J
John Friese
Guest
Hi,
When I run my Amphicars, I often like to sit on the seat back of the
drivers seat. This required that I set the throttle and lock it with
the Amphi's throttle lock. I was never too happy with this situation.
I had noticed that the travel of the lock handle was only about an
inch or less and that the thottle cable assembly had much more
available travel. Finally, it seemed that the lock system of the
cable was barely able to hold against the return force of the pedal.
I finally took a look into this situation and came up with a simple
solution that takes care of all the problems. I simply fashioned a
bracket out of stainless that bolted to the point were the cable
originally went and extended up toward the floorboard about an inch an
one half. This effectively doubled the leverage that the cable has on
the pedal. The net effect is now I can use the handle as a true hand
throttle and not just a lock. The overall movement of the handle is
now about two inches and can take the pedal all the way to the floor.
As an extra benifit, coming from the increased leverage, the handle
locks with much less force and I'm sure the lock system will last much
longer.
I just came back from the lake and the first water test of the system.
It was great. Now I have total throttle control while sitting on the
seat back. I had a machinist crank a couple of them out and might
have more of these produced if there is enough interest in them. One
warning though. If you have a late car with the heater along side the
tank, access can be had through the front trunk and the change is
pretty easy. If, like most, the heater in under the tank, access to
this linkage is practically impossible without pulling out the kick
board to get at it. That makes it pretty much an afternoon project.
John Friese
67 White
67 Red
When I run my Amphicars, I often like to sit on the seat back of the
drivers seat. This required that I set the throttle and lock it with
the Amphi's throttle lock. I was never too happy with this situation.
I had noticed that the travel of the lock handle was only about an
inch or less and that the thottle cable assembly had much more
available travel. Finally, it seemed that the lock system of the
cable was barely able to hold against the return force of the pedal.
I finally took a look into this situation and came up with a simple
solution that takes care of all the problems. I simply fashioned a
bracket out of stainless that bolted to the point were the cable
originally went and extended up toward the floorboard about an inch an
one half. This effectively doubled the leverage that the cable has on
the pedal. The net effect is now I can use the handle as a true hand
throttle and not just a lock. The overall movement of the handle is
now about two inches and can take the pedal all the way to the floor.
As an extra benifit, coming from the increased leverage, the handle
locks with much less force and I'm sure the lock system will last much
longer.
I just came back from the lake and the first water test of the system.
It was great. Now I have total throttle control while sitting on the
seat back. I had a machinist crank a couple of them out and might
have more of these produced if there is enough interest in them. One
warning though. If you have a late car with the heater along side the
tank, access can be had through the front trunk and the change is
pretty easy. If, like most, the heater in under the tank, access to
this linkage is practically impossible without pulling out the kick
board to get at it. That makes it pretty much an afternoon project.
John Friese
67 White
67 Red
