Throttle Cable and cooling

AaronM · 07-13-2002, 07:04 PM

Today while "making a little adjustment" to tighten down my throttle cable (mistook the adjustment procedure as being the same as for my Honda) I snapped the threaded end off at the cable anchor by the venturi (1976 D-Jet). The car had a spare throttle cable in the front trunk when I bought it so after about three hours of playing with rust releasers and hacksaws and vice-grips (not to mention removing the $#&^%@ floorboard) I got the old cable out and the spare (brand new) cable in. Guess what, while tightening the anchor point at the venturi I again snapped the pot-metal threaded portion off the cable. There were just enough threads left for me to anchor it temporarily, but I'd like to know if this is a known weak point (ie. finger tight and no more) or if there is a specific replacement cable with something other than junk metal on the ends. I'm going to check Pelican, but I was wondering if anyone here has had the same problem and knows of a stronger cable.

Also, I've finally gotten the warm air guides on my car. (PO had removed them.) However, the car still runs a little warm. My cooling system checks out so I'm thinking I might adjust my FI to run a little richer by tweaking what the Haynes manual calls the "potentiometer" (sp?). This is also known as the little screw thingy on the D-Jet "brain". I figure I'll move it one notch at a time and test each time, keeping track of the total number of notches turned and in which direction. To me, that sounds safe. Anything sound bad with my idea to you guys? Thanks much.

Aaron

1976 White 2.0 w/ D-Jet

mejulihn · mejulihn's Garage

Aaron,
The adjustment knob on the ECU only changes the fuel mixture at idle, so this will not richen the mixture at normal rpm's. It is not unusual for the later 914's to run warmer than normal. I have added an external oil cooler to my '76 to help deal with this problem.

John Rogers · 07-13-2002, 10:03 PM

If you are talking about the short threaded end on the outer cable, I wouldn't worry about it. The cable is that way on both our stock 1974 2l and my race car. The small amount of slack in the cable keeps it lined up with the bracket so the cable will be okay. A couple of things to check, make sure the spring on the throttle body arm is in good shape or use 2, make sure the stop on the floor board is what stops the pedal and make sure the butterfly opens wide when the pedal hits the stop. Good luck.

AaronM · 07-14-2002, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by john rogers
If you are talking about the short threaded end on the outer cable, I wouldn't worry about it. The cable is that way on both our stock 1974 2l and my race car. The small amount of slack in the cable keeps it lined up with the bracket so the cable will be okay. A couple of things to check, make sure the spring on the throttle body arm is in good shape or use 2, make sure the stop on the floor board is what stops the pedal and make sure the butterfly opens wide when the pedal hits the stop. Good luck.

That's exactly the part of the cable I mean, but there's more than enough slack in both cables on my car. Unless I have the cable anchored to the bracket at the venturi I have zero effect from the accelerator. To be fair though, your idea was my first thought when the threads snapped too. Maybe I'll just pick up some JB Weld to hold it in place.

And thanks mejulihn for the info about the ECU adjustment knob. Looks like I'll be trusting the Mobil One to deal with the heat. I'm actually more worried about cracking a cylinder head from the heat than I am about the oil, which was why I was looking at something to bring the engine temperature down directly rather than something to cool the oil down more. (I know that cooler oil will cool the engine, was just looking for a more direct method.)

Aaron

Mike Kunz · Mike Kunz's Garage

Talk about coincidence...the same thing happened to me in the last two weeks...5 minutes before completing the job, fishing that sucker through, etc., the cable breaks when I overtightened it.

Buy the reinforced one...got one from Tweeks (sorry Pelican) and it's a major improvement! If you have enough thread left on the old one...you could use it, but you could end up with no throttle in the middle of no where....there's always the shoe lace solution though (ask me why I know!)

Good luck!

Mike