Accelerator cable damage at pedal entry point ...

[SLR No.77]

Has anyone managed to work a suitable fix for the standard Caterham accelerator pedal and it's ability to eat cables? Considering the relatively low mileage our cars do, there's just too high an incidence of cables breaking at the cable entry point of the pedal. Interestingly they rarely break at the throttle body end. There must be a simple solution?

Stu.

[Stridey]

I’ve re-drilled the entry point lower than standard after a few failures, to create a smoother straighter path. Plugged old hole.

I also hung the cable and outer vertically overnight with 3in1 oil dribbled in with a plastic bag/rubber band funnel. 

I drilled the pedal through, so that I could just thread a cable through and screw choc it.

ive since started using one of these, threads over the pedal, to my mind it’s easier on the cable and easy to re-rig if it breaks again.

[Tom_Arundel]

Don`t put the nipple at the end of the cable through into the rear hole in the pedal, cut it off so that it only engages in the front hole, This stops it bending / fatiguing the cable at the entry point. 30,000 mls.- no problems

[Bricol]

That's sort of what I've done.  The nipple is jammed in the open end of the pedal tube, the spare bit of cable at the end simply pokes out the other side of pedal.

I also made sure the pedal was bent around such that it pulled in a straight line from the cable outer as it entered the pedal box, and the angle of the bit above the pivot was such that at rest, the cable went up to the pedal.  When pressed firmly into the pedal stop I screwed through the bottom of the pedal box (so my foot force was directly reacted through something solid, rather than up the bendy pedal), the cable goes down, so it never gets really dragged up the edge of either the cable outer end bush, or the bush in the pedal box.

Still on the original cable, still looking as good as new.  Close to 50,000 miles recorded . . .

Similar with the clutch cable - adjusted so it doesn't get really dragged over anything at an angle.

[SM25T]

I know I shouldn't say this .... but I haven't changed my throttle cable since buying the car at 17k ... now on 94k.

[Jim 123]

Inadvertent duplication.

[Jim 123]

I suspect that the problem may be down to the fact that many cars have to have the throttle pedal arm bent rearwards during original build because the standard inner cable is too long and this creates chaffing at the forward entry point.  On my car the angle of bend required was more than I felt comfortable with, and I decided to remove the nipple from the cable and feed it through the unmodified throttle arm.  A pedal stop should also help.  Having said that I've only just got to 7K on the clock : )

[SLR No.77]

It's not actually my car, I've not had an issue in around 40k miles of sevening but it's just happened to a friends car and he's not a happy bunny .... I suspect it's happened before! I usually thread the tail end down the tube, I hadn't thought of trimming it closer to reduce the pivoting forces, might try that. I suspect the figment of the small clamp could be part of the problem as well.

Stu.

[AndrewE]

I drilled through the pedal and then fed the cable through front hole then through a brass cable nipple that is just smaller than the throttle pedal tube then through rear hole. Screw in the brass nipple holds cable tight. I also placed a small section of silicon hose under the cable at the front entry hole

[Bricol]

On the Rover accelerator cable supplied with my car, the mounting block on the throttle body end of the cable outer is adjustable, allowing me to position the pedal end just where I wanted it, both on the original Rover throttle body and later when I fitted Jenvey throttle bodies.

[TomB]

Ive got a couple of parts to do a modification as Andrew E above.  I fitted a pedal extension for the accelerator pedal to aid heel & toeing, but couldn't get the pedal heights right without compromising the cable tension due to only having adjustment at the engine eng of teh cable.  The plan was to remove the pedal, drill through, cut the nipple off the cable and feed ut through.  Then a go-kart cable screw nipple for a couple of quid off eBay to allow adjustment at the pedal end also.   As with lots of things recently, its gone on the back burner for now and I've taken the extension off.