I'm driving a OT car (Volvo frame and model A pick-up cab) It's a bit cramped inside, and there not much place to rest right foot and leg. It's OK for the daily 60+ miles till and from work. But next week I'll be visiting some family, and will be covering almost 1000 miles. That's going to hurt I found a old choke cable from a Morris or something. (It's one of those "Twist and lock" cables) and started thinking (thats hard at my age ) This is what I ended up with 20 minutes later: I know it wont win any prices, but I can always clean it up later
How about a picture of the whole car? Model A's are not OT just because the are on some other ch***is.
****py "phonepic", it looks to high in the front, actually got a slight rake. Scratch build from "leftovers": Volvo 445 frame and driveline, cowl and doors fra a 30' Fordor, front fenders from a crashed Lotus Super 7, lights are 32 Ford, one jerrycan as fueltank, the other doubles as a "glovebox". The rest is pulled from the dumpster near my shop
You might consider using a rig made for handicapped folks if you don't want to install a proper cruise control. What you got is pretty rickety and since it won't disengage automatically when you apply the brakes, is not too good for your health, either. My 2c, Gary
No it doesnt disengage when you brake. I rest my foot under the acc.pedal, and simply lift it, when I want to slow down. That works, but I've used i a couple of days now, and tend to use it in same manner as the lever i my old model A Tudor. Not locking it, but two fingers on it to control it In euro cars in the fifties a similar "contraption" was often factory installed, only it normally sat in the middle of the dashboard Had one in my old FIAT 1400 Venezia, and loved it, until I pulled it so far out that it locked. Thank God there was no steering lock on those cars
You used to be able to buy an add on accessory cruise control. Or maybe adapt one off a junkyard car.
What model Volvo Frame is that? Duett? My OT car (1965 Toyota Crown Deluxe) has a throttle lever from the factory. Same thing, you use it to control ( or lock) the accelerator shaft. As others have said, probably not the safest idea when driving at speed! A
Back when I used to have a deathwish and drive pro-modified Jeeps over rocks as big as Volkswagens (ever see those videos of dumb*** white people who roll expensively constructed 4WD vehicles straight up the sides of mountains? That was me), I realized that when stalling the engine on a wet granite slab at 40 degrees pointing uphill, I either needed to grow a third leg or I needed a way to keep the RPMs up while I jockeyed the clutch and the brake. I ended up tearing apart a rather nice aluminum Schwinn Moab (before they sold to Huffy and became Jap ****) and attaching one of the brake levers, open end pointing up, to my stick shift just below the knob. I removed the nut/bolt that held the (former) brake lever to the mounting bracket and replaced it with the quick-release nut/bolt from the seat post. I then ran the cable through the firewall right to the throttle body. If I wanted to give it a little gas I would just push in the clutch, get it to the RPM I wanted, and then flip the quick release lever to the lock-down position. If I needed to let off the gas in a hurry, all I had to do was flip the quick-release back open. Worked like a charm, and while I was on the trail my foot wasn't even needed anywhere near the gas pedal. Perhaps if you added a means of being able to quickly disengage the throttle it might be a little safer?
my 56 chevy pickup has a throttle control cable opposite side of the steering wheel from the choke, middle of the dash
Tens of millions of old vehicles had OEM chokes and hand throttles, just a twist to lock in place. They were not cruise controls. Gary
I'm not bulding in Demark but even if that were built on this side of the pond it would be closer to T than OT than a lot of what we see on here. I had a friend nearly kill his entire family in mexico with a cruise control that stuck. It was a factory control on a suburban, I think that this one is built to stick. Just my .02. I don't want to open a thread to find out that you and your missus on the wrong side of the gr***. So if you must use it be real mindful of it, get put and stretch often and do not drive tired. please.
In the '60's, guys put motorcycle twist grips on the shifters. They returned to idle when released. Sorta like flying a helicopter! Well, not really.....
Yeah its a Duett (445). I know it's not the safest thing, but on the other hand, I've used the hand throttle on my model A for years without any issues
Thanks for the concern. I'll be carefull, and see if I can dream up a better solution. This will have to do for the roundtrip. Another thing is: It's ugly, and I'll start to give the car a makeover this winter, so it probably has to go anyway
I'd think very cramped foot position for long trips. Back when I was wrenching on a daily basis I worked on a couple of cars owned by guys who didn't have use of their legs fairly often and each had hand throttles that worked quite well and were very easy to use. I like that lever on the shifter idea though.
That can cause over-reving IVO the engine going to a no load situation and ******* the tach very rapidly. It is my belief that hand throttles on older vehicles were primarily used (after the choke got the engine warmed up) in more unusual conditons, like to charge the battery, perhaps to aid tuning, and slow speed situations like mud or snow when lugging one gear higher, etc.. Or, if you had an old T, to run a PTO or wheel driven accessory at a constant speed, like saws or pumps. Gary
If your motor wont take the clutch pushed in at half throttle you did'nt have much of a motor anyway! let it blow up and have someone build a decent motor! Chris
The Jalopy Journal
