Custom Throttle Linkage

[wild70stang]

I never thought I would see the day I would post a topic that wasn't a question... Anyways, just finished building and installing my throttle linkage. It was a pain in the butt to find the parts and almost as equal a pain to install (since everything I do takes longer than the average joe). I had to adapt the existing design from the fordmuscle website because my car is a 70. The cable that was on the car was 2" longer than what my car needed and full throttle only opened the butterfly 20%. The widest I could achieve was 50% and this was by pulling back a bracket and using zip ties.... how sad. This cable also loosens up after using the car several times, which led to me being stranded in Long Beach last year. So enter my creation!

I bought five pieces from Grainger.com (only go here as a last resort). 1 6" female rod part # 2DLX8, 1 12" female rod part #2DLY5, and 4 heim joints part # 6G189. On my application I had to cut 1/2 an inch off the 12" rod to obtain full throttle . I bought washers, threaded rod, and J bolt at a local hardware store called "King Bolt CO" in West Covina, CA. This place has everything (even cheaper heim joints ). I attached a "J" bolt to the pedal and looped the "J" into the heim joint entering the cabin. The bolt acts as a fulcrum because with out it the rod would bind on the firewall. For the heim joint that connects with the carb throttle I threaded electrical tape around the 10/32 bolt to act as a bushing (cut the excess off). I used both red and blue Loctite so that some of the rods don't come off, and in case I run into a snafu.

Pictures of this progress can be seen at Wild70mustang. 56k WARNING
Comments are welcome. ENJOY!!!

 

[TOM B]

looks good, But, I think the firewall hole need to be larger as to not bind when you snap the throttle.

 

[wild70stang]

I haven't driven the car yet, but I did tap the throttle to make sure it works fine. I still need to find some kind of grommet or make something to keep the rod from grinding against the firewall. I just don't want to make any major modifications to the car like that because I want to restore her sometime after college.

 

[TOM B]

Throttling the engine in the driveway does'nt put torque on the engine.
You must drive it or brake torque it to get the engine to lift.
Remember that ford engines torque up on the drivers side, (the engine will lift on the driver side) With a small hole you might end up with a stuck throttle linkage or worse yet a stuck jamed full throttle situation. If this happens just shut it off with the key.
Be Careful. !!!

 

[wild70stang]

True. Thanks for the comment, I just have a mound of homework that I want to finish before taking her out and having some fun