Alternative throttle cable for roadster

[skullandbones]

Has anyone used a throttle cable other than the one supplied by FFR? I would like one that is more sturdy like the donor cable with an inline actuating spring. I'm doing a search on my on but have not found the perfect substitute, yet. If you have substituted one, what vehicle type, yr, etc did you use. Thanks in advance, WEK. :)

[riptide motorsport]

Lokar.

[edwardb]

X2 on Lokar. I used the Lokar TC1000U36 on mine. There are other lengths of this same cable type. Has a black polyethylene outer jacket and braided stainless cable. I've heard repeatedly to avoid the version of this cable with the stainless steel outer jacket. Looks a little nicer, but doesn't work as well.

[OCCPete]

I've got the Lokar cable with the braided stainless outer jacket - works great, haven't had any problems with it.

Pete

[Scott L]

Ditch the cable all together and build a mechanical linkage. Much more resistant to heat and dirt. Several "How-To's" on the other site...

[edwardb]

I've got the Lokar cable with the braided stainless outer jacket - works great, haven't had any problems with it. Pete

That's great. Lokar seems to make very high quality products, so I'm not surprised. I was only reporting what has been said on FFCars by a number of people not my own personal experience. I went with the black polyethylene outer jacket version, as said earlier.

Can't disagree with Scott L. The mechanical linkage approach is elegant and likely trouble free. For my next build ;)

[skullandbones]

Well, I am trying to get to my first real milestone of getting the engine started for the first time. I may leave the FFR cable in place for the purpose of saving time. It does work. It just seems fragile compared to the donor. I also like the Ford design because of the inline spring (elegant solution). On the other hand, I have always favored mechanical linkage when possible. I saw one that was very elegant. The roadster design tends to lend itself to this approach. Unlike many situations where there is one thing in the way that causes you to resort to a cable or hydrolic solutions.

I found one that may work from a F-150 last night but it is 49 inches long. I'm going to try it and if that doesn't work, I will keep looking for the right length between 45 and 48 inches, I think. The real test is the feel at the accelerator pedal. Right now it is just too soft which could be very dangerous.

Thanks, WEK.

[hd91lowrider]

I went with the Lokar stainless outer jacket. (LOK-TC-1000HT36). Looks and works great. Good luck

[rich grsc]

WEK, I have one of the older cables that FFR used to send in the kits. Think it was used on the Ford trucks, it has the return spring. If you are interested let me know.

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/Richschipp/IMG_1814.jpg (http://http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/Richschipp/IMG_1814.jpg)

[skullandbones]

rich grsc,
Sure I would be interested if you can tell me the yr and make of truck. I have been searching but so far the cables are like the one in the picture you showed but were too short. It needs to be 46 in to work with some room to keep it away from hot points in the engine bay. I just thought the FFR offering was kind of fragile looking. Who knows: maybe it would last forever. The main reason for the integral string is to keep the components such as extra return springs out of the equation. It has a very solid feel to it. So maybe you had a different setup where the cable could be shorter like a carb with the linkage on the driver's side. Since my throttle body is on the passenger side, it does require some extra length. Hope you have the answer. Thanks, WEK.

[Gumball]

Another vote here for mechanical linkage if you're going carb. Very easy to piece together - see my thread on this if you're interested.

[Scott Zackowski]

Gumball,

Is your thread on this forum?

SWZ

[riptide motorsport]

Gumballs linkage:

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?4539-Any-suggestions-on-length-of-gas-pedal-travel-with-mechanical-linkage

[GT-Tom]

Gumballs linkage:

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?4539-Any-suggestions-on-length-of-gas-pedal-travel-with-mechanical-linkage

Thanks for the link Riptide! Also planning on a mechanical linkage. Agree it's a more elegant solution than a throttle cable. Been stranded once by a broken cable.

Tom

[Lynnhowlyn]

Another vote here for mechanical linkage if you're going carb. Very easy to piece together - see my thread on this if you're interested.

Any reason why you suggest it "if you're going carb" and not for efi?

I'm doing a throttle body-style efi (the new MSD "Atomic EFI" that was intro'd at SEMA last November) which "looks very much like" a carb and seems to have similar linkage.

Any reason why a mechanical linkage won't work with a TBI-style efi?

Thanks

Lynn

[Gumball]

Lynn - No reason why it wouldn't work for that type of EFI; I was only thinking about the standard Ford OEM-style throttle body system. If the linkage connection point and the travel is similar to a Holley carb, then you should be able to engineer a mechanical system using the parts list in the thread link provide by Riptide. Good luck with your set-up and don't forget to show pictures if you go that route.

[skullandbones]

After thinking about it a little more, I believe I will go mechanical. In my case, the bar on the firewall will need to be about 12 inches longer to end at about the center of the right valve cover. The shaft of the throttle body is vertical but pulls straight back so it should work (about the same level as a Holley on a high rise. I really like those lever arms. You can adjust to gain or lose purchase. That's pretty neat! I'm going to leave the cable on until I get ready to do phase two: gokart but by then I will have the necessary parts together to do the job. I was thinking that getting that hole thru the driver's alum wil be very tricky to get just in the right position but if it was easy it wouldn't be fun!!! Thanks for the pics and parts list (Gumball). See you later, WEK.

[Gumball]

WEK - Yeah, that getting the hole in the drivers footbox side wall for the transverse rod was the most "fun" part of the project. I did mine by using a shorter piece of dowel that fit within the footbox, mounting it through the firewall rod-end, then taking measurements to ensure it was parallel with the firewall while balancing a shorty level on it to make sure it was in the proper plane. In the end, came out way better than I ever guessed and made me wonder why I waited so long to just do it. Like many mods, the build-up and anxiety of boogering it up was way out of proportion to the ease of actually doing it. Good luck - and don't forget to share photos and stories of your version as these mods just keep getting better as more people put their own take on them.

[efnfast]

Lokar black here - fits perfectly, works perfectly. don't buy the stainless braided one - it's a POS and will start to bind in time.