AZ455

So I was messing with the Olds today, just looking things over, killing time... I decided to have my wife stomp the throttle for me so I could see if the linkage was opening both primary and secondary throttle blades all the way. To my surprise the secondaries were only opening about 60° at supposed WOT!

I ended up "shortening" the throttle cable by cutting down the side of some brake line, spreading it, then crimping it closed around the throttle cable at the pedal. This did the trick after some trial and error on the length of tube I needed. Now they open fully, or so it seems. Am I correct in assuming the secondary throttle blades are not supposed to open beyond where they are in line with the air baffle inside the secondary side? Looks like about 80° or so. The linkage will not open them any farther, unless I manually grab the arm on the secondary throttle shaft and move it by hand.

I think I have been missing out on some WOT power. I can't wait to test it out, I also have dist re-curve springs/bushing on the way. Should be fun! I will have to wait a while though, since as of right now when the thermostat opens the radiator leaks and the fan blows coolant all over the place. Hopefully I'll have saved up the funds for a new radiator soon. The house has delayed it some lately. I don't want to repair this one, been done too many times before. I don't trust the internal trans cooler to not spring a leak either. Waiting to drive it again is the hard part!

Thanks for reading!

RetroRanger

Nice...the anticipation is killlng me too, I took my car outta winter storage in march and have been working on it ever since, i think this weekend is the one !!!!

a64olz

In Arizona we do things back asswards, we put our cars in storage for the summer and drive them in the winter. So we take em out of summer storage

MDchanic

Your throttle plates should open to completely vertical. The fact that you can open them that far by hand confirms this.

You have a linkage problem - wrong cable, wrong cable end clips, wrong cable brackets, something.

You need to get it to go from fully closed to fully open.

- Eric

sixty9olds

Do you "summerize" them before storage?

AZ455

Do you think that somehow the tab on the primary throttle shaft that opens the secondaries, or the rod in between the two, is bent? The throttle cable to the pedal seems to open the primaries 100% now, it is just the secondary throttle blades I can open slightly farther by hand.

MDchanic

If you can open them by hand, then the odds are that the carb is fine, but the linkage or connections are bad.

- Eric

AZ455

The photo on this page shows about how mine behaves:
http://www.carcraft.com/howto/57178/photo_08.html

This places the secondary throttle blades directly under the air baffle. Is this not correct? They will go farther, but then they slant toward the front of the engine somewhat.

MDchanic

They should look exactly like the picture at full throttle, whether you are pressing the gas pedal or pushing it with your hand. The gas pedal should pin the throttle stop tang against its pad - there should be nothing else stopping the gas pedal's travel to the floor except for the throttle stop on the carburetor. When the linkage is disconnected, the pedal should go further to the floor than it does when it's connected.



- Eric

AZ455

Cool. Then everything is working perfectly now.

AZ455

Here is how the pedal sits now. I don't have before pics, but it sat resting on the floor and leaned way back toward the firewall at the top. It is much more vertical now. I started the car up today and it feel more correct this way. I still have not driven it yet, that is driving me nuts. Hopefully next week I will be able to get my radiator.

Amazing how much dirtier things look in photos...

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