Throttle Cable Conversion..????

Joe, the belly pan does still fit but it's pretty close. You could always angle that horizontal bracket up a bit to move the arm up, but there is only so much room until it will hit the floor of the van. Worst case I will make a new bracket, or cut a slot in the belly pan if I have to.

I may be wrong, but my theory was that having a linkage like this is it will give some mechanical advantage when pulling the cable and make the gas pedal smoother?

If it works good and does not hit the pan leave it alone it looks GREAT...There has to be a certian amount of swing angle on that bracket other wise it will feel like stepping on a brick I found that out when I tryed to take up the slack on my throttel linkge and could hardley push the pedal to drive it!!!

I actually added the spring on mine to make the pedal a little stiffer... It felt way to easy to push without it.

I used a go-cart trhottle cable...you can see it here:

http://www.vcvc.org/showthread.php/21721-Makin-Progress?p=180085#post180085

How's the pedal height with the cables you're installing? I can't for the life of me get my pedal to be at a decent height (not sticking straight up and down) and still have enough throw to open the throttle all the way.

I've got the weber 2 bbl progressive carb in my van and I even ended up getting the cable linkage specifically for those carb. Had to do a little tinkering with how the cable connects so it didn't interfere with the tv cable on my overdrive tranny.

Could it just be that this carb has a longer throw and requires the full range of the pedal? Could it be the reversing linkage I have? Any ideas what I could do to cure this? Thanks!!

[/quote}                                                                                                                                                                  If you shorten the threaded rod a half inch or so on top of the bracket it will bring the pedal down.!!!!!!!!!!!!!.It is not easy to get these style pedal set ups to open the throttle ALL the way..

Maybe I'm thinking backwards but if you shorten the throw of the top where the pedal rod hooks it should also help you out. Maybe punch another hole below it 1/2 -3/4 of an inch if there is clearance along with what Joe says.
??

I have basically same setup -yet forget the mfg. of it (25 years ago) & i know mine is adjustable @ the actual pedal arms with a small set screw-that allows the arms to be put @ diff angles.  

Thanks for the suggestions. I moved the adjustable rod down about an inch on the pivoting arm and shortened it to compensate. This is getting me in the right direction. Almost there!

Scotty all you did is make the pedal harder to push (less leverage) you have to shorten the threaded rod on top and put it back the way it was to bring the throttle pedal down towards the floor.. ..Sorry thats the way I see it!!!!!!!!

Ya, I may end up having to do the same thing to the arm connected to the intake...just drill a hole a little lower than the factory one.

This seemed to have helped my cause, and it's still easy to push the throttle. I actually had experimented doing it that way by just shortening the rod...yes, it will bring the pedal down, but it shortens the amount of throw and the pedal bottoms out before it opens the throttle all the way.

I could also try adding an extension to the top of the arm that goes straight back. Maybe that would lower the pedal but retain the amount of throw?

{/quote}.It is not easy to get these style pedal set ups to open the throttle ALL the way..[/quote]....................................There is a happy medium your either gonna have to live with a high pedal or the throttle not opening up all the way thats why I have not done mine yet.!!!!. I have not seen a cable conversion that has been done and that opens up the throttle all the way on a 1st Gen Chevy....... In reality how often are you gonna have the carb wide open. .!!!!!

It looks like I am going to have to change over to one of these set ups! I put a set of edelbrock chrome valve covers on my Handi Van & they are a little taller and a tad wider than the factory valve covers. The piece that bolts to the back of the intake that holds the linkage was hitting the top of the valve cover & I moved it in a little and then started having problems with it! I want to go the cheapest route but want it to be reliable! What was the cost of your change over?

HandiVanMan wrote:It looks like I am going to have to change over to one of these set ups! I put a set of edelbrock chrome valve covers on my Handi Van & they are a little taller and a tad wider than the factory valve covers. The piece that bolts to the back of the intake that holds the linkage was hitting the top of the valve cover & I moved it in a little and then started having problems with it! I want to go the cheapest route but want it to be reliable! What was the cost of your change over?

..I just finally found one of those linkage swing arms..I will be converting mine after the first of the year and will post pictures and the length of the cable I use.. I may trim the top of the bracket a little and re-drill a hole to mount it up higher so there is no belly pan clearance issues... .. ...

I do not know if it was stock or not but on a 66 A100 I parted out the throttle pedal converted to cable with a very simple triangular bellcrank set up. rod to pedal was a straight shot but still something to look at for ideas. I do not have a clear pic of it.

I'm surprised that nobody in this thread used a morse marine 33c cable being pushed by the throttle arm....33c cables are made to work properly as either a push or a pull and are even strong enough to use for a cable shifter (heavier than stock GM shift cables or B&M) but the 43c cables work even better for shifters (43c's are used for boat steering)
I used 33c for throttle (on a push) in my 66 GMC big-block van back in the 70's (didn't take pics though, and the van is gone)
A full ine of cables,clevises, ball ends, and housing fastener brackets can be seen and ordered from marine catalogs like West Marine, Glenwood Marine, Rex Marine, and possibly Overtons..... The stuff looks awesome, as if it's made for these applications

I think that's the set up Kooky Krispy has on his first Gen Chevy a "Push Style" with a marine cable we will see if we can him to post pictures of it... I will be doing mine soon when I pull the belly pan off to do the Front Springs along with installing the proper E brake cable and pulleys also..!!!...But its not to late for me to change my mind and go with a push style set up instead..!!!.. ...Just like to see pictures first..

the marine cables -usually?? are an all stainless cable- last n forever!! movement is super easy too= these are mfg'd by 2 companies - either teleflex or morse- under the model #'s of 33c or 3300 available in about any lengths you want!! summit & jegs also have them- i buy mine from a marine wholesaler - cheaper !!

I have used the following set-up for the past 10 years or so. The cable is from Speedway. The clevis from Home depot ???

http://www.angelfire.com/wv/joyrde/vanstuff/throttle/vanthrottle.html

Very nice

did mine like joy ride showed and it worked great! was relatively cheep ,light on the foot,easy to adjust(from eather side ) ,easy to obtain"WOT", and should be easy to fix on the fly if it was to break,witch may never happin as smooth as it works!
it was the biggest worry that I had when changing over to a v8 ,but joyrides idea was so simple and worked great ....thanks joy ride for sharing that info!

Joe:

How long is the cable ? Lokar ?

allthese type cables are available in different lenghts from any marine house, marine online sales, jegs & summit- they are made bt teleflex, morse & a few others - prices are per lenght & type materials made of -IE: stainless alittle more in costs -yet well worth it!!

vrod64 wrote:Joe:

How long is the cable ? Lokar ?

Not sure on the length of the cable I still haven't got around to doing mine yet I have the bracket....Installing my shifter and zoomi pipes threw me off tract this summer but its next on the list besides my front springs...I have a "PILE" of parts to install after the holidays so I will post pictures of the conversion when I start on it...!!!..