Sunday, February 24, 2013

Throttle cable bracket

Last weekend I set out to do something I thought was going to be a simple job: install the throttle and kickdown cables on my truck. A while back I purchased Lokar kits for both. I followed the instructions and started with fitting the kickdown cable housing and then moved to the throttle bracket. This is where I ran into problems. The throttle bracket is designed for carburetors and my engine has an Accel DFI fuel injection system on it. I thought since the Accel throttle body was a pretty similar shape to a carburetor the Lokar kit would work. What I found is the drivers side fuel rail interferes with the bracket and there were a few other problems.

Lokar throttle bracket
This is the section that hits the fuel rail.

I did some searching on the internet and I wasn't able to find any throttle cable brackets that are made specifically for the Accel DFI system. I did find a few forums with people looking for a solution to the same problem. One person in a forum said they contacted Accel and was told he needed to improvise a throttle bracket. Strange that they have a whole package for this fuel injection system but don't include a throttle bracket when there are no options available. So improvise it is. I started by cutting off the lower section of the bracket that was causing most of the interference (the part circled in red above). Once that was cut off I started test fitting to see what other adjustments I needed to make. I found the bracket was off about half an inch vertically and horizontally. 

Cable path was about 1/2" off side to side
and about 1/2" too low
To make up that difference I made another cut on the bracket and welded on a piece of 3/4" angle iron.

I cut the bracket here
Side view after welding
End view after welding
I did some more test fitting to make sure everything lined up and then welded up the low spots. I also cut off the overhang left over from moving it inward. After that I smoothed it out with a flap disc on the angle grinder.


Next up was figuring out the placement of the transmission kick down cable and the throttle return springs. I started by temporarily attaching the kick down bracket using the throttle cable ferrule. This allows it to swivel so I could find the best alignment. I also drilled a large hole in the piece I originally cut off the throttle bracket and attached that to the kick down bracket using the kick down cable ferrule. That piece will be used for the return springs.


After test fitting on the intake and adjusting for the best alignment I spot welded the two brackets so they wouldn't move.


I finished it up by painting it with some silver spray paint. Here is the finished part.

The space for the return spring was tight but it fits and doesn't interfere with anything. I put the return spring in backwards from what the instructions said because it fit better with this modified bracket. Here is a video of the bracket in action.