LocostUSA.com

Wistful stares from me at the Mini, and forlorn memories of bygone days. Had two classic Minis, a 1970 Mini 1000 & a 1965 Austin Mini Cooper Mk. 1, the latter an actual, documented, works rally car, built as a left-hand-drive for the European rallies.

That car served me well, as my daily driver, my rally car, and my track-day race car, for several years.

It features heavily in my "Never shoulda sold that!! What was I thinking???" file. Unfortunately, that file is dismally large...20/20 hindsight, and all that....

_________________
Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/

That sounds like a great car! In Texas and Dubai, this was my daily driver. Here in Colorado, I won't drive it in the wet or if there is sand/salt on the road, but I still drive it all the time. The list of cars we shouldn't have let go!!!! This hurts.

1957 Porsche 356A Speedster 1600 Super (Maroon)
1969 Porsche 911S (White)
1970 Porsche 914-6 (Red)
1970 Porsche 914-6 (Silver)
1976 Porsche 914 2.0 (Black)
2005 Lotus Elise (Chrome Orange) Forced Fed Turbo (300 horsepower)

I'm certain that if I sell this car, the value will immediately quadruple. I sold all of the above for less than $20,000 except for the Elise, which was still only sold for $30K.

Heck, I even miss my Flyin' Miata Mariner Blue Miata!

But I love my Mini, and I still have my Honda CB750 too. Once the Seven is done, I'll have to see if I can find an Elise again... then MAYBE sell the Mini (but probably not).

_________________
My Haynes/Miata build: http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3774

So I've looked at numerous builds from here and abroad, and taken lost of ideas and mushed them together for my OBP throttle pedal/cable set up. Here's what I've crudely drawn up - not an artist!

Let me know what you think please!

_________________
My Haynes/Miata build: http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3774

That will work well. I didn’t have that much OEM cable to reach all the way down to where this has to go but looks like it will work well.

_________________
Steve

My build : http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtop ... 35&t=17160

MGB/GT V8 5.0L. viewtopic.php?f=36&t=20782

Looks good. The only caution I can see is making sure the arc of travel of the pedal does not produce a lot of side-loading on the cable. That would be the distance between the rod with a cotter key and your big hole at the lower right of your left side sketch.

I found the return spring on my donor's throttle body set-up was so strong that I didn't need a return spring on the pedal itself. That may be true for your Miata as well, but it's worth checking.

Your sketches are pretty good, by the way.

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Thanks - the actual pin mount is a lot closer to the pedal. I've started work on it, but I've had to go to work the last few days too, so I haven't had enough time to finish it. I think you are right on the return spring. The throttle body seams pretty strong. So far, so good:

















Sorry about the photo orientation - I need to work on always holding my phone sideways!

_________________
My Haynes/Miata build: http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3774

Pretty happy with how the throttle turned out. I had to notch the pedal box to allow the cable stop at the pedal room to rotate. This worked out, as OBP had a small hole for a throttle cable end to go through, which wouldn't have worked at all with the Miata throttle cable.



I mounted the stock throttle cable end on the firewall with a piece I made:









Then I had to fabricate a throttle stop on the return side of the pedal. I slotted it so it can be adjusted pretty easily. It was a piece of 1" square that I sliced up with the bandsaw. This made a nice groove that a special bolt with a washer-head slides up and down in. It locks on the other side with a nut, and a piece of hose over the threads finishes it nicely.







I then sanded and welded that to the side of the pedal box. You can see it in the finished box set up.

After I did that, I went to work on the pedal. I had to weld the shaft on for the clevis to slide onto. I also welded a washer for a return spring just in case I would need one (turns out I don't).





More in the next reply...

_________________
My Haynes/Miata build: http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3774

I disassembled the stock Miata pedal and reused the bushings for my clevis.





All said and done, it works nicely. Good pedal feel and full travel. I can adjust throttle body opening at the manifold end, and the pedal travel on the pedal box end. I put a bolt with a captured nut (on the engine bay side) through CP16 as a pedal stop at full travel, which can also be adjusted.



Please provide any input! I like it, and I get to use the stock Miata cable as a replacement. The action is good and it has plenty of adjustability as well.

_________________
My Haynes/Miata build: http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3774

It’s cool that you did, but I don’t know how you got that cable down their. Mine ended up 6” from the bottom of my pedal box. You shouldn’t have to adjust your butterfly at all. That should stay closed at idle. Your air valve will run idle. You’ll want a small air filter for that too. All looks nice.

_________________
Steve

My build : http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtop ... 35&t=17160

MGB/GT V8 5.0L. viewtopic.php?f=36&t=20782

It will have to go through my "shelf" in front of the scuttle with a grommet, but it seems to fit fairly nice. I'll see as the build moves on. On the throttle body side, I just meant the adjustment to get the butterfly full open with the pedal is adjusted on the manifold side, not the idle. See below:



Thanks for the input though! I'm hoping it'll all work as planned once I have it running. Then I'll go Megasquirt for the turbo or supercharger (which came with the donor) I'm planning.

_________________
My Haynes/Miata build: http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3774

Looking good!

Cheers,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Thanks guys!

The only issue, which it seems some of the Haynes builders in the UK have found as well, is that the travel of the throttle pedal seems long. I saw one of the solutions was a smaller throttle body wheel. Seems like a great solution and would give you more clearance on the bonnet as well!

Has anyone on this side of the pond tried that?

_________________
My Haynes/Miata build: http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3774

Hi Randy,

the angle of the cable looks (in the side view) like it will be wearing quickly. That could be remedied by spacing the cable housing bracket off the firewall, changing the angle, or raising the bracket further away for more exposed cable by moving the cable sheath closer to the tb on the engine. However, it looks like spacing it off could cause it to fowl the throttle pedal at full travel.

For the pedal ratio, it would be difficult to reduce without a total rework. That is one of the difficulties with bottom hinged pedals. A smaller quadrant at the tb would work well imho.

One way to improve both situations is with a 1/8x3/4 steel strip as shown with a pivot on the right, moving the cable bracket to the left, reducing the ratio on the cable while increasing the travel for the pedal throw. The middle link could be a short cable or rod with normal throttle linkage spherical joints to prevent bind. There would be no adjustability required in the link.

You could also just let it go for now and see what happens. You may never put enough miles on to have an issue with cable wear and more pedal travel with an overpowered car can give you more precise throttle control.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

Thanks for the tips MV8.

I thought the same looking at the angle with the throttle pedal fully up (not pressed), but as soon as it goes past about 1/4 travel, the angle is reduced significantly. One more reason I thought that reducing the travel at the throttle body end would be helpful, as the travel could start lower, keeping the throttle cable from ever seeing that angle. Does that make any sense?

_________________
My Haynes/Miata build: http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3774

Absolutely! Very nice quality of build by the way. Shame to put your feet on that.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12