[The Scifi Guy]

My project of adding factory fuel injection to my car is now at the stage where I need to come up with an idea for adding cable throttle to actuate the system. Charlie has suggested that I install a Lokar pedal and cable set up. He gave me a link to one, but I can't find it, so for now I'll have to go on guess work. I briefly looked at Lokar cable throttle set ups a few years back when I was starting with my side draft carb projects, so I'm somewhat familiar with them.

The problem for me is that I LIKE the GT gas pedal. It's been my friend for 40 years. I also have an auto tranny kick down cable that needs attaching somewhere. I also like the added bling of my stainless steel throttle linkage. If I remove the pedal and the linkage I'll have to mod away where the pedal goes through the firewall and throw the entire linkage system on the parts shelf. The arm that sticks out from the firewall to support the linkage near the pedal will also become useless. Charlie says that the oem pedal gets removed and the Lokar pedal assembly gets screwed to the floor boards, then I have to make a "pseudo firewall" to act as a cable housing stop.

This sounds dreadful.

Sure, it's easy enough to do, but I don't want to get rid of all the oem pedal stuff.

The only method I know of to attach cable throttle to the oem linkage is to weld a lever to the driver's side front-to-rear rod. Here's some pictures I took years ago when I was experimenting with modding the linkage for cable throttle. Something like this was suggested to me by OGTS and has been used by a number of people:

I can't weld, so I found a side draft actuating lever that I could clamp to the front-to-rear rod. I also experimented with reversing the rotation of that rod by having the vertical rod coming from the gas pedal attach from the engine side, instead of the opposite side it normally goes to. You normally weld the cable pulling lever to the front-to-rear rod so that it sticks out on the engine side of the rod. I didn't like that, so that's why I reversed things. This pic shows the result:

It actually worked just fine, but clamping, not welding, on the lever turned out not to work. No matter how tight I made it, it would eventually spin on the rod shaft. It needed to be welded on and stronger metal used. It was a one day project. A little more time and effort spent on it and it would have worked out just dandy. I could keep my kick down cable attached to the oem gas pedal arm and the project would have been done.

I will start off trying to replicate and refine this idea, unless you guys can give me some better alternatives.

Norbert, how has your friend made the cable throttle work for you and how did you keep the kick down cable working?


I welcome any ideas and advice you guys can give me, as well as, your experience with cable throttle set ups you have installed on your GT's.

:veryhappy

 

[krewzer]

You could try to grind a flat spot on the shaft, to keep the clamp from rotating.

Wes

 

[Manta Rallier]

Those particular clamp-on type levers never have worked with any level of return spring force, not now and not 40 years ago when I tried some for dual Webers LOL. Try some parts like these:
Throttle Linkage | Hilborn Fuel Injection

Google for 'throttle shaft arms' for more choices.

I have used Lokar stuff in another app; pretty decent stuff, but the clamping action can be a bit dodgey at times so not not perfect by any means. I'd try to use the stock pedal and cable too and focus more on the other parts.

 

[Commodåren]

What about using a 22E throttle body from an automatic equipped Rekord E, then you would have a connection for the kick-down cable ? The throttle switch must of course be changed to a potentiometer from a C24NE. It should be possible to use a modified Rekord E throttle cable too, maybe it is possible to build a bracket on the firewall and connect the cable straight to the pedal ?

 

[The Scifi Guy]

Bruce Butler posted on Facebook how he made a cable throttle for his V6 install. In essence, he basically chopped off the gas pedal lever above the pivot, pulled the top part out of the engine compartment and through the firewall, and rewelded it back on so that the pedal lever was now L-shaped. He then ran the cable through the firewall and attached it to the rewelded on top part of the lever(His weld and pivot was actually more complex and he created a new pivot and offset the upper lever, so that the cable entered the firewall much farther to the left):

I went out and checked the feasibility of this idea and didn't even get off the ground. My power steering unit is in the way. I can't even see the oem pivot nor any of the upper part of the pedal arm and the power steering is so close to that area that I don't even know if I could remove the old gas pedal assembly at all. I would have to remove the entire power steering unit just to access the area.

Uhhh.....yeah.....I'm not going to do that.

If I can't get the pedal out without going nuclear, that also means that putting a Lokar pedal and cable in would also be a nightmare.

:sigh:

 

[The Scifi Guy]

So, altering the existing pedal arm would be a lot of work and I may not have clearance for it to work, and even just removing the pedal would be really hard, and running any sort of cable into my footwell would be really hard, which would make a Lokar pedal and cable kit hard to install. So, the easier path to follow at this point is the old lever welded to the linkage rod idea. I went down into my parts stash and retrieved my stainless linkage, the linkage from 5 years ago that I modded, and a round cable puller that can be mounted to a shaft.

