Search the Community

I’m a bit reluctant to start a new thread about this, because I get the feeling that maybe some folks are ignoring my comments, because it probably seems like I just flint around from one project to another, and don’t actually finish any of them. Probably true. Being a one man show in a small business, work follows me home in the evenings, and on the week ends, so for now I’m just trying to evaluate this all, and get an idea of what all is missing (after having stored the car for nearly 40 years, dismantled), what I’ll have to purchase yet, and what I can fix myself. I did a good deal of searching on the forum, and what discussions I did find were pretty old, and I know some don't like to see old threads yanked back to life. Anyway, so engine control cables – throttle and choke. My choke cable was broken off at the end of the outer sheath, so wondering if it would still be long enough if I shortened it 3 or 4 inches, or what ever is necessary at the engine end. I don’t have my dash installed, so I cannot measure any of this with any accuracy. The choke cable is 44” long. Would it reach if I cut 3 ½ or 4 inches off of the outer cable sheath? Or, has anyone here ever managed to replace the wire part, reusing the knob and the stem. (The wire is crimped into the end – looks like it would be pretty difficult to get the old one out, let along make a new one hold. (I wasn’t concerned about such details when I bought the car, because way back then I was just intending to build a daily driver, and would have just bought something made for a tractor, etc.) One thread I looked at showed how someone had extended a cable by fastening the ends together, with the cable sheaths clamped down on a straight brace. So I may work out something like that if I have to. By comparison, the throttle cable sheath is only 32” long, with about 3 ½” of the wire out beyond that. (All of these measurements are with the knob pushed in, measured from the ring that fits against the dash bezel.) I bought my car as a basket case (like I said, 40 years ago), so I never saw it with the engine installed and everything connected. My Dad had a 47 Plymouth for awhile, but I was way too young then to have any memories of such details.