Hi. My car has aways had a sticky accelerator, which I had attributed to the 90 degree bend in the throttle cable before it enters the engine compartment. PO had done some creative routing, probably when changing over to a carburetor.
Today we pulled the old cable. It was really jammed up and had to cut it at the rear and pull it through from the front. Someone had removed quite a few strands of the cable (more on that coming ...). The white plastic sleeve for the cable is also quite a bit shorter than the replacement part.
When trying to feed in the new cable, it stopped at about 10" into the tunnel. No amount of persuasion would get it past that point. I chucked a coat hanger into my drill and was able to push past the 10" mark, but not without a good deal of binding/friction. And even after that the new cable would not go. The PO probably "thinned" the cable to get it past that point although I am not quite sure how that would be possible.
Here is where I am: There is a dent in the floor pan about 10 forward of the hole for the throttle cable. I can only guess that the tube running in tunnel was kinked or crushed by the dent.
I am thinking I need to cut into the tunnel to get to that point and try to open it up.
So two questions: first - is there another way to run the cable through the tunnel and, second, if I open it up to get at the tube would I be better cutting into the floor pan or the top of the tunnel between the seats.
I appreciate any guidance - Thank you!

Inspect the tube as best you can from inside the car at the various holes in the tunnel.

When I obtained my car, the throttle worked - barely. Had to cut the cable to remove it sort of like you did.

I couldn't feed the new cable in. In my case, the throttle cable control tube was very rusted out which was only found out with a light and inspection mirror. I see you're in the northeast so rust may not be out of the question.

I cut a tuna can flap on the inside of the tunnel, cut out the rusted portion of the tube to get a new cable in there. It was a decent short term fix that allowed for a brief test drive.

However, I knew I was going to have to do a full restoration due to the level of rust I had throughout the floor pan.. I hope you are not in this situation. Don't rule out tube corrosion without an inspection inside the tunnel.

This sounds like a very unique and strange problem, I wonder why it hasn’t happened to me!
Could be a crushed tube, or who knows what. Do you have a friend with one of those little video cameras at the end of a flexible tube? I’ve seen some around that have a small LCD screen, it might be useful before you go cutting.

I would much rather cut from above, and be able to fashion a cover and carpet, than cut out from below..

You can get an 8mm wifi endoscope for around $25 off of amazon. My experiance is a broken or rusted tube must be replaced.

I've got one of those endoscoped cameras you can use. Connects to USB.

Mark S.

You may try electricians fishtape. Cut the end off, These are very strong and you may be able to push out some obstruction

Sounds like a section of the plastic sheath came off when you slid the cable out. I remember Slits (Ron) I think had this happen. Do not remember the solution.

Thanks all for the guidance! The boroscope was a great idea. While it is hard to navigate that tunnel, it was clear there was no external damage to any of the tubes.

I then went to the fish tape and worked it around until it passed the blockage. When I pulled it out, there was a birds nest of old cable fragments at the end!! I finished it off with a blast of compressed air and lo and behold the new cable went right in, all the way to the front!

It’s a good thing I did not jump the gun and cut a hole. That would have have been a bummer ...

Thanks again.

hooray for an easy fix