A few weeks ago I had this thread about my pedal sticking: http://www.thebestemployee.com/forum/showthread.php?t=334898 Well, it gave out about a week and a half ago as I was giving a ride to a local policeman. Yeah, that wasnt too cool, but he understood. Fortunately, it happened when I was only about a half mile from my house. I let the car pull itself along in idle back to the house - I even went through all the gears no less!! LOL!!! Now the pedal is just floppy on the floor. So, I guess I need to get in there and fix it. My assumption would be that its the throttle cable is gone out/broken/disconnected. Anyone got any step by step instructions I can follow so I am not just guessing at what I am doing??? PDG
First, find out if it broke or just disconnected at one end. That happened to me once. The cable disconnected at the thottle pedal. If it broke near the thottle body / carbs, then tape a string to it and pull the cable out by the pedal. Then tape the string on to the new cable, lube the cable, and pull /push the new cable through. In any case, the new cable can be pushed through the tube starting at the pedal. Then it's a matter of connecting the ends and adjusting the slack out. Not a difficult job.
Everything looks to be ok at the throttle body (QV) so I can pretty safely assume its at the pedal. I will try to take another good look down in the footbox and see what I find. Maybe it just came loose, but I suspect its broken as that would be just my luck. Thanks for the suggestions!! PDG
Not sure about the QV cars but on my '77, the access to the pedal/cable connection is under the car. There is a small panel held on by about 6 screws that covers the linkage. I had to adjust my cable to get full throttle opening (probably due to stretch).
My car does not have a center console, but I think on a stock QV, there is a panel on the forward console that, when removed, gives you access to the pedal/cable connection. It is from there that you feed the new cable to the engine compartment. On the QV, most, if not all the adjustment is made where the cable passes through the intake manifold / runners and at the TB connection.
I did this last year and posted it here: http://ferrari101.com/forum/showthread.php?t=262409&page=12 pretty easy job once you get in there.
Excellent!!! I think thats pretty much exactly what I needed to see. I feel a LOT better about what I will be doing after seeing that. Thank you!!! PDG
I replaced the throttle cable on my gt4, it frayed badly at the pedal end and effectively became too long. Memory is fuzzy but I've got a replacement cable in my hands now, the non-removeable ends are too big to pass through the housing/sheathing. So at least on the gt4, there's no pushing it through from the pedal end, it has to be fed forward through the firewall. Or, I could be wrong. GF
You may be correct. It's been a few years since I replaced the cable. Either way, the procedure's the same, just now not sure which end to push / pull from. I'll check next time I get the car down from the lift.
So, I got out there and spent a little time with the car to see if I could figure the problem out. What I discovered: 1. The cable does NOT appear to be broken. 2. Both ends are attached and the cable moves freely. 3. There is slack in the cable between the pedal and the throttle body. 4. There is a tiny cotter pin at the very top of the end at the throttle body. It really doesnt seem to attach to anything or have any purpose at all. Maybe this is the source of all my problems though?? My deduction: If I can figure how to remove the slack from the cable everything should work properly and be just fine. So, I tried to figure how to disconnect the cable at the throttle body in order to pull it taut as suggested by both Pad and Guido Ferrari. When I undo the screw I see that the end should unscrew from inside the connector. However, when I try to rotate the cable itself to unscrew that piece it immediately springs back. My question is How do I do that properly?? Photos to follow. Thanks for any and all help!!! PDG Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Before anyone asks - Yes, I did clean out the fuzzies from the area around the pedal and I pushed that cotter pin back in. I did both AFTER taking the photos though, so there!! before anyone says anything about it. LOL!!!!! PDG
The slack is adjusted where the cable shield attaches to the intake manifold / runners. Follow the cable from where is leaves the engine firewall to where it comes up to the runners. At that junction, you will find the adjuster with a lock nut (see #7 in diagram). Loosen the lock nut (it may already be loose causing your problem), adjust the slack out of the cable, then tighten up the nut thereby locking the adjustment. Image Unavailable, Please Login
From your pictures there does not appear IMO to be enough thread at either end to take up enough slack. I suggest that you study the diagram and notice that perhaps the lever (item 10)/pedal (item 1) relationship (picture 1) has changed. It may have slipped and that was what you felt previously. It may be that the assembly needs to be taken apart at the pedal and sorted out.
Make sure that the cable housing is solidly attached to the body/frame at both ends. If one end of the sleeve can move then you can get the same symptoms you are seeing. My Pinto station wagon had the clutch cable housing come through the fire wall once due to a broken washer. Symptoms were exactly as a broken cable. Gerrit Former owner of 11966
New Follow Up: Finally after some miscommunications I got the new cable in from Superformance. Now the cable seems to be a bit short on either end. I have it about as loosely as I can get it but if I were to start the car right now the engine would "idle" extremely high because of the tension. Is it best to try to loosen it at the pedal at this point?? I only need about 3/4 inch to remove the unnecessary tension. Suggestions?? PDG
