Bend Fuel Pedal Arm for WOT
 

My 66 Lemans is not getting full throttle when pushing the pedal to the floor. I think I am left with bending the pedal arm for more leverage but it seems there will be a damage risk. What is the best way to approach bending it?

The throttle cable is a Lokar part and the below video shows the lack of travel. The black marks on the blue tape would have to line up to achieve WOT.

https://youtube.com/shorts/OfIfZ9Uga...wrVp6Ac4yLIYmt

Clicked the link. Says video is private.

I also can’t watch your video.
There may be a few things you can do.

While you can heat and bend the pedal arm you really do not want the gas pedal to sit too much higher in its static position then how the brake pedal sits.

You might look at slotting the throttle cable bracket mounting holes so it can be moved closer to the firewall.

How much slack is there in your cable when the carb should be wide open?

Maybe do a video on your phone and post it here.

Sorry about that - please try this link: https://youtube.com/shorts/IeifzhU7P...4voG-VHN1v7S_u

Try the lowest hole in the throttle arm of the carburetor. Closest to the fulcrum, less distance to travel for same throttle blade opening.

Your ball pivot should be in the black hole that’s above and more towards the front of the car.

This large hole is where the linkage goes.

The lower of a hole you use the greater foot pressure it will take to open the throttle.

The carb bracket has a bushing in the large hole and the center has a swivel with an attachment point for the return spring. Are you saying if that is used as the pivot for the throttle cable it will get full throttle?

https://a.co/d/0gm5uLVe

Make sure you're getting full travel of the pedal. With the throttle all the way closed can you lift up on the gas pedal?

I cannot - this is why I think bending the rod may be the solution but am not sure how to go about it without damaging the pivot point.

Needing to re-form the gas pedal cable arm is common as dirt. The trick is to weld a reinforcement to it once it's bent back to the proper shape. The pedal arm gets bent to a "relaxed" form from use. Tightening the curve fixes the problem...until it's used hard and relaxes again. The thing is just not stiff enough as manufactured.

Don't forget to re-set the TH400 kickdown switch as needed for proper operation. You DO NOT need to stuff rubber hose over the switch lever, you need to reset the switch properly.

Some TH350s have a kickdown cable attached to the gas pedal linkage. I've never dealt with that, but it wouldn't surprise me if that needed some adjustment after re-bending the gas pedal arm.

When I tried a throttle cable conversion on my 67 Bird, I used a Camaro 6 cylinder setup that was similar to your gear. I had to bend the cable arm in a vise with the pedal removed. Remove, bend, install, check alignment, lather/rinse/repeat.:(

Ultimately, I found that the arm was flexing, and the cable was stretching. I reverted back to my refurbed stock arm/rod setup and have been pleased since. F body vs A body, but a frustrating journey, so I feel ya.

I would second the idea of reinforcing the cable arm after getting it bent into the right place. That might be all that is needed. Maybe a little corner brace? I found that my repro arm was MUCH less rigid than my factory hardware.

Also, I put my throttle cable pivot point into the same place as you did on the carb bracket. The top hole was easy movement, but not enough travel and couldn't get to WOT. The lower hole had enough travel, but required too much force. I went middle hole to offset those effects. I was happy. Physics, huh?;)

Yes. Bending the accelerator rod at the floor of my 68 Firebird was the only solution to get WOT. Put a block of wood against the firewall inside that acted as a stop for the upper arm as I pulled upward on the actual pedal rod. It bent slightly enough to ensure proper movement.

The plastic piece on the firewall that the throttle cable goes through has a nub on it to limit the pedal arm from sitting flat against the firewall. Can this be trimmed down to increase the distance the pedal will be off the floor and thereby pedal travel? (See pic)

I bent/broke the one in my 69 A body a couple seasons ago. What I ended up doing was adding a 10" or so piece of 1/4" x 1/2" flat bar stock from jut above the pedal to right near the tip of the rod where the cable attaches. Triangulating it basically. Stiff as can be now.

I don’t know how you could bend the pedal arm in the car. My ‘71 has a solid steel arm and the pivot is plastic and held by 2 sheet metal screws to the floor. The pivot would break before the arm bent. I took mine out, clamped it in a vise, heated and bent it.

Also the hole in the carburetor throttle arm you are using will prevent full travel. It reaches a point where you are pulling against the throttle shaft and not rotating it. Place a bushing and fitting in the larger upper hole. You may have install a cable extension to do this. You get full rotation with a lighter pedal feel and more gradual throttle tip-in off idle for parking and backing up.

If the attachment point of the cable to the carb arm is closer to the pivot point, the arm will travel more than it would further from the pivot point. (with the same amount of travel of cable/pedal)

If you move the carb arm by hand to full travel, and the secondaries are not open all the way, then the arm between the primaries/secondaries needs to be bent. (more)

That's how you determine if it's cable/pedal travel or the secondary arm. If the primaries are WOT and the secondaries aren't, no additional amount of cable/pedal travel will correct it.

Sometimes the slot on the secondary arm gets wobbed out from high use and/or over travel of the pedal/cable.

Sometimes when you bend that arm though it can prevent the secondaries from closing all the way. So you have to use caution when bending it. This can cause more of an issue when you have bleed screw on the secondary plate. (4 corner)


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