Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

In chasing down some of the smaller detail items on my car, I had wanted to get the 'T' throttle cable working, as it was completely seized up. I got at it today and found that where it disappeared behind the sound-deadening panel on the inner firewall and BEFORE it emerged on the engine side, the outer sheath of the cable was so badly corroded, that it had broken in several places and the inner cable was subsequently badly kinked. The knob on the dash obviously matches the rest of the car, so want to stay with that, but the cable assembly seems like it is swaged together as a one-piece-er. Not thinking it would be very easy to come up with used or NOS on this item, was wondering if anyone has gone through this exercise before?? Any tricks or shortcuts?? Chris.

Chris, someone with more recent experience will surely chime in but in the meantime, as far as I know, it has to be replaced as an assembly. Odd, though, about the corrosion. I wonder what might have caused it on a car that is otherwise in such good condition?

Thanks for the quick reply, Don, and glad to get confirmation of what I suspected, that the unit is an assembly. As far as I can tell, the original cable was too long. Rather than carefully cut the outside sheathing down and snip the excess inner cable off, (which is what should have been done) the excess was just left in a looped coil behind the sound deadener and the firewall. This would have added to the friction of deploying the cable, but moreover, I think condensation got involved, and the outer cable rusted badly to the point of disintegrating. Then someone forced the knob and the inner cable kinked. Now I need the whole business. Chris.

Hmmm...gimme a measurement .
DAF

I'll measure it tomorrow and post, David.
Chris.

I wonder if you could get the kink out of the inner cable if you could sleeve that portion with a piece of brake line tubing?? Probably should be a rubber grommet in the firewall where it passes through?? I wonder if somehow something was "grounding" thru the cable housing that caused the corrosion?

Could you or Flackmaster post a photo of the cable and particularly the dash end and knob. I am curious about the knob and whether it is plastic or metal. Am wondering if the knob might attach similar to the way some of the window crank knobs by being molded or cast onto a serrated rod or stud. Maybe there is some way a new piece of Bowden cable could be made to attach to the old dash assy or possibly a new universal choke cable assy could be adapted .

Hi Gents,
Thanks for the input and replies. So far, I have only managed to get the cable detached from the carb linkage, and fed back through the firewall. It is difficult to see exactly how it was routed as the sound deadener covers the inner firewall. It does go through fairly close to the heater and hoses, so my guess is that is what caused the corrosion. Cool air leaking through the dash meeting the warm heater air would certainly create condensation. The outer cover was broken in several places and came off in pieces. Length of existing unit is 29", including the inner wire that sticks out the end to attach to the linkage. By my measurements, it is about 4-5" longer than it needs to be so something 24-25" all in would probably work. It is 19" from the back of the dash to the firewall and 6" to provide some routing arc and go through the firewall to the linkage would be sufficient.
Howard, the knob is stainless and matches the light switch and lighter, and has an indented 'T' pressed into it. There is a nut on the back of the dash escutcheon that is god-awful to get at and I still haven't figured out how I am going to get at that. When I get the assembly out, I will post a couple of pics. Chris.

Howard, here's one out of a '40 - looks alike other than it appears to have a Bakelite knob instead of stainless, but other than that, looks the same. Chris
ebay.com/itm/1940-Packard-110-120-Thrott ... msV2&_trksid=p2047675.c100047.m2108

The ebay item looks like it is only a small bit better than yours with being in a single unbroken piece the better part. The outer housing has been spread apart with the core wire also exposed so I imagine corrosion could be an issue there too and that cable also needs to be replaced. The illustration in the parts manual does not show any separated loops so there must be some reason it stretches.