Throttle cable replacement.

[JB455]

My '85 Excel broke the little knob off the carb end last fall during a track day at Lime Rock. I was able to cobble together a temporary fix to continue on with my day. That cobble job is still there (and working fine) but it's time to do a proper repair. I finally got a replacement cable sent over from SJ and just climbed under the dash to take a look at the pedal end of things... It looks to connect in just about the tightest piece of real estate on the entire car! I can't even see up to where it connects. I did get my hand on it, but not enough to actually do anything. Does the gauge pod need to come off to get access from above? If so what needs to come out to accomplish this?

[bash]

Easiest thing to do is cut a hole over the top of the pedal, many of us have done it and it makes the job easy. Mine has an aluminium closer plate over it, glued and screwed, and you cannot tell its there when covered by the trim.
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Bash
Ps, Ive had a cycle brake cable gor the throttle for a while now.

[JB455]

Well that would certainly make it easier! My already hurting back certainly likes that idea vs. squeezing under the dash! I suppose I could epoxy a heavy gauge aluminum sheet back over the hole to ease any fears of having weakened the structure. How big can the hole be before I hit anything that I shouldn't?

A cycle cable is fancy stuff! My cable is bodged to the carb linkage with a door limiter chain (from the Lime Rock Park facilities maintenance garage) and a cable stop from the ventilation system of a friends Europa.

[bash]

I like that, put it in a frame on your garage wall as wall art when you take it off.
If you look at this link it will give you more of a clue. It doesn't need glassing back up either mines been like that for about 15 years with no cracking or ill effects. It has come in handy more than once
Bash
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=12355

[Alan_M]

A possible alternative is to remove the metal plate the cable goes through. The only problem is some of the rivets that need to be drilled out are behind the brake servo, so you won’t be able to get a drill bit onto them. I did it this way, but already had the brake servo off the car. With the plate removed it’s very easy to unhook the cable.