aw hell (accelerator difficulties)

so this morning i go to start my van... i gas her a little bit and pump on the pedal whilst turning the key, like i normally do...

next thing i know, the rubber gasket falls straight through the hole and the pedal is stuck to the floor. perfect start to the bad day, eh? late to work, van doesn't work, etc.

so, i pull the front off (the grill) and take off the the little box that cover the mechanism....

and then i realize that it came unhooked over by the carb.

the pin popped and left. so i've got it temporarily rigged until i get to the auto parts store to buy a pin, but my problem is that the pedal stays at about half acceleration... it won't return all the way to idle unless i pull it up manually.

what to do? anybody know?

hmmmm...

i don't have any noticeable springs like that... but considering the condition of the van when i got it, i don't doubt that it's possible that are there missing parts...

i'll investigate further... thanks for the suggestion!

That stinks, especially after just getting the van back on the road. I'll check mine tomorrow and see what's under there and post some pics for you. I'm on my way to work right now.
Still haven't got mine inspected. Both front parking lights, right back-up, and front left directional aren't working. Got the seats covered, and put a rug up front so it looks pretty good in there.
I had a similar problem with the accelerator. Picked the van up after having a new drive shaft put in. We go to a lot of music festivals far from home, so I decided to let my girlfriend drive the van for the first time, because we'd be on the road that weekend, and I wanted her to be comfortable driving the van. We made it about 100 yards. She's making a left turn in traffic, cars parked on both sides of the road, stone wall straight ahead, and the pedal drops to the floor. The engine's floored, she's standing on the brakes, the back end is bouncing off the ground. This all happens in a second. She doesn't know where the brake is, her RIGHT hand is searching for the key, finally throws it into park after finding the shift on the dash. The brand new drive shaft sheers in half... I am not happy. Now that it's stopped bucking I reach across her and turn off the key to stop the engine which is still racing. It wasn't her fault, and she's a great driver. She's actually one of the few people I don't mind being a passenger with. Now she's scared sh*t of the thing. We push it back, and roll it down the hill right back into the parking spot we just got it out of. It sounded like a San Francisco trolley car with the driveshaft hanging and bouncing off the ground all the way down the hill, bing, bing bing. At this point I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. It was one of those moments you never forget.
Off to work.

I dropped the belly pan this morning. This is what I've got under there. No springs. The long rod continues up and to the engine, no springs visible underneath up there either. I don't know if this helps. I used the "picture posting 101" instructions, no problems.
Dave

donivan65 wrote:,,,,,Its crazy to drive a 40 year old van without checking out the linkages and old brake lines and hoses,,,,all that stuff wears out and you don't want to find out the hard way that it just did,,,,,,,

i second that. just cause it starts up doesnt mean it is safe....

Everything on the van has been looked at. The tires, brakes, brake lines, gas tank, radiator, assorted hoses, water pump, carb, wires, windshield, and on and on... have all been replaced. Things still break.
Yes, of coarse there's a pull-back spring up by the carb. I was showing him that there is no spring UNDER the van, where he was asking about.

i am only sayin that i know Alex's van and i know alex's knowledge of cars and i know for a fact that the brakes were not gone over at all and the motor was barely looked at ( not to mention an "active" leak from the fuel sender) when he started driving it daily after who knows how long it sat. i wasnt intending my post at anyone but alex because i have concern for his well being since he is a friend of mine....

and i agree with donivan that 40 year old vehicles should be gone over before being roadworthy...

as my pan is still off i had to go look too (66 a-100)- wait a second i dont have a rod i have a cable !? - so did all vans come with throttle rods and i have a modification or ? - no spring underneath and no shield around the pedal linkage either - i sometimes had a sticky throttle situation when i had the 69 chevy early - there were 2 issues - the worn bushing on the pedal linkage ( the dodge is different) and sometimes the rod would hang up in around the brake cylinder area especially if i had checked fluid and forgot to put it back correctly - oo3

ok so i just saw the parts for sale ebay listing for a 6 cyl throttle cable 66-68 - so is it a different year thing or different engine thing? oo3

Early build A-vans had accelerator cables. Mechanical linkage was added around late-66 or so. The only return spring on an A-van was the springs from the carburetor to a bracket mounted on the intake manifold. These need to be in good shape so your accelerator pedal comes back up. Make sure the linkage isn't binding anywhere.

Nate:

My '65 Sportsman has a 273-V8/Auto with mechanical throttle linkage. The trans shifter has the extra cable for the Parking pin which should verify it's a '65. Its obvious the beast was in at least one or two wrecks, so donor parts may have been used. Could they have put those linkages on V8s in '65?

It's no big deal, I'm just curious. When it comes to info on As, your input is greatly appreciated.

Somebody could've switched over to mechanical linkage. Me and a buddy scrapped a 65 with a 273 and it had a cable. Maybe mid-65 Dodge switched over.

Thanks for the compliment.

Wow! That's almost as bad as the pick-up on the '79 E-250 that I rescued.

WOW! allmost had to click the button" if i found the photo offinsive" whad they do add driveway sealer to the gas?

no gas cap will explain thats a nice straight van too nice for a shed, i baught my 65 in 2000 in arizona from the original owner for 216$ - he wanted a shed to replace the shed, drove her home to ct in 2002. love the vintage tin out west everything up here has rust up to the windows!

jesus lord!

yeah, i haven't been on here because i just moved north a little bit (to be closer to james, obviously) and i haven't had internet.

i've got quite a few things to look at.. but whenever i get internet and a new camera, i'll post some photos of the work i've been doing, slowly but surely.

hopefully everyone is doing well. i miss getting to talk to you guys everyday.

cheers!

Yup, that's my gas tank with the black crud. It turns out that gas tank was not from StorageVan, it's from an orange van that was being parted out. No idea how long it sat, but I know that I was not smart enough to drain it the day I got the tank home!! It sat for several more months in my driveway getting worse and worse... Same with the tank in my project van, been sitting for 8 months before I thought to drain it (it's almost as bad as the photo above).

So, word to the wise: Drain the gas tank of any project van ASAP when you bring it home!!