So engine in, and as mentioned in my resto thread, the throttle cable seemed about an inch shorter, where it screws into the throttle arm on the carb. Sooooo, dropped the engine out and with a set of mole grips, pulled as hard as I could. I also checked the accelerator pedal end and nothing out of place. Engine back in and still too short!? However it still, only just, screws into the carb arm, whereas before I had a good inch or more of the cable poking out. What could this be? Does anyone else have only a bit of the throttle cable pulled through? I really don't know what else to check?
Get under the van and reach above the gearbox for the cable conduit, and make sure the Steel tube that goes through the tinware is pushed into the end of it, and the other end is seated properly.
Thanks for the reply. That's the thing. It wasn't seated properly before, but after bending the steel tube a bit, it now sits properly on the rear tinware. Could this be why it's now shorter???
The nose of the tube through the fan housing is not engaged in the end of the bowden tube coming up above the gearbox. The tube is meant to go through a grommet in the tinware and not rest on it. It should stick out about 10-15mm. You should not have to bend it, or have bent it. I use a cable tie on mine to hold it behind the fan housing as an alternative to the grommet, and a washer on the tapered part to stop it falling through the fan housing from the back. Wiggle the through fan housing tube around a bit while pulling on the end of the cable.
^this. The bell-end (matron) of the conduit should locate nicely on the short length of throttle tube coming through the grommet.
Thanks for replying. For some reason I have 2 holes in the rear tinware for the tube. I've put it through the lower one, which in hindsight why I slightly bent the tube. I have no idea why there are 2 holes for the tube in the rear tinware, but I know was done by vw and the other not! Took it out for a run and all seems fine... ish, forgot to attach the hose from the air filter to the manifold! Wonderd why she stalled at lights and hesitant when put my foot down. But again not sure if it's the bloody cable!?
Lol, I thought the flared bit (bell-end) went through the fan housing, I'm I getting my ends mixed up!? Either way, please tell me not an engine out job again..... please, please. PLEASE!
The throttle conduit has a flared end as it comes through the gearbox support frame. The thin end of the tube through the fan housing goes into it. The flared end of the thin tube faces the carburettor. It probably isnt an engine out if you fix an extension to the throttle cable - strongish thin string taped to it. Then you pull the thin (bent haha) tube out of the fan housing over the extended throttle string amd take it off the end. Now thread the throttle string extension back into the bottom hole , hook it out the top hole with a wire hook, hold on to it. Pull throttle cable from front of bus about 10cm until the wire end is inside the fan housing. Pull carefully on string and the cable should emerge. Refit thin tube after straightening it and wiggle it back into the flared end of the conduit.. Job done. Patience. There are two holes. Different for bus and beetle? Top one is the right one. And my beetle FI setup seemed to end up with it coming through well over to the left of the distributor, so a third location may be present.
Thank you. You make it sounds easy, but I know it has to be done, so a job for next weekend. Will update once if done. At worst...... engine out!!
@mikedjames Just to clarify, and curiosity. Is the fact that the tube is in the wrong hole through the rear tinware, really have an effect on the length of the accelerator cable? Thanks
As far as I remember, there's only one hole for in the curved rear tinware. That should have a grippy grommet in it. Holes in the fan shroud: a round one (with grippy grommet) facing you, and a slot at the rear of the fan shroud. A horseshoe-shaped grommet bungs up half the rear hole. The metal tube ideally should stick out about 10-15mm from the tinware. The bell-end of the conduit locates over this. The conduit should emerge from the small hole in the crossmember on the left-hand side (viewed from rear).
I've had this problem after disconnecting my cable, and it's as said , the cable end and tube aren't seated properly. It's proper baffling until you figure it out. I think also I have 2 holes in my fan housing for some reason , but if you use the wrong hole it'll be obvious when you connect cable to carb as the cable line will be odd. (Assuming you have a single std carb...)
I had a related problem getting my engine reinstalled last week. I got it all bolted in but with the through-fanshroud tube through the lower (wrong) hole by mistake. I can confirm that its entirely possible, though extremely fiddly to get the tube out and to feed it back through the correct hole with the cable iin place. P.
Thanks for all the replies. Working lates this week, will sort this one out next weekend and report back. Should have mentioned, it's a single carb set up.
Just remembered that, when I installed my new engine, I bought a new accelerator cable tube from JK. No matter how much I tried, the blooming thing kept popping back out from the grommet towards the carb as if on a spring (I assumed that the bowden cable was being compressed). I ended up cutting about an inch off the end of the tube and it went straight in and (touch wood) it's been fine ever since.
