I thought my new throttle cable bracket was pretty slick until I put my engine back in this afternoon. Well, Im about 5 inches too short. Anyone got any slick ideas on how to extend this? Probably run a new cable this winter but right now I just want to drive it.

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Looks like you need to move the bracket to make it fit. Assuming what you have is a stock cable a new one would not help. I have the Tangerine carb linkage and my cable needs to reach the back side of the driver's side carb so I ended up making a custom cable from parts bought from a motorcycle repair shop. It sucks because when it breaks I can't use my spare stock cable. Making a new custom cable is no my list of things to do...

you can get some rope cable clamps at lowes or home depot and some stranded cable and make an extension for now. They sell it all in the hardware section where they have chains and such.

Try your local bicycle shop. Some have barrel connectors with two set screws for splicing cables. Also easy enough to make out of Aluminum or steel spacers of the right length and ID and taping in set screws.

I think your cable can be extended and you just need to transfer or modify a bracket towards the middle closer to the linkage. Your bracket right now is at the fan shroud and usually others have it towards the middle case just after the oil filler tower.

sample picture borrowed from online images.

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Bug shops used to sell an extender, but those were only about 2 inches longer. Slipped onto the cable end, tightened with a setscrew, then necked down to the same size as the cable end. Would not be hard to make to the correct length. I ended up using the one I have on a heater cable that was a couple inches short on one side.

Try the easy solution first, make sure your cable is wrapped around the clutch cable.
Then make sure how you have it routed up to the throttle body. you can gain a few inches just by re-routing up from underneath.

Stop there, throw that linkage away. Now. Do it. Save yourself.

Get the CSP Bellcrank. Those hex bars are hell to get synced right and have too many parts to keep their sync accurate. It's just a shitty system. Get the CSP. Very high quality, very accurate, and pretty cheap.

The cable is obviously hung up somewhere else. It should extend at least 6 inches from the sheath as you can see in ndfrigi's picture.
After that you may need to alter your bracket to gain another inch.

@michael7810 - the stock cable is long enough but needs to come up thru the tin in a location more conducive to reaching the far corner. At least that's been our experience here.

It's fairly common for the cable to droop at the pedals when it's unhooked, then catch on the clutch cable when you pull it tight. Check at the pedals first.

Great tips all. I just ran a new clutch cable, and checked with a mirror that its not wrapped around. When I pull on the t cable in the engine bay I get nice smooth movement. It's not hung up. Not sure why it's shorter. Maybe modified by PO? I'll check again anyway.

I knew I'd get some comment on the linkage. I've got the same setup on my 1776 beetle and so far so good. I've had this CB linkage for about a year, so I thought I'd run it. Thanks for the link to the CSP bell crank. I'll definitely look closer at it if/when the CB stuff gets frustrating. Right now I just want to get the car drivable until the snow flies.

Oh, and Chris, I got your carb fuel line run and the pump relocated to the front. Thanks again for the great service.

I'll report back what I end up doing.

I got a very good price on a CSP kit from Mid-America Motorworks. McMark is right hex bar=headaches. I'd rather have a round crossbar linkage than hex bar, but the CSP is what you want. World of difference.

You issue is you have the cable bracket in the wrong location. Maybe you could get a 6 cable to work there, but that's not the place for the bracket.

Back in my 4-days, I had an issue with cable length and had to fabricate a simple bracket sorta like indi's picture.

PK is correct. Design the bracket to the cable and definitely confirm no hangups on the way to your new linkage setup...

Chris - I'm sure you're correct...and that's what I tell myself I'll do if my custom cable breaks. I remember I had a stock cable on it at first but the routing was tight and I just didn't like it so my "got to make it better" obsession got the best of me.

Here's what I came up with. Aluminum tube that I tapped for 6-32 set screws to couple the cable end to a brass rod. The tube isn't robust enough, but it's working for the moment. I'll make a bit nicer one. But this looks like a good solution for the rest of the year.


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IMHO. Nothing wrong with your "shitty system". If installed and modified correctly it works just fine and has for me for the past 12 years.

Hey where does the oil go in?