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Hi - back with more tales of woe !!

Pushing down the gas pedal on my R.H.D six cylinder operates a series of rod connections, perhaps unlike the L.H.D versions in the USA ?

Despite a low mileage of 63,000mls. every rod is worn at the ends and other parts are loose in the spindles, this makes for uneven running and certainly the car won't go to max. revs. via the gas pedal.

Anyone got any ideas for putting right the rod ends? - I thought maybe a blob of weld where they are worn then file it down to its original shape ?

My exhaust manifold has a main shaft and the piece that goes onto it is already sleeved - perhaps sleeving some of the other connections could be tried out - anyone any experience of these methods - or suggestions welcome.

The connections are off the bulkhead (firewall) and attached are some photos to perhaps help understand things.

Well I would but once more the website protector is saying that the photo is trying to attack the site - very laborious but I'll keep trying to submit the photos by changing their names. Well finally got that one on to the site - second one shows the unit removed from the car - don't forget R.H.D so looking at the photo - as it sits on the floor facing from the front the L.H. side is the steering and the single connection comes from the gas pedal.

Don't think the adjustable portion has ever been moved but that won't anyways cure all the slack (?)

Best regards Michael

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RHD looks to be quite a bit different than the linkage on LHD cars. The LHD brackets and rods mostly mount on the engine instead of the firewall so doubt new or better pieces for your car will be easy to find.

Welding might be one option and if done neatly probably would look most original.

Can't see the damaged areas in the photo very well so depending on exactly where and how the wear is concentrated, what about bushings or sleeves made out of seamless thin wall stainless tubing. Something like that could slide over the end of the rods. If wear is on the large cross rod, that might be more difficult to repair. It would mean cutting and rewelding the levers to remove the rod from brackets. If you did that then flanged bronze sleeve bearings might be able to be installed.

Could understand the jerky part with some wear but I'm a little surprised even with substantial wear there is a problem with reaching full throttle. Is the adjustment at the turnbuckle maxed out?

Thanks for the info. - most are of opinion this side of the pond that welding or brazing (depending on the metal) a "blob" onto the worn part then filing it back to shape is the easier option - this morning I have finally found the right size small spanners which after lots of easing oil application got the nuts on the turnbuckle to move so that as you say might ease things too. The single rod on the left of the photo goes to the gas pedal and that has nearly half the rod thickness worn away - could be caused by the first 20 years of service the car put in when on Rhodesian soil - lots of dust abrazing the metal away.

I will keep you informed as to any progress.

Regards Michael

I've not found it easy to file a worn shaft with some added metal back to a perfectly round shape. What I prefer is to grind the end of the shaft undersize and press a steel sleeve of proper OD onto it. If the hole it slides into is also worn eccentric or oversize, you can do it similarly by drilling it out a bit and pressing/soldering a short sleeve into it size to accept the repair on the end of the rod. The advantage is you now have two uniformly round surfaces bearing on each other.

One other thing. If it is the large cross shaft that is worn, it appears to be a straight rod -- no unusual bends. What about cutting the levers off, replace the rod with new from the hardware store and then reweld the levers back in the proper alignment. The others do have bends but doesn't look to be too complicated. Any chance the same could be done on those.

Sounds like a good idea, HH56. But I'd suggest using a good quality steel drill rod rather than that soft rod stock found in hardware stores.

Managed to get some extra photos onto the website - Oh and I forgot to mention she does not have the standard Carter carb. but runs on a single barrel FoMoCo carb. from a Ford Pick-up of around 1968 vintage

Regards Michael

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I promised to get back and report on progress - yes the removal and stripping down resulted in the parts being welded/brazed and small amounts added to the worn parts which the were then fettled back to the correct sections and the whole re-assembled then put back on the car - some juggling with the adjuster resulted in everything being pretty tight so good throttle response was restored.

The above resulted in me finding that upon starting her up on full choke the engine running wasn't quite right so I found that the choke wire was not opening up the butterfly fully upon shoving the choke lever in - this was quickly resolved by undoing the wire on the choke end and moving it to open the butterfly fully so she wasn't choked at all for normal running, the result is now near perfect starting and running, just hope that putting the air cleaner back on doesn't upset things.

I'm now going to start a couple of new topics - disc brakes and servo assistance - hope you will all take a look and offer up your thoughts please.

Cheers from the UK

Michael