Throttle pedal assembly rebuild

Dr.Jeff

True Classic
Actually the title should be "How NOT to rebuild the throttle pedal assembly".

First, I'm referring to this thing:
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Mine wasn't frozen, as many seem to get. But just the opposite; it was sloppy with too much play between the pedal shaft and the plastic housing it rides in. So I decided to 'rebuild' it by adding some bushings between the shaft and housing. I'm referring to this type of bronze machine bush:
004.JPG


I bought a selection of them. Both metric and SAE sizes. With and without a flange on one end. And long and short lengths. Unfortunately the Fiat throttle shaft isn't very true, like most components on these cars. So none of the bushings fit it correctly. After hours of truing the metal shaft and reaming the bushings, I finally got a couple of the short, non-flanged bushes to fit the throttle shaft. Then the plastic housing had to be bored out to accept the larger OD of the bushings. Again, things weren't true and required a lot of fussing until everything fit together. The final result is a good fit between the two components (no more slop), but it wasn't worth the effort. The old worn assembly really was not that bad and the time/headache required to make this mod was ridiculous.

Here are the steps involved.
First grind off the weld holding the lever onto the throttle shaft:
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This allows you to separate the parts:
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The throttle pedal shaft and plastic housing were reworked until the bushings fit both of them:
006.JPG
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Assemble components:
008.JPG


Reweld the lever onto the end of the throttle shaft.

It all sounds easy, and it should be. But working with wonky quality parts makes things much more work than they should be. So unless your throttle pedal is REALLY bad, I don't recommend doing this just for the fun of it.

PS: it doesn't feel any better than a non worn out pedal assembly. And the bored plastic housing may be weaker; I noticed a couple fine cracks after the work (but not sure if they might have already been there).
 
Wow, top marks for going to all that effort!! :)
I hope that you can notice "all the difference" that your repair job has given you! :rolleyes:

cheers, IanL - NZ
 
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