Accelerator pedal removal

Having successfully navigated a (to me) major project yesterday, getting the shifting/steering out, I'm feeling more confident. Today I'm tackling something far easier, the removal of the accelerator pedal.

First off is the push rod, which attaches to the right end of the control lever, spun when pressing the accelerator pedal. The other end of the push rod attached to the engine - I assume to the carburetors - and since the carbs were removed a good while back, this end of the push rod was already free.

I popped the push rod off a few days ago, and neglected to take any photos at the time. Basically it entailed working the rubber damper ring off from over a button bolt - just took a few minutes of effort but it came off eventually.

Next up is the return spring. I had tried to detach this part prior to tackling the shifting/steering, and found I could not get the top end of the spring out from the return spring lever - the end of the spring was curved too much, I couldn't get a good enough grip on the spring to lift it up and over to sneak the curved end out of the hole.

But now, with the bearing body out of the way, I can easily reach down to the bottom of the spring, and that end comes away far easier.

Next out is the bolt holding the return spring lever to the end of the accelerator pedal.

The next task is to remove a retaining ring on the end of the control lever. This is another one of those parts that requires a tool with a pair of small posts, to insert into the round holes and to open the ring up enough that it can be removed. At this point I figured I would be better off getting my own tool, instead of depending on neighbors being around to loan me theirs, so I cruised by Lowe's while out for lunch and got what I needed.

I found that the retaining ring on the right side of the control lever was in a very odd position - the gap side of it was towards the firewall. How did that ring get put on in that position, I wondered? But now, taking a closer look at the service manual job info, it said to pull the retaining ring off the left side. I'll have to go look at the removed parts and see if, indeed, the ring is in a more easily accessable position on that end of the control shaft, and it needs to be removed anyway. Oddly the removal job info doesn't show a retaining ring on the right end, so I suppose that was an easy mistake to make.

Eventually I did loosen the right-side ring enough that I could slide it around and get a better purchase on it, and it came off with some tugging.

Now that the ring is off, I could then unbolt the right side bearing that the control shaft mounts within, and slide the control shaft out of the left bearing and out of the end of the accelerator panel. The left bearing comes out the same way as the right, just two 10mm bolts to remove.

Accelerator pedal conquered! I'm considering getting the brake and clutch pedals out next, but I need to make sure they can come out at this point, or whether other disassembly is required first.