Want to make a plastic bushing for the throttle control rod

[sshanky]

Hey guys,


The throttle on my '69 Spider has a TON of play, and I've determined that it's because I'm missing the bushing that keeps the throttle shaft from moving around in the hole at the rear of the engine compartment.

I've located the diagram online, here: http://www.spiderroadster.com/124linkage1.htm

The bushing is part 5 (I also don't think I have the isolator, part 6, but the bushing is the most important thing at this point).

I have access to a 3-D printer and my friend can "print" me a bushing. Problem is, I'm traveling, not near the car, so I can't grab calipers and measure the diameter of the hole in the firewall and the diameter of the shaft itself.

If anyone would be kind enough to measure the dimensions for me, I will print some, and share one with whomever gives me the measurements. I would need the dimensions of the hole and the shaft, so I can make one. Anyone able to provide that? I would be much obliged!

Thanks

[RCSquadraCorse]

Dang... I was with the car till 2 days ago and I could have provided all the measurements needed... if you still won't be able to get them (even if I think someone will come in your help soon) I will give them to you in a couple of weeks when I will be back to my mancave. If you wanna try to figure out the measures by yourself and if you need any image I have a lot of them.
BTW #5 and #6 (you need both of them) are the bushings that keep the throttle shaft in place below the valve cover and next to the carb so you might wanna check also the spring that keeps the shaft well pressed against bushing #2 on the firewall if you have weird movements of the shaft near the firewall.

[sshanky]

Dang indeed! Too bad I didn't post this earlier...It's been needed for ages but I only just realized my friend could to the 3d printing.

Photos would definitely help...looking at that diagram is hard for me, and I don't quite visually recall how it would work. I don't understand that spacer piece and what it would do.

Yeah, if you don't mind uploading some photos, I would appreciate it. Thanks a lot...

[vandor]

I think I may have that part. Email me and I can check.
Do you need one on the firewall end or the engine end? Bcs you say firewall, but #5 is on the engine end.

[sshanky]

Hi and thank you!

I'm a little confused to be honest. I am not near the car so I can't go look at the mechanism. All I know is that there is nothing on the firewall end (the hole the shaft goes through is about 3x the diameter of the shaft). On the diagram, I can't find the firewall, or the hole in it, so I am now questioning where the bushing really needs to be. I do know that when the accelerator is pressed, the shaft moves completely across the firewall hole. I may need both parts but I have never had them on the car since I bought it so I don't know what I *should* see. Do you happen to know the shaft's diameter?

Thanks again...

[RCSquadraCorse]

So, #5 goes between the shaft and the valve cover bracket, while #6 is what I marked as "Engine end" in this picture:


Based on your description I think you need the bushing #2 on the firewall (marked as "Firewall end") that basically makes the spring to compress against it and keeps the shaft in tension:



Basically is a sort of rubber cap, as you can see from your diagram, that goes into the firewall and there is a hole in it that lets the "conical end" of the shaft to sit in it (not the whole shaft).
I hope you can get the right part from Vandor so you don't have to wait 2 weeks for the measures...
HTH

[vandor]

Nice pics Riccardo!

I will look for the bushings at home this weekend, but they may be at work.

The shaft looks to be about as thick as a 8mm bolt.

[sshanky]

Very nice pics indeed! Thanks for doing that and annotating them!

I guess I didn't realize the shaft ends at the firewall. For some reason I thought it went through. I wonder if the plastic bit that goes in that hole has to be closed at the end, like the shape of a top-hat, to keep the post from going deep into the firewall (toward the rear of the car). I don't know what the condition of the parts 5 and 6 are on my car. I wish I was there to look. I guess I need to hold off on having them build something until I can have a closer look, unless anyone knows the dimensions.

[RCSquadraCorse]

Found another image on the iphone. As you can see there are 2 rubber bits going into the firewall. As far as I can remember the shaft doesn't slide completely into the firewall, basically the bushing is just a seat for the shaft and only the last "conical part" goes into it (for "conical part" I mean the final 2/3mm of the shaft that is kinda shaved/smaller as you can see from the "engine end" image I've uploaded before). And I'm quite sure that the diameter of the shaft is standard, so if we suppose that is 8mm as Vandor/Csaba said, the hole of the rubber bushing should be 7/6mm. The spring seats around the hole where you see the greasy stuff and being the spring longer than the last part of the shaft it will compress against the bushing as shown in the previous "firewall end" images. Also, #2 it's probably "top-hat" shaped but it really doesn't matter as the shaft doesn't have to go entirely into it.
This is what I can recall by memory but if you want to be 100% sure I can help you in a couple of weeks (or less maybe). I hope that someone else will be more helpful than me, providing the right dimensions as soon as possible! In the meantime you have some images to understand what goes where.

[vandor]

I have the rubber grommet and the plastic bushing that go in the firewall. Please contact me if you need them.

[sshanky]

Thanks a lot! I will send you an email, and keep everyone up to date on this.