Fixed my squeaky throttle linkage!

[Eric H]

I've asked here and looked at my Bentley and Hayne's manuals, but I didn't come up with much detailed info on my throttle linkage, which was squeaking in the tunnel someplace. This weekend I had at it and here's what I learned. The linkage is a thin metal rod (~2mm) that goes through the center tunnel until it reaches the back seats, at which point it goes outside and is accessible from underneath the car. Inside the tunnel there are at least 3 plastic (?) bushings that lightly guide the linkage. You can access the linkage from the panel in the floor in back (easy), through the hole under the shifter (harder) or the hole under the heater controls (hardest). I'm pretty sure the squeaking was coming from one or more of the plastic guides but it was hard to tell where as the sqeaking seemed to move and depend on what holes in the tunnel I had open. Somehow by poking around in there and moving or cleaning the linkage I fixed it. I didn't lubricate it since I thought it might just attract dirt. My gas pedal now moves freely and quietly. Hopefully the problem won't come back! The only questionable thing was when I put the shifter plate assembly back in I hadn't marked where it was so I had to guess. Anybody know how critical this positioning is, or how to position it?
Anyway, I hope this is useful to somebody someday... Eric H 87 Targa