Apparently I had finished the lever-on-the-rod mod and had it welded to the rod. I could totally wrap this up right now by making a cable housing stop bracket above the linkage similar to what I had made before. I could retain my pedal and connect it to the rusty rod, make a bracket, run the cable, and done.

But it's not chromy. So why not redo the mod to my stainless linkage?

Ah, but wait, I have another trick up my sleeve: I have a round cable puller that can be attached to a shaft. I had bought a chromed Weber side draft that was originally made for a Harley Davidson motorcycle. It came with a round cable throttle puller mounted to the throttle shaft. I could mod the stainless front-to-rear rod like I modded my old one and have the round cable throttle puller welded to the rod where the lever would go. Better yet, I can use my old modded linkage to mock up the idea and test to see if it pulls enough cable, get the position right, etc.

This isn't wackadoodle. My neighbor said that his Honda uses a round cable throttle actuator:

It looks to be virtually the same size. Using a round cable puller would be easier on the cable, using a lever creates cable angle and wear issues. I can rough out this idea and drill the round puller to slide over the shaft, but I really should wait until I have the FI set up on my engine to see if the throw of the pedal and the diameter of the puller are adequate to give me full range of throttle movement. I might even get lucky and be able to use a standard Manta throttle cable assembly to get it all working. I have no idea what the cable assembly for a Motronic equipped car looks like. One thing is for sure: I'll only need a couple feet of throttle cable. Throttle cable is basically bicycle brake cable and the cable tension adjusters, housing, etc. can be easily obtained from bicycle and motorcycle shops.

 

[The Scifi Guy]

Those particular clamp-on type levers never have worked with any level of return spring force, not now and not 40 years ago when I tried some for dual Webers LOL. Try some parts like these:
Throttle Linkage | Hilborn Fuel Injection

Google for 'throttle shaft arms' for more choices.

I have used Lokar stuff in another app; pretty decent stuff, but the clamping action can be a bit dodgey at times so not not perfect by any means. I'd try to use the stock pedal and cable too and focus more on the other parts.

Good ideas there and they give me options if the round puller doesn't work out!

:veryhappy

 

[The Scifi Guy]

What about using a 22E throttle body from an automatic equipped Rekord E, then you would have a connection for the kick-down cable ? The throttle switch must of course be changed to a potentiometer from a C24NE. It should be possible to use a modified Rekord E throttle cable too, maybe it is possible to build a bracket on the firewall and connect the cable straight to the pedal ?

We don't have those cars over here for me to check out whether that would work. I WOULD like to see what one of those cables looks like from end to end.

:veryhappy

 

[Commodåren]

Here are a couple of pics of a 22E throttle body.
Throttle body with throttle cable. Unfortunately it's a manual car so there is no kick-down cable bracket.
Throttle switch.

 

[norbertone.gt371 (R.I.P.)]

I will start off trying to replicate and refine this idea, unless you guys can give me some better alternatives.

Norbert, how has your friend made the cable throttle work for you and how did you keep the kick down cable working?


I welcome any ideas and advice you guys can give me, as well as, your experience with cable throttle set ups you have installed on your GT's.

:veryhappy

Gordon
I will show you the new throttle cable when he have done.I only know that he go the old way with the kick down cable.
The Rekord one will not fit in length,so I must buy a brand new one in GT style and use all oöd brackets..

Norbert

 

[First opel 1981]

You already have everything you need to attach a cable throttle. You just need to think outside the box.

Look at your auto tranny kickdown cable and go from there.

 

[The Scifi Guy]

You already have everything you need to attach a cable throttle. You just need to think outside the box.

Look at your auto tranny kickdown cable and go from there.

I think you're suggesting that I route the cable under the engine and have it approach the pedal from below rather than from the top. Heliman also uses this technique. It's a very doable approach. However, leftover from my bicycle repairman days, I have an aversion to routing cable housings in a downwards looping fashion. Water and/or condensation can trickle down inside a cable housing routed like that and pool up and cause rust. Is this likely to happen with my garage queen show car? Probably not, but it's a concern to be aware of. Heliman hasn't reported any problems. I'll need to have the FI stuff on the engine and then observe the flow of things and ponder other possibilities. I hadn't even considered the bottom approach, thanks for bringing that option to my attention!

