Throttle cable for 69 302 with Edelbrock Perf. intake/carb?

[no_treble]

Hey everybody.

Has anybody out there switched out the stock trapeze/linkage on a 69 302 2bbl setup for a throttle cable? I swapped in an Edelbrock intake and 4bbl carb where a 2bbl used to be, but the stock trapeze/linkage doesn't like it. So far no amount of adjusting has enabled the linkage to open the carb up all the way.

I've asked 3 local auto parts stores for a threaded rod with two ends that I can hook up and bypass the trapeze altogether, but they all claim they don't have anything like that. I can get course-threaded rod at a hardware store (Lowes/HomeDepot), but no luck with the ends there.

So I'm wondering about just converting to a cable setup. Has anyone done a swap like that on a 302, and if so do you have pictures of your setup?

Thanks for any help. Other ideas are welcome as well.

[tam95ag]

Hey,

I just did the exact swap you are talking about. In order to get the carb linkage to completely open I did away with the factory "trapeez" set up and welded 2 pieces of the factory rods together to go from the firewall arm to the carb. I moved the connection point on the carb from below the pivot point to above (if that makes sense).

[no_treble]

Thanks tam95ag. I checked one more place in town for 90 degree ends and came up short, and lacking a welder, I decided to just bend a threaded rod and make my own "ends" with lock nuts.

For anyone else who's looking for a similar solution, here's what I did (for what it's worth):

I bought a 3' length of standard 10-24 threaded rod and four lock nuts for a grand total of $1.78.

I got in the truck and held the pedal out where it felt right, then measured from the top hole on the carb's throttle linkage back to the pedal rod held as close as I could get it to the same place. Then I cut the threaded rod off a few inches longer to account for the bends.

Heat and bend:

heat.jpg

[no_treble]

Ends bent:

yep.jpg

Front, attached with with two locknuts and some blue loctite:

front.jpg

Back, with a tiny amount of play between the locknuts:

back.jpg

[no_treble]

Added a couple of springs pulling backwards from the bottom of the carb linkage to a Mr. Gasket throttle spring bracket, and stretched them a bit to keep the pedal from feeling too soft, and it's all done.

side.jpg

The carb opens all the way just before the pedal touches the floor.

Hope this is helpful.