I hate to admit that it took it happening TWO times for me to catch it but I guess later is better than not realizing it at all! My 36 Fordy pickup has been on the road for about 5 years and has been primarily a fun ride but a truck to me. One year ago, the gas cable started being hard to work but I attributed it to the cold and the flexible cable seeming to be a bit crinked. So I continued to drive it off and on for short spurts around town after I freed up the cable and lubed it some. It worked but looked a bit forlorn so I recently replaced the cable with another black gas cable from Lokar. This time, I cut the cable a bit shorter; thinking I would prevent another crinking incident. All was well until I took the truck for an extended drive yesterday over to a transmission shop to address a few issues. I had to wait a bit before they could get to me but that was fine. When we got ready for a test ride, the dang gas pedal seemed to be completely stuck! When I raised the hood, I realized that the dang gas cable had been shorting out to one side of the coil and had cooked the plastic coating and somewhat welded the cable to the cable housing! Duh! It looked just like the cable a removed not long ago! After allot of screwing around and maintenance to the cable housing, I was able to finally free up the cable somewhat but the vinyl lining of the cable was history. Luckily, I had a spare double spring carb kit in my tool case--- don't remember why it got tossed in there but glad it was there. We added the second set of return springs and that seemed to help the cable work properly enough for me to drive it the almost one hour home in heavy traffic. I'm working now to relocate the coil away from the gas pedal cable. We slit a piece of rubber and placed it over the cable to keep it from grounding out again on the way home and killing the throttle again. All seemed to work as planned on the trip home. I'll post another pic after I'm finished relocating the coil. I'm posting this mainly to help my fellow car pals avoid the error I made. Why the setup worked for the first 4 years without any incidents that I remember is beyond me. Anyway, be safe and have a Happy New Year! Workin' Al What I found when I raised the hood. Here's the rubber hose used for insulation over the gas cable. And here's the pic with the second set of springs added as the orig set didn't have enough umph to make the cable return by itself. I didn't particularly want to bolt the bracket to the alternator but it was the right distance and I needed to get started home! Note that I DID put the slit rubber hose on it before taking off for home.
I think the coil must be leaking through the case or top and that it didn't do that for the first 4 years. I think I'd replace the coil.
Doesn't look close enough to cause your problem, maybe you should check for bad motor mounts especially if you went 4 years without a problem. Ralphie
I'd think it more likely that you're missing a proper ground strap between engine and frame. Throttle cable taking all the load when cranking starter.
Another thought is that the engine is using the metal housing as the Ground path from engine to body to ch***is and the load is way to much and causing heating and melting of the inner plastic liner Landseaair types faster
Kinda reminds me of the time part of my clutch linkage on the '40 rubbed a hole over time in the brake line coming down from the firewall mounted master cylinder to the proportioning valve on the frame rail.
sent you a PM--as mentioned above I think the cable is the ground source. CK all grounds with an ohm meter-especially engine to body-seen it before
you didn't attach the bracket for the return spring to the charging terminal on the alternator did you?
I fixed it by using some new, unused cable housing from earlier gas pedal installations. I just pulled the old cable end out of the piece that attaches at the firewall---it is crimped on the end of the cable housing. I then carefully drilled it out with a 1/4 inch bit and then the housing slid right in. I'll check the grounding issue but I ground every vehicle with a heavy cable directly from the battery terminal to a bolt on the transmission. I also normally ground the body to the engine, too. I'll have to do a bit more looking. Aside from all the gas pedal cable issues, the transmission shop finally eliminated a few nagging leaks and replaced my universal joints which were apparently getting to the ragged edge! I have spent some time looking for that occasional pinging sound but hadn't found it! Felt really dumb once we realized the culprit. All goes to show that it is good to have a second, or third!, set of eyes look over your junk once in awhile. I think I'm all set for the new year... now back to some more bodywork tweaking on the old truck. Got a new grille to add as well but it is so shiney that I might be embarr***ed versus the ragged grille I've been running for 5 years that I originally was only going to run a short while! I'm sure I'm not alone in that happening! Happy New Year! Driving and Happy Al PS I also repositioned the coil away from the gas cable.
Many thanks to all for the suggestions and help. I'll report back on the grounding check later as I've got to get ready to party tonight! Actually, just going to dinner and then home; most likely well BEFORE midnight! The old Party AL ain't what he used to be! Have a good time but please be safe tonight... as shown above, I will most likely continue to need help and advice from every one of you in the new year! Please do your best to be here and I'll do the same. Thankful Al
Early 70's Tbirds had that problem. Used to weld the accel cable and the shift cable where they wouldn't move.
The Jalopy Journal