:veryhappy

 

[First opel 1981]

I think you're suggesting that I route the cable under the engine and have it approach the pedal from below rather than from the top. Heliman also uses this technique. It's a very doable approach. However, leftover from my bicycle repairman days, I have an aversion to routing cable housings in a downwards looping fashion. Water and/or condensation can trickle down inside a cable housing routed like that and pool up and cause rust. Is this likely to happen with my garage queen show car? Probably not, but it's a concern to be aware of. Heliman hasn't reported any problems. I'll need to have the FI stuff on the engine and then observe the flow of things and ponder other possibilities. I hadn't even considered the bottom approach, thanks for bringing that option to my attention!

:veryhappy

I'm going the bottom route in my build. With generous silicon grease and stainless components, it should be fine

 

[itb gt]

Linkage

On the crazy side, fly by wire ?

 

[heliman]

I've been running my downward cable for close to 10 years with zero problems. Lokar stainless cables aren't prone to rusting, so unless you are continuously dowsing your engine compartment in water I don't see any chance of problems.

 

[The Scifi Guy]

On the crazy side, fly by wire ?

Yup, that's crazy!

:lmao:

 

[The Scifi Guy]

I've been running my downward cable for close to 10 years with zero problems. Lokar stainless cables aren't prone to rusting, so unless you are continuously dowsing your engine compartment in water I don't see any chance of problems.

I'm sure you're right. The kickdown cable also dips down and they don't seem to rust either. Nope, no regular fire hosing of the engine compartment, only once in the Spring when I pull the car out of hibernation to get the dust and spider webs off of it. I only get caught in a rain storm 2-3 times a year.

Where the cable enters the FI assembly will determine if I choose to consider the "under route". If it enters from the front, then it's a strong possibility. If from the rear, as I presume, then not so likely. I don't want to come anywhere near the exhaust with the cable housing. The kickdown cable doesn't do schitt, I'm sure that I almost never floor it hard enough to actuate the kickdown. Usually the vacuum modulator on the tranny will initiate a kickdown before full throttle. The kick down cables are adjusted so that they don't do anything until you're at full throttle. I could reutilize the bracket on the engine crossmember vertical tower to mount the under-routed throttle cable if I choose to.

I admit to an inordinant liking of the wheel-on-the-rod cable-from-the-top method simply because it looks quirky and interesting and let's me use some of my otherwise useless chromy linkage.

This would all be easy stuff to play with after the install and I could try each method over time to see how they perform and look.

:veryhappy:veryhappy:veryhappy

 

[First opel 1981]

Keep in mind that the throttle body can be installed 4 different orientations. The bolt pattern is square.

 

[The Scifi Guy]

Really? I had no idea that was possible. Good!

:veryhappy

 

[The Scifi Guy]

Custom length throttle cables

Charlie tells me that the cable can only enter from the rear on this Opel set up. No problem, I'll figure something out. For a quick and dirty get-it-drivable set up, I'll disconnect the kickdown cable and use the bracket on the engine crossmember motor mount tower to anchor a throttle cable from the bottom set up. The fork on the bracket is actually pretty big and I might be able to put both the kickdown AND the throttle cable on it. It ain't rocket science, I could make another L-bracket that accommodates both cables.


Which brings me to the subject of this post: How to make custom length throttle cables. Or any cable that has to be a specific length with a specific length cable housing and screw adjusters, springs, and other widgets and whatnots on it, and has a specially shaped barrel, mushroom, ball, etc. on each end.

I've worked on bicycles in shops and at home for 50 years and I always wondered how I could put my own barrels, mushrooms, balls, etc. on a cable and have it stand the test of time and torture. I tried using electrical solder one time, but it's too soft and malleable and deforms and pulls off. When I was messing with dual carbs and the Mangoletsi gizmo I had bought or used the kind of cable end that's basically a little barrel of metal with a 1/16" hole for the cable to slide through with a screw sticking out one end of the barrel to screw in and pinch and hold the cable. These work but they can fray or sever the cable wires and the cable can slip out. The bicycle industry has various types of basically bolts with 1/16" holes drilled in the side that work the same way when a nut is tightened on them. But I want to put my own proper lead or something tip on the end of a cable that will stay on real good and is the right shape for what I need it to pull.

So this time I figured I would look at YouTube for How to Make a Throttle Cable with Double Ends. That was my search parameter and these were some of the top choices to come up. They range from really good methods and a kit that Revival Cycles makes and sells, including a stainless braided cable housing kit(Chromy!), to backwoods methods like melting a bullet. Here's a few of those:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SBOwdoWWEA

https://shop.revivalcycles.com/revival-cycles-signature-universal-throttle-cable-kit/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysd8JkWclmc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZYf92x-beQ


Has anyone made their own custom cable ends?

:thinking: