Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Topic: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable (Read 2158 times) previous topic - next topic

Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

May 28, 2019, 12:18:40 PM

Hello, I recently installed a Pioneer 9033 accelerator cable on my 86 bird 5.0. It took many attempts to get the right cable, and I got pretty frustrated with finding the right one, and now that I have it installed, it seems to be the same as it was before. The pedal seems harder to kick down as it should be, and there is lots of play. The cable definitely seems to be the right length. I based my knowledge that I needed a new one from having the same characteristics that was said on the coolcats website. My old cable looked exactly like the picture, and now the new one looks the same. Please help! Thanks

Re: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Reply #1 – May 28, 2019, 04:00:58 PM

Does the cable open the throttle all the way? Some of the aftermarket cables are too short and won't open the throttle all the way. Double check that first.

If you want a more responsive throttle you can put a small nylon spacer between the ferrule on the end of the throttle cable and the piece that clips into the throttle pedal. That will take up any slack.

Re: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Reply #2 – May 28, 2019, 05:35:52 PM

I bought one of these for my 93 Coupe with a T-5. LMS was selling them so I figured they vetted it already...nope. Has some kind of internal throttle stop that kept from opening the TB 100%, more like 60%. I looked at trying to modify it but just called LMS and they said it was becoming a huge issue and to send it back and they would refund me the part and shipping. They have another one and by the picture it looks to be a different brand but it is currently out of stock. I messaged them and they are saying it should be back in stock by the end of June.

I am currently looking at using the Lokar TC-1000HT or TC-1000U on mine and just be done with it. It takes a little work but most say the difference is night and day.

Re: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Reply #3 – May 28, 2019, 05:54:20 PM

Yes, the throttle does not open all the way. I would like to try both of your suggestions. Will the nylon spacer still help to keep the kickdown cable from wearing out?

Re: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Reply #4 – May 30, 2019, 12:10:29 AM

So I took the plunge and ordered the 36” long Lokar cable (P/N TC-1000U36) and Spectre Performance 4700 return spring set off Amazon. So what you end up doing is removing the clevis off the accelerator pedal end of the Lokar cable. You do this by sliding the cable out of the housing and then sliding the clevis off the cable. From here you install the end off the factorycable but you have to cut the factory cable to get it off. Slide the end on the Lokar cable and reassemble. You will need to trim the Lokar cable to fit as I believe the factory one is around 32” long.

Some guys use the piece on the factory cable the bolts to the firewall and slide the Lokar cable into it. To do this it is my understanding the you cannot use the SS braided version of the Lokar cable.

The end on the Lokar cable that receives a ball will snap directly onto the TB. What I want to figure out is how to attach the cruise control cable as well. That doesn’t work now so it’s a “later” kind of project.

You will need to attach a return spring to the opposite side of the TB lever (kick down cable side) and then back to the throttle cable bracket as the Lokar cable does not have a built in one like the factory cable.

This will be a couple weeks down the road but just wanted to post up the alternative as I did some lurking on several Mustang sites to get the info. All the searches were turning up carb cable related threads as few have replaced their EFI cable but it’s starting to become an issue.

Re: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Reply #5 – May 30, 2019, 10:24:55 AM

That sucks that no one makes a proper cable to drop in and have cruise control work. Seems someone should get on that.

Re: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Reply #6 – June 04, 2019, 12:01:24 AM

So here is how you make a proper cable. I did this yesterday on my Coupe and can say that it is 100% better and I should have done this about three years ago. Remove the stock throttle cable and it should look something like this:

From here you need to cut the wire rope out of the sheath and save the little green plug on the wire rope that pops into the gas pedal as we will use that here in a bit. Discard the rest of the wire rope. On the sheath cut off and save the end that attaches to the firewall and toss the rest. You will need to remove the rest of the cable down in the fitting. I used a 3/16 drill bit and a little at a time removed the bits and pieces. Double check the 3/16" as you do not want to drill out the hole any larger than what it is on the passenger compartment side of this fitting. I tried to remove it with a punch but that was futile as it just waded up in the fitting and wasted time. Once you have it removed then you will want to step up in drill bit sizes to 1/4" (OD of the new throttle cable sheath) and drill the engine bay side out about 3/4" deep. This will allow you to slip the new throttle cable sheath down into this fitting.

So now you have the green plastic plug and the firewall fitting. Take the 36” long Lokar cable (P/N TC-1000U36) and removed the wire rope from the sheath. One fitting will slide off the sheath so take that off and set it and the ferrule type tube to the side. The other fitting is attached to the sheath with some kind of crimp so I cut that fitting of flush with the sheath. I cleaned that end up (don't do this as you will end up shortening the sheath some more.

