Fitting a Cable type throttle pedal arrangement to an RA23 for any type of engine

[stradlater]

It appears that many people are asking the question of exactly how to fit a throttle cable and pedal to an RA23/8. I figured I'd write this essay to possibly help people out.

NOTE: I this case I used a throttle cable/pedal from a 1982 Mitsubishi Sigma.

Alright...

Firstly, you'll notice that the ra23 pedal is 'clipped' to the floor in the ra23. This just pulls off, pretty hard, but it'll pull off. It only rests against the actual pedal mechanism, so to get rid of it, just pull.

I'm going to go ahead and describe how it's done with a 1982 sigma pedal and cable, as that's what I've just used myself.

Unclip all the throttle linkages from the engine all the way back to the top of the pedal. These just pull apart at the ball joints. Bin them, we won't be using them.

Now you're left with a pedal bolted via two bolts to the floor. These are 10mm heads. Un bolt them. Pedal will come out.

Now you should have your 1982 sigma pedal and cable. You'll notice that the throttle end of the cable has a fitting that may be mildly larger than the space available for it on your throttle pivot. You may need to grind this back a bit. (I did).

Pedal:

At this point, I'd recommend putting the pedal in place over the two bolt holes in the floor. Even finger tighten one or two bolts in place to hold it there. You'll notice that the pedal arm MAY be a bit on the wrong angle. You may need to bend it a bit. If so, I'd recommend disassembling the whole pedal arm (pull out the split pin and so forth) and putting the arm in a vice and bending it any which way you require. Clean up the pivtol bar and put it back together with some grease on it to help it pivot.

You could now put the pedal in place and bolt it in. You don't have to, I left mine till last, as the cable is harder to do and you might need to get to the spot where the pedal sits. Otherwise, bolt it in if you like.

Cable:

As said earlier, the throttle end (engine end if you like) of the cable has a crimped cable fitting on it. This fitting may be a touch too big for the space available on your throttle. If so, CAREFULLY grind it away until it fits in your throttle. This is a bit of an iterative 'suck it and see' process.

You'll need to fabricate a little fastener to hold the end of the sheath on the throttle cable. There should be an appropriate one you can 'acquire' from the donor sigma. You may need to bend it/drill it/grind it a little to make it fit. Find an appropriate position on or around the throttle body to secure the fastener and hence the end of the cable. NOTE: This should not be too far away from throttle pivot itself, you don't want TOO much bare cable showing.

At the fire wall you will notice the hole that the throttle linkage used to go through. You will also notice that firewall end of the cable has a fitting on it that's roughtly a diamond shape and it has two screw/bolt holes either side of it. You can get away with only using one of these. Line the Diamond up over the firewall hole such that one of the two screw holes is comfortably over the firewall metal. Mark the center of the screw hole as you will be drilling a hole in the firewall at this spot.

Remove the cable from the engine bay. Use a small enough drill bit to create a hole for a self tapping metal screw. Drill hole.

By now you have both ends of the cable sorted, you just need to fabricate/locate a point to fasten the length controlling mount on the cable sheath. This particular point is pretty important because it can determine exactly how responsive your throttle is and exactly how 'tight' the cable is.

I fabricated mine by means of being up a long piece of aluminium. It was a very simple "L" shape that connected on one end to the engine and the other to the mount on the cable. You can be a bit creative at this point, and if your real lucky you might find a position you can bolt it to your engine.

So now you have all the mounts sorted, you can start by screwing a self tapping screw through one of the holes in the diamond that connects to the firewall. This will secure the fire wall end of the cable.

Secondly, fit the cable end onto the throttle itself (engine side). Now bolt the engine side mount to the mount you first fabricated.

Now that both ends are fixed, bolt the cable to the second mount you made. Here's where you can accurately tighten the cable and make sure there's no slack in the cable.

Now you can get under the dash and hook the firewall end of the cable to the top of the accelerator pedal. You'll notice that you just bend the metal up a bit and slot the crimped fitting in. Once it's in, just close up the metal flap.. Now you've got yourself a fitted throttle cable.

