It's spring time!

Adventure is worthwhile in itself.
Amelia Earhart

Sure as anything, spring came around lovely and sunny and clear after a very mild Johannesburg winter. But we have other springy issues to resolve.

So we have an engine that is fitted beautifully, the new exhaust pipe is sparkly in its shiny newness but we have a sticky throttle, ooer, it won't bounce back after use. Must be getting old...

The extra length and complexity of the accelerator cable have resulted in a lot of friction and the carburettor return spring is now too weak to, um, return.

After a bit of research I reckon we can bodge it a bit - here is a spring that I sourced from the lovely people at Mogale Springs in Krugersdorp for a mere tenner:

We can fit it under the accelerator pedal, on the hinge pin, so as to help raise the pedal back up after a good revving. Cool. Except, after soaking the 44-year-old hinge pin liberally with penetrating fluid we drifted it out, only to see:

Hmmm, this pin has seen better days. Rust never sleeps, as the elders keep telling us. Never mind, a long, new bolt and a shiny chromed acorn nut will do the trick ... bit of a fiddle and ... success! We now have a well sprung accelerator pedal.

Now for the other end, the carb spring. I have tried to source a stronger version of the existing one but it isn't going to be that simple. It looked a bit like this when we started:

To tension it up a bit we cut almost a centimetre from one side and re-bent the angled sticky-outy bit onto it. Don't try this at home, folks, it's not recommended by the manufacturers, warranty may be voided, blah blah blah.

Anyway, it works. We have an accelerator assembly that pulls and pushes like a good 'un. Congrats to us and thanks to all for a another job well jobbed.

Oh, and a final tip - when you are drilling through a thin board, think carefully about where you choose to place your spare hand!

Thanks for coming by, pop in again
CooP