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Tips
Tips

Shortening a throttle cable Q&D with stuff in the shop.

TomMull

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I made a new bracket for the throttle cable on my Herald twin SU setup and found that the cable I'd planned to use was a couple of inches too long. Of course this was on the day before we left for the British Invasion show at Stowe. Shortening it was the solution but I cannot live with the cable stops from the auto stores; they don't fit the clevises and they destroy the cable.
So here is the solution I came up with:
Carefully measure and mark the cable. Wrap the cutline with sticky masking tape or similar and then cut. Do not allow the wires to unlay. The best wire cable cutting device I've found in my shop is the small angle grinder with a cutoff wheel even though the wire is only 1/16. Make sure there is no roughness left at the cut.

Now for the stop itself. Copper swage ends are available from Nicro Press and others but none in my shop at the time. What I did ave was a supply of MIG tips. These are cheap and essentially free if you have some old ones. If you don't have them, most local hardware stores do. I used .023 but I think .035 or .045will work for the 1/16 wire in my cable. I merely drilled it out with a 1/16 bit, easy to do as you have the hole to guide you. Use cutting oil and take care, the little drills break very easily.

Put the wire through the hole and stake it on a hard surface with a blunt tool and your favorite hammer.

I tested this with a couple of light to moderate blows with the slide hammer and then drove to Stowe and back. Works great. (picture is of my practice piece.)
Sorry if this is old hat; I can't be the first to have done this.

Tom
P1010225.jpg
 
you may not be first - but you may be first to post it - well McGyvered!
 
Very handy tip. Now if there was only a way to make the cables longer.
 
You can use a bicycle cable cutter and get a very nice result, too. Bicycle crimps also work for the ends of the cables. Park Tools makes a nice cable cutter, and you can get crimps dirt cheap on eBay.
 
Good to know. The cable cutting is delicate, one strand out of line and it's time to start over.
Tom
 
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