Run for cover! (The Ford Mustang Thread)

[thesameguy]

Those symptoms & appearances mimic exactly what I found on the XR. I can't immediately find a picture of my repair, but here is the before -



A huge amount of slack! That translated to a loss of like 70% of the butterfly's movement!!!

[CudaMan]

I remember driving a FF Cobra kit that used Fox body Mustang donor parts, and I had trouble getting my foot on the brake pedal in autox maneuvers (not helped by the giant wood steering wheel in the way of my knee), in part because the brake was so much closer to the driver than the throttle. I misunderstood your first post on the issue, Nate, and thought you wanted the brake pedal even closer. Looks like you want the throttle closer or the brake further away.

Throttle cable issue sounds like a good first check to make. Beyond that, is there somewhere you could safely add a spacer (throttle pedal mount??) to move it closer? Remembering to also change the depth of any physical stoppers by the pedal an appropriate amount.

[dodint]

Yeah, my bad, I mistyped that I wanted the brake 1" closer, not farther so you read correctly.

I haven't looked much at my car, just got this idea driving home Monday after doing a bunch of other stuff. Was surprised that it hadn't come up in forums more often so I posed the question here. I will probably start with a throttle cable replacement as per tsg, and see what that does for me.

I wouldn't be surprised if that did the trick, I have caught myself a few times checking to see if the floor mat had bound behind the throttle because of a certain feel.

[Random]

I remember driving a FF Cobra kit that used Fox body Mustang donor parts, and I had trouble getting my foot on the brake pedal in autox maneuvers (not helped by the giant wood steering wheel in the way of my knee), in part because the brake was so much closer to the driver than the throttle.

Pedal arrangement in James' Cobra is/was borderline unsafe, IMO.

[CudaMan]

Ask him sometime about the finish of my first run in his car. He was probably having second thoughts about me driving it after that!

[dodint]

Oh, my solution that novi mentioned on the prior page was simply a new throttle cable, hardly a crazy expenditure or idea.

[dodint]

Throttle cable issue sounds like a good first check to make. Beyond that, is there somewhere you could safely add a spacer (throttle pedal mount??) to move it closer? Remembering to also change the depth of any physical stoppers by the pedal an appropriate amount.

Looks like this is your dime store answer:

http://www.mustangworld.com/ourpics/fcar/99pedals.htm

I'm wondering if this implies the replacement cable will also have slack. It could be a combination of the cable wearing and developing slack as tsg said as well as the design just being not optimal. I might try the nylon spacer first and then add a throttle cable to my list of winter projects for next year.

And yeah, Carlo, this is basically a harder way to do it than in your video.

[JoshInKC]

I don't know if breakage is a specific concern in the ford scenario with as much of a known problem as it is, but dealing with a snapped throttle cable in the field is a world of shit. It's pretty much always when you've just jumped on the pedal to merge or something.

[dodint]

Yeah, I had a clutch cable snap on a motorcycle last year, but at least I could limp it the 120mi to a dealer that had one on hand. With a throttle you're assed out.

[novicius]

Nate, I poke fun because while zip ties are fine to go to the drags with, you seriously need a new cable for HPDE.

Be safe, don't be a dirt-ass like me.