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but were afraid to ask: 
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Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Moseso
Jedi Knight
Offline
The scene: A stop-and-go freeway in the middle of downtown Minneapolis, ca. 5:30 PM, yesterday.
The symptom: My accelerator pedal no longer returns to the position where I am accustomed to finding it with my foot. There is still <span style="font-style: italic">some</span> connection to the carbs, but not much. Flooring it might get me to 30 mph. Bummer!
So -- I exit at the next opportunity and pull to the curb at the first possibility, fortunately within 2 blocks of the exit ramp. Up goes the bonnet. I operate the throttle from the front carb and note that the lever that should be pinned to the pedal shaft is moving rather independently of the shaft. The cotter pin I had used there is sheared. I feel around underneath -- just a hole. On top, there are the two legs of the cotter pin still sticking up.
So, I get out my Leatherman pocket pliers and try to stuff the remaining bits of pin down into the hole for about ten minutes. No luck. Then, I try to extract the remnants of the pin, losing half of it in the process. Using the flashlight from my cubby box, I am able to more-or-less line up the holes in the lever and shaft and, using the pliers, finally drop the remaining 1/2 cotter into the hole. This strikes me as not-quite good enough to get home. I need to keep that pin in the hole somehow. Not really knowing what I'm looking for, I return to the cubby. EUREKA!! There is a little velcro strap, given me by a hand therapist last summer, in a vain attempt to make my finger stop hurting. Called a "buddy strap," it's used to lightly bind one finger to it's neighbor. I wrap this around the collar on the lever (freakin' PERFECT fit) so that it covers both holes, trapping the pin remnant in place.
Then I drove 15 miles home and parked in the garage, where the car shall remain until I can make a proper repair.
Total elapsed time from deciding to exit the roadway to making the u-turn towards home, about 40 minutes. Hands: still somewhat dirty, of course.
The symptom: My accelerator pedal no longer returns to the position where I am accustomed to finding it with my foot. There is still <span style="font-style: italic">some</span> connection to the carbs, but not much. Flooring it might get me to 30 mph. Bummer!
So -- I exit at the next opportunity and pull to the curb at the first possibility, fortunately within 2 blocks of the exit ramp. Up goes the bonnet. I operate the throttle from the front carb and note that the lever that should be pinned to the pedal shaft is moving rather independently of the shaft. The cotter pin I had used there is sheared. I feel around underneath -- just a hole. On top, there are the two legs of the cotter pin still sticking up.
So, I get out my Leatherman pocket pliers and try to stuff the remaining bits of pin down into the hole for about ten minutes. No luck. Then, I try to extract the remnants of the pin, losing half of it in the process. Using the flashlight from my cubby box, I am able to more-or-less line up the holes in the lever and shaft and, using the pliers, finally drop the remaining 1/2 cotter into the hole. This strikes me as not-quite good enough to get home. I need to keep that pin in the hole somehow. Not really knowing what I'm looking for, I return to the cubby. EUREKA!! There is a little velcro strap, given me by a hand therapist last summer, in a vain attempt to make my finger stop hurting. Called a "buddy strap," it's used to lightly bind one finger to it's neighbor. I wrap this around the collar on the lever (freakin' PERFECT fit) so that it covers both holes, trapping the pin remnant in place.
Then I drove 15 miles home and parked in the garage, where the car shall remain until I can make a proper repair.
Total elapsed time from deciding to exit the roadway to making the u-turn towards home, about 40 minutes. Hands: still somewhat dirty, of course.
