I just spent a nasty afternoon replacing the throttle cable on the bus. It seemed so easy . Mistake - Pulling the old one out without a bit of thin but very strong string tied to it. Problem 1. Pushing new cable through it from the front hit something every time about a foot from the end. the firewall or fan housing I suppose. Problem 2. Pushing electricians cable pulling thingy from the back it hit the end of the pipe coming to the firewall from the front every time. Eventually made a pusher out of the handle of a B&Q bucket. Could get the electricians cable thingy through the firewall and the holes in the bodywork when I pulled the flexible bit of the throttle cable shroud away from the hole. The electricians cable thingy could then be fed into the cable shroud and it went to the front of the bus OK. I had to remove the bullet from the end of the throttle cable as it wouldnt go through the duct at the front with any insulating tape around it. I attached the throttle cable to the end of the electricians cable puller , pulled back and the whole thing snapped near the back of the bus inside the tube. Pulled out the throttle cable out again from the front. Managed to get broken end of electricians cable puller out with the throttle cable. Spent several hours poking, pushing , taping and losing the end. There are two narrowings in the throttle tube - one where a little funnel is crimped on at the end as it meets the tinware and another in the tube where the flexible tube joins the solid tube . Things catch on both of these.... Several times I got lumps of insulating tape stuck in the tube but they always pushed out to the front of the bus again (once I got them past the bit of tube which had cracked about 20 cm in from the front of the bus) Until a lump got thoroughly stuck about 100 cm from the back. So I made a mangler out of a piece of the old throttle cable , with a 'hairy' end. Put it in a battery powered drill and spun the cable round with the drill spinning slowly, feeding it into the throttle tube which I curved down in front of the tinware, chewing at the blockage until it gave way. Then I managed to push the electricians cable puller back into the tube and push the tape out. Then the throttle cable went through OK and I had two ends under control. Poked the electricians cable puller through the fanhousing and the firewall/ tinware. Taped the puller together with the throttle cable and finally the end came through the fan housing. Then it was only needing some bodging to lengthen the cable slightly to allow it to reach the carburettor - the cracked pipe at the front lost some length and the cable seemed to be about 2cm too short - I might have stretched the flexi shroud on the cable while heaving on things to get them through. And... the original cable only had two strands left out of seven where it was damaged as it goes through the tinware. The cable gets trapped when the engine goes back in.
It doesnt annoy me ....much... I thought the cable would go in easily as well. Looking at the state of the tube through the fan housing and the hole in the fan housing I think there has been some wear . The tube is slightly curved :-( and the hole in the fan housing is not round any more... And there are no grommets or similar holding the tube.. I think some investigation next time the engine comes out is in order.
i would have cryed , i done one this week 5 minutes , but saying that itook me nearly 1 hour on the cool running bus owen nw
Easy job then? No, that was really hard work but, as they always say on these forums - "You learnt how not to do it" so next time you'll get it right!! As you say the easy way is to connect old and new together then pull the new through with the old. Even if you have a bit of crimping of the pipe that should work. I liked the idea of using a frayed cable in a battery drill to clean things out though!!
Urgh.. Sounds like a right nasty day.. Bet youve worn ya shoes out walking back forth to the front and back lol.. This how we learn in most cases tho aint it. Well done. I'd of lost ma voice through shouting n cursing, van would've prob had a few wounds too lol.
I have special shoes for working on the bus. The toes are worn out from kneeling to it, the soles have holes from all the walking to the front and back But at least the Bouncy Bus with a new cable fitted took us down to Highcliffe Castle for visit and lunch and then for a slow cruise round the carparks of Mudeford Quay. Tickover a bit fast - needed a bit more slack in the cable - would do 25mph in 4th with the foot off the gas...
