• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Stupid Questioned Answered

Share this page

T

Tinster

Guest
Guest
Offline
A peer review, please. Before I make any attempt to
drive this car in bumper to bumper holiday island traffic
and perhaps injure someone because I blundered the install.

I have installed the Ratco throttle cable carb linkage.
I don't know what the finished product is supposed to look
like. Here is mine; everything tightened down good, gas
pedal on the floor, carbs 100% fully opened.

When pedal is released off the floor, the carbs' bended
metal piece rotates upward back to idle position. The
cable movement is smooth and requires very little foot
pedal pressure.

Does this install look correct? and safe to drive?

thanks,

dale

cableInstalled.jpg
 
I'd say start it up, make sure it idles normally. Give the gas pedal a few shots to make sure that nothing is sticking, and then go out for a drive as Bugeye says.

Just watch for the gendarmes! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/driving.gif
 
Second that! A tool around the block will answer your question. If the brakes work and the tranny can shift to neutral in case of emergency, you should be fine. Nice job too!
 
And hope the key doesn't disable your ability to steer it if you need to shut down quickly. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif

Looks good, Dale. Idle position is the real concern. If you have that right, full chat will seldom be used. Have you a throttle stop? I.E. a stud or somesuch to prevent the cable from being pulled hard when the carb shaft has already achieved full open? Just curious. I can't recall if the TR has one or not. Or does the back end of the bracket slot act as the stop?
 
Hey Doc!

It stopped raining and I got to try out the new
cable linkage a bit ago. Drove only a small distance
and returned home.

Wow!! Instant response from the carbs but....

The car will not hold idle after warmup. Turned down
the idle screws one full turn and the car pulses an
idle between 600 and 1,400 rpms.

I'm guessing when I removed three of the four bottom
fasteners from the carbs, I did not get them tight enough
when I put them back. After the engine cools down I'll tighten them some more.

The cable linkage makes quite a positive difference in
the carb response.

d
 
That has vacuum leak written all over it.

Check all of the carb mounting bolts that you loosened, including the front carb when you removed the old linkage. Also look for loose vacuum lines.

Installation looks very good so far. I can't tell what you did with the cable from this post.
 
Hey Paul,

Installed cable with a gentle bend. Carbide wheel cut cable, polished cut end, epoxy end fitting on cable.

CableWeb.jpg


d
 
There is a pedal stop under the carpet where the gas pedal can be prevented from overstressing the linkage. I think it's a 7/16 wrench size with a stop nut so you'd need 2 wrenches.

Since I end up doing most of my work by myself, I made a mark on the carbs when they were at WOT and checked the stop to see that it is touching the gas pedal. When I got my 6 the adjustment was out to lunch and prevented WOT.

Gordo
 
The only issue that I see using the Ratco cable setup is there is no accommodation for a return to idle. Yes, there is a return spring on the throttle cross shaft but this does not affect the cable linkage, it only takes the tension out. Meaning, the OE rigid setup worked in both directions and was designed that way. Taking the rigidity out of the system and you leave yourself open to iffy down-throttle. One has to make certain that the built-in return springs on the carb shafts are still in good shape and have enough strength return the carbs to idle. I have the triple setup and all three springs are new. If uncertain about the ability of these return springs (2 or 3), one might look into an auxiliary return spring setup that would hook to the actual cross shaft(s). This might be easier and maybe even more necessary in the stock 2 carb setup, and a bit more difficult in the trips because of the close proximity of the 3 carbs.
 
Thanks for the tip Gordo. My stop is missing (of course!)

Bill,

I wondered about the return myself. I watched it in action.

1. Each carb has a return spring that pulls the linkage back to idle. Mine are new.

2. The gas pedal shaft control arm also has a spring that
pulls the pedal shaft back to idle position (mine is new)
as does the gas pedal. Mine is new.

3. The Ratco cable is quite stiff and actually gets pushed
toward the carb linkage by the throttle shaft control arm
return spring. Pretty slick design.

I don't know the physics involved but the Ratco cable
assembly gives me faster carb response than what I had
before.

d
 
Jeff,

Down and out; sick in bed with the flu.

I'll report on a full road test in a few days.

happy new year, all !

dale
 
Tinster said:
I don't know the physics involved but the Ratco cable
assembly gives me faster carb response than what I had
before.

d
Click to expand...

Less 'lost' motion in the simple cable than the quirky Triumph linkage.
 
Whadda ya mean "quirky"!?!? That bellcrank setup is tried and proven!

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif

...this 'cause I had to 'retrofit' the Alfa with a Bosch FI bellcrank linkage when I fitted th' Webers on it: Too bloody lazy to engineer a cable setup. But I suspect that cable assembly RatCo uses could be MacGyver'd to work on it. Alfa also uses a cross-bar at the firewall, VERY like the Triumph rigging.
 
Oh it works all right but a better example of what it woulda-coulda-shoulda been can be found under the bonnet of the nearest E-Type.

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
That hybrid bell crank over cable setup on the 12's? I just fiddled around with one a few weeks ago. Shoulda taken pix.
 
Back
Top