Dear Ferraristi, You said it Steve...those cables always break at the nut. I've gone through 3 front cables and 4 rear cables. It's exactly what you say. When you pull up, it kinks the cable right at the crimped on lug. I really want a better solution than to keep paying $100.00 per cable which is just a $5.00 bicycle cable. I just can't find the proper eye-lug end. Shamile Freeze....Miami Vice!
Mine broke a few weeks ago. I went to a motorcycle shop and had a guy solder a similar fitting on a small motorcycle cable. It was less than $20 to replace the cable. It took 5 minutes in his parking lot with just the tools in my car's tool kit. Easy fix. I just replaced the cable inside the cable housing and used the original cable housing without removing it.. It slide right through from the interior of the car out to the engine bay. Mine lasted 27 years. I am very gentle with the opening mechanism.
I am allways very gentle with the opening mechanism(s). And do install them like Steve mentionned. THAT all is the trick .... mine (year 1992) did not break yet after (my) 5 years of gentle use ...
61499200 (Just adding the F PN for the rear bonnet release cable so that I can find this thread again in less than a fortnight if the subject comes up again )
No argument -- it's a shame that one the vendors doesn't offer a "rebuild kit" with just the inner cable (and maybe some sort of end "protection" for the wire loop from rubbing on the thread crests) as you'd nearly never need to replace the outer sheath (nor want to hassle doing that even if you did buy 61499200 ).
I have been modifying the handles for a long time and seem to have really cut down on cable failures and broken handles as a result. The handle was adapted from the 308 where the cable runs straight away from it and not a sharp bend. It was a poor choice for the TR. GT Car parts does or did make some in aluminum and I have a couple of the prototypes. Paint the body black and you cannot tell the difference and they never break.
I remove the end cap of the outer cable so there is no sharp edge to saw on the cable. I enlarge the diameter of the recess for the outer cable so it can float around a bit to align better with the actual direction the cable is being pulled and let it also be slightly less of a very sharp bend. I also enlarge the hole the cable goes through because over the arc of travel of the handle the cable isn't centered to the hole and it saws a bit on the plastic.
