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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Sticky Throttle Cable

My throttle cable is very notchy, everything else is free. I was looking at the Venhill Teflon lined kits, has anyone tried these or have any other suggestions. I am about to squirt WD40 down as a temporary fix.
Cheers.
Andy Potter

Andy,
I might be wrong but I think you'd be better running thin oil through from one end to the other allowing all the excess oil to drip out of one end before reconnecting the cable.

WD40 is a jack of all trades and master of none other than driving water out, to lubricate then are many and better lubricants and certainly if you need a penetrating/releasing fluid WD40 isn't the best, something PlusGas is better. A small can WD40 is great to have as a standby in the glovebox, boot and spare drawer at home but have a better range of lubricants in your gargage (or shed if like me you don't have a garage).

I've got a Venhill outer conduit and inner Teflon liner, on a standard cable IIRC and I bought a mix of ferrules, it all works well.

I wished I'd tried a bent ferrule though as my cable is a quite tight fit. I stareted out with the cable run longer to give easier bends but I discovered the cable rubbed on the underside of the bonnet so kept cutting it down until it didn't which got me back to the original tight fitting. I wish now I'd left it longer and had some loose strapping to hold it away from the bonnet though. Bear in mind that the Venhill gives a thicker outer cable to allow for the Teflon liner and this means the whole thing is slightly less pliable than the original thinner cable.

Don't over tighten the connection to the inner cable at the carb end, I done this on a cheap cable and it snapped the cable there later causing a roadside repair.

You can get slippery pushbike brake cables instead which I think work out less money.

My short cable set up. (notice how dry and rusty the engine looks, it was the one and only time I got the rocker cover gasket sealed and after one of our "Sahara desert winds)

Nigel Atkins

Aaargh, another sticky throttle!

Don't worry Andy - the solution is simple and cheap.

This link to the archive should help.

http://www2.mg-cars.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=mgbbs&access=&mode=archiveth&subject=97&subjectar=97&thread=201503222240206165

Good luck!

Edit: BTW it applies equally to your A series as my 1500. Pretty little car you have there.
Greybeard

Thanks for the comments guys (and compliment). So far I've not read anything negative about Venhill stuff so will be ordering a kit shortly. Nigel yes I think you're right about WD40, probably better with a bit of 3 in 1 which I think I have kicking around. Thanks for the pic BTW.
Andy Potter

Andy,
3-in-1 should be fine, you could swing the cable round your head a couple of times to get the excess oil out subject to not hitting anything or blinding anyone of course.

I stopped recommending Venhill and putting up hyperlinks to them as they didn't reply to a couple of emails I sent them, that's not to say they're not a good company overall or that the products they sell aren't good. I just think why should I recommend a company that doesn't reply to me as a customer, I wasn't complaining I was after information to go on to buy more products from them. I've had this with another company I wanted to buy from that I used to recommend on here and elsewhere, it's lost good sales (and lost good recommendations) I can't understand why they miss out.
Nigel Atkins

Just as an aside really, but there are circumstances of "sticky throttle syndrome" which can occur that are nothing to do with the cable, although it feels much the same. If the sticky moment is the first attempt to very gently increase the revs in a controlled manner after a short period on tickover this may be down to a build up of intake suction. It happens if the butterfly discs are fully shut and sealing too well in the carb body. The intake manifold depression builds up as the car continues to run on tickover and the resulting suction on the butterfly valves is sufficient to resist that first gentle opening up as you gently press the throttle. Typically as you move gently forward in traffic.

The solution is to turn the tickover stop screws up by a tiny amount, just enough to prevent the butterflys from sealing completely when they snap shut.
GuyW

Nigel, yes I agree that would be irritating, after all recommendation by others is worth it's weight in gold hence my question today. Thanks again for your feedback.
Andy Potter

No problem Andy.

I didn't drop the smaller company until for a second separate occasion I wasn't followed up so it actually made three times in all. I like to recommend good products and where I get good service, much more pleasurable and much more readily accepted than calling out bad service and bad companies especially those with good PR and reputation
Nigel Atkins

Most like its not rust... hi chance the cable is fraying inside...

Check your carb spring tension on all 3 springs to be light as possiable

A bicycle repair shop is your best friend for a high end custom cable

Id also explore a modern cable from the salvageyard for cars and motor. Bikes

If you go back to moss ...buy 3 cables... that will get you to the end of rhe year

If your cable breaks before you get it replaced and you out on a drive... readjust the idle on both carbs the same amount..(can be off a bit) to 2300 to 2500 rpm and jusg baby it home with the brake and transmission with hazard lighrs on....think about the hills in advance

Ive done this a time or 2

But oncw the cable starts to behave like you got...it will last about another 200 miles and pop goes the wiesile

The big problem is cheap cables and high spring tension... the newer moss cables hate spring tension so buy several
1 Paper

As with all things there are differing quality pushbike brake cables as well
If you are going this way with your cable I would suggest a DuraAce cable from Shimano
These are Shimano's top line cables and are much finer and more flexible than their lower grade brake cables
willy
William Revit

I took my old cable to a bike store and they made up a teflon-lined cable and it works briliiantly!
Only £6.
aj robinson

Willy has it spot on, although the 105/Ultegra range are fine. Used this source for several cars
Motley 5

I went to my local bike shop about 10 years ago and got a brake cable and a length of housing (they sold it by the inch). I don't remember what brand but it has worked well for all of these years.
Martin

This thread was discussed between 27/05/2017 and 29/05/2017

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