Now take the end that slipped on the sheath and install it into the throttle cable bracket that attaches to the throttle body like this:

Install the firewall fitting back on the firewall and then insert the factory end of the Lokcar sheath into that fitting (you should have checked the fit prior to this...) and it should look like this:

Route the sheath like you would your throttle cable and then hold it up to the fitting you installed on the throttle cable bracket on the throttle body. This is where you are going to cut the sheath to length. I ended up cutting 5" off mine but this is a custom fit thing so you may want to verify what works on a Fox Mustang work on our cars. Remove the sheath and cut it to length. I used a dremel with a cut off wheel and that worked very well. I removed the firewall fitting and then put that on the sheath.

Next you will need to slide the green plastic fitting onto the Lokar wire rope. One end has a round end and mine was painted red. I installed the green plastic fitting and did not like the looks of things in that I thought a couple of quick throttle mashes and the red end might pull through the green plastic fitting. I rummaged through the shop and found some really small washers so I installed two of those on the wire rope and then put the green plastic fitting back on and was satisfied. I forgot to take a picture of this out of the car so I dropped the gas pedal and snapped one.

Here is the washer that I put on the cable. I put it on a tape measure so you can get an idea of how small it is.

Re: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Reply #7 – June 04, 2019, 12:04:27 AM

Now reinsert the wire rope with the washers and green plastic fitting on it into the passenger compartment side of the firewall fitting and through the sheath. Install the assembly onto the firewall and again route it to the throttle body bracket. Pass the wire rope through the ferrule type tube and slide the ferrule type tube onto the end of the sheath. Now slide all of this into and through the fitting bolted to the throttle body bracket. You should have way more wire rope than you need at this point.

Here is the thing that I highly suggest you do and that is to make a 1/4" spacer that will go between the gas pedal bracket that bolts to the firewall and the firewall. I made mine out of 5 -1/2" long 1-1/2" wide piece of aluminum strap. Had to radius the lower right hand corner and over drill the holes to 5/16". This gets the pedal off the carpet and allows the WOT stop built into the stock gas pedal assembly to actually hit before contacting the carpet. This will allow easier adjustment of this cable assembly.

Install the gas pedal and attach the throttle cable to the pedal. You can slide the wire rope out of the sheath a ways and once the pedal is installed pull it back through. We will adjust the cable on WOT only as the return spring will set the idle position.

Remove the threaded ball from the end of the Lokar piece that will snap onto the ball of the throttle body lever. The only picture I have of this piece is when I was making sure it would snap into the throttle cable clip which is the piece of plastic that connects the throttle cable to the cruise control cable. So yes you can keep your cruise control doing this my way.

Note: this piece has some tension adjustment via the threads so put them in the middle.

Snap just the Lokar piece onto the throttle body lever. I took a small zip tie and loosely zip tied the wire rope to this piece so I could measure how long the wire rope needed to be. Do realize that over an inch of this cable will slip up into this piece and my advise would be to cut it longer than you think you need. Cut the wire rope to length and insert the end of it into the piece that attaches to the throttle body. The fun part is holding the throttle body at WOT so you can screw down the set screw at this point. I ended up taking the inlet tube off the throttle body and having someone hold the blade as that made more room down where you need to tighten up the small F'n set screw.

Okay, so now we have WOT throttle pretty much set. Now you will need to install the return spring. I used the smaller diameter inner spring from the Spectre Performance 4700 throttle return spring set and it worked perfect. You will attach this through the throttle cable screw hole on the throttle body bracket and then into the auto trans kick down hole on the throttle body lever. IF you have an auto trans you will need to remove your throttle body and drill a small hole somewhere on this lever on the kick down cable side so this will work correctly. When done it will look like this:

Okay, now we have a completely functioning throttle cable but you need to make sure that when the gas pedal is WOT the throttle body is WOT. I did a reset on the throttle position sensor and glad I did. At idle (car not running but key in the run position) I was getting 1.064 volts on the DVM. I adjusted the TPS and got it down to 0.964 volts...good enough. When the gas pedal was pushed to WOT I got 4.41 volts and I pushed on the throttle body blade and it went to 4.6 volts. I removed the part that snaps onto the ball on the throttle body lever and used the threads on it to fine tune WOT.

Last thing is here is the cruise control cable connected to my new throttle cable and yes it works just fine.

Re: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Reply #8 – June 04, 2019, 08:53:39 AM

Very nice work, and thank you for taking the time for pics and posting this. this should be a sticky somewhere or even added to coolcats site.

Re: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Reply #9 – June 18, 2019, 12:08:03 PM

Yes, thank you very much. For now, Im using a few zip ties to help my cable, but I will definitely use the Lokar cable now. Greatly appreciated!

Re: Having Trouble with Accelerator/Throttle Cable

Reply #10 – June 24, 2019, 02:00:11 PM

So I have over 500 miles on the car (200 in town and 300 on a road trip) and one 2-1/2 hour dyno session and everything is good to go. The only thing I will caution on is to leave the braided cable about 1" longer than you think you need it when cutting it. The barrel piece that snaps on to the throttle body is hollow and will accept quite a bit of the cable. Better to not cut too much than have to order anther expensive cable and worse have to wait on it. I may order another one just to have on hand in case something ever happens I won't be down for too long. Gotta keep the local PD on their toes...