I'm planning on replacing my throttle cable this weekend with a Terry cable. I was going to do this a while ago but I couldnt get the original cable loose from where it comes out of the firewall so I just let it be. Now I'm ready to try again. Any tips or tricks to getting the cable loose from the firewall? I was thinking of splitting the cable's metal cap with a dremel and prying it apart but I don't want to damage the underlying tube. Also, is it true that I have to remove the center console to change the TC? I'm looking for any help and encouragement I can get because right now the car runs great and I don't want to do anything to it that might cause me to f**k something up and render the car inop. especially with the number of driving days left this year dwindling fast.

It is easier when changing the throttle cable to remove the center console first. There is a small access cover plate you can remove then. The biggest problem is threading the cable so it doesn't wrap around the clutch cable!
The rest is easy.

Geoff

My plan there was to attach safety wire to the pedal end before pulling it through the center tube so that I could use that to pull the new cable through the tunnel down the same path so as not to wrap it around the clutch cable.
Thanks Geoff

My nightmare throttle cable story is:
Pull out the cable out of a friends 914 that is on its last legs. Had to pull really hard for some reason on that last little bit, hmmm. Go to install the new cable , hmm, it only goes in about 2'. Why is that? He and I tried for about 1 hour to get the damn thing to go in. Then I decide to fix the effin thing. I had a 3 foot piece of 1/8" steel rod laying around so I welded the end of a drill bit onto it. Shoved that into the tube and cleaned it out of a bunch of JB Weld!!!
Then the new cable went in just nice and smooth!

Geoff

You can do eeet!

Why are you replacing it?

If theres nothing wrong per se- why don't you wait until the end of the season? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Fiid.

Mine was a piece of cake. Unhook from the pedal, and give it a good tug from the rear. Putting it in was a piece of cake too, just slid in from the back and picked it up by the pedal. A few screws later and I was on the road with a working accelerator pedal. Which was nice because I was starting to get some strange looks as to why my shoes didn't have shoe laces. That and it’s a lot easier to shift when one of your hands isn't occupied with the "throttle lace." Over all job, including re-lacing my shoes probably took about 30 min.

-Kevin

It's original (27 years old), and I've got the replacement already. Also, I broke the threaded part of the sheath at the throttle body end, so now there is only about 3 threads that hold it to the bracket on the engine. I figured I'd replace it before it strands me somewhere. I plan to attend the Indiana Fall Tour and that's about a 6-7 hour drive each way, so I thought it would be a good idea to replace it before that long drive. I can still carry it as a spare in case the Terry cable ever breaks (if I don't fuck it up removing it, that is).

Oh - well - in that case, I would get on with it. The sooner you start - the sooner you're done. And it;s not too har. I did the clutch cable (similar) which was more problematic because of the darned slutch tube, but still wasn't all that hard.

Good luck,

Fiid.

Curvie, Its not that difficult. Count the # of threads on the pedal end of the cable and try to get the new one close to that. Don't adjust the other end too tight. Leave a littlel slack in the cable. Pull the center pad and the access cover, It'll help you guide the cable in the right direction. If it wraps around the clutch cable it can hang the accelerator wide open.
Sometimes the "cone" on the old cable can stick to the tube in the firewall and will nedd a little coaxing.

Good luck, Curt