down to see if everything misses. If it touches, it makes the clutch pedal hard to push down, and when driving it can sometimes expand and stick and stay down and has to be manually pulled up. It gets quite exciting I can tell you. Much honking of horns. The clamp also has to miss the rear end of the oil return pipe, which is next to impossible. Some cars clear by a whisker and some don't. To make matters even worse, you can't really change the position immediately after driving, as everything is hot so you have to wait until it cools down. Even more choice words. See the pic below. You LHD owners, don't know how lucky you are.
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There is an after market clamp available for RHD which is different from the LHD ones. It uses no nuts which makes fitting much easier (possible)
As for LHD owners being lucky, I think that is only because Ford didn't consider RHD when designing these cars, which they should have done if they were to sell them in RHD countries. Seems even in those days, there was no recognition in the US that RHD exists, yet it was henry who started the change from RHD to LHD in the US. Up till the Model T, all American cars were RHD.
This is one of several problems Ford designed into their cars which amount to just bad design.