I know it sounds easy enough, but there are a few things you'll have to use your own imagination about. That said, this should apply to any engine type in an ra23.

Below is a rough photo of how it's layed out in my car.

I hope this has been of use. Please don't forget to spread the rep love if you did find it useful.

[DQIKST]

top work. but i was thinking of leaving my original pedal and connecting a cable from the part that sticks out from the firwall. is this possible using a 82 sigma cable setup???

+rep point 4 u my friend


cheers

[ace]

photo of the actual pedal?
+rep too

[stradlater]

DQIKST - you could probably fabricate what your talking about, but the sigma cable may be a little too long.

Ace - I'll get the pedal photo later.

[Rodger]

Good option stradlater,

I'll have to investigate the Sigma option further as an option on what I do. I have been asked a couple of times to provide kits for EFI set ups where the throttle body is on the drivers side. I know how to sucessfully shorten the cables but was not sure which one to start with.

I'll be throwing in some photos of my pedal end set ups in the thread I have running to compare to yours.

Regards

Rodger

[stradlater]

Better get those photos up for ya.

[The Witzl]

stradlater - if you need some hosting, please email the pics to me.
[email protected]

Good little write up, once you get the pics up, i'll add it into the FAQ with pics included. It would help if you could take a few shots to show the steps in your guide


As for the idea of using the stock pedal...... well it doesnt quite work. The linkages actually pivot to a point that is BELOW the hole in the firewall, so the stock pedal actually isnt high enough to connect a throttle cable to it - the cable would be extremely bent and not move very well or at all.

My pedal is a stock RA28 one, that has had the top chopped off and the top of a different pedal welded to it to place the cable socket directly behind the hole in the firewall (that's what you want!!)
(p.s. i bought the car like that)

[stradlater]

I got hosting mate. Thanks all the same.... :-) Check the website if you like, there's lots of funny pictures there. :-)

I'll set about getting some photos to describe the certain points along the way.

[DQIKST]

stradlater.

i have done everything except buy a sigma throttle cable. lol

i took my pedal out and it was held to the floor by to ball joints.

any info?

REguards
IBZ

[brett_celicacoupe]

no no no no no!

mitsubtshi = die


better option is the cable from a MS112 crown. because they are toyota (), they have the pedal hynged from the floor they are also long enough to fit to a 1ggte.

this is important if you want to keep the oldschool style not cross to the dark side with unknown parts.

another good reason for the MS112 cable is that the "knock" (small knob on engine end) is a universal size so it will fit majority, if not all the toyota engines

in my RA40 i used a floating type pedal from a MX62 which is essentially the same apart from the floor hynged bit. with 2 minutes of hole elongating, the pivot was bolted to the firewall.

if any body is chasing a MS112 cable, i have one, PM me.

no offence stradlater, you done a good job, its just i think the MS112 cable would be less work.

[stradlater]

Ok, use whatever cable you like. No offence, but I don't see you writing an article on it. :-)

[stradlater]

You too which pedal out? The Ra23 one?
It is held to the floor by ball joints, but the actual pedal arm mechanism should be bolted to the floor by two 10 mm bolts on the fire wall. Have you taken that bit out yet?

stradlater.

i have done everything except buy a sigma throttle cable. lol

i took my pedal out and it was held to the floor by to ball joints.

any info?

REguards
IBZ

[DQIKST]

yea ra23.

and the pivot bit that is held by 2 10mm nuts is out.


brett can you post some piks and write a article because what stradlater has done is useful.
im sure it is common sence but i just want to know what kind of work is involed before i choose a toyota cable over the mistubishi.

you guys know this is hooking up to a 18rg.



IBZ

[Rodger]

Hi Guys,

Just added some pictures of the set up I use at the pedal end of the cable kits I do. They are in the thread I'd started. I use the standard pedal.

Karl has a point about angles but when the cable is adjusted correctly the pedal top does not get far enough back to the firewall to cause any ugly angle for the cable to pull through.

Regards

Rodger

[normo]

Hey
I just took the pedal cable setup out of an RA40 I found, the RA28 has the holes already there and bolted it in. Less than 10 minutes