From experience with the exact same problem I removed the rubber cover of the foot feed then ground off the end of the hinge pin, removed the pedal and silver soldered a thick piece of flat metal to the underside of the pedal being careful to leave just a tiny bit of clearance between the pedal and the starter button then finished up by finding a bolt to the same size as the hinge pin and re-assembling the foot feed. Worked for me from Jr, thru Senior high school years.
