Check and fix your accelerator pedal hinge.

[Artisans5]

Trying to work out why the throttle was sticky on a friend and my '81 Murena 2.2, I realised it was only holding on by the last little bit of the plastic hinge (1-2mm). Glad it didn't break off while I was driving! The hinge is just a thinner part of the same pedal moulding that flexes, so it's not too surprising it breaks after 37 years. So please for your safety check this hinge on your car.

New/replacement pedals don't seem to exist. Roy suggested various workarounds - replacing the organ type pedal with one from a different model, putting a regular pedal on the lever that actuates the throttle cable, but the approach I liked best was to keep the pedal and replace the hinge. So that's what I did. Not rocket science, but in case it's of interest, here's how we did it:

We enlarged the holes on one half of a stainless hinge (7cm wide and 4cm long when open)  to fit the existing fixing points on the floor, and then cut the other half to fit the shape of the back of the pedal (picture). We drilled two holes in the pedal between the strengthening ribs on the back and drilled corresponding holes in the other half of the hinge, then riveted the two together with 4.8mm pop rivets and washers- don't pull the rivets too hard or you will squash the plastic ribs and distort the pedal in the process (picture). It's a little hard to get the holes perfectly lined up, with the pedal being at an angle to the axis of the hinge (so it clears the brake pedal) and the hinge resting against the sloped underside of the ribs. So the first attempt wasn’t quite straight enough to be absolutely sure that the lever connected to the accelerator cable would stay in both guides on the underside of the pedal throughout the movement of the pedal (it leaned a bit too much to the right). So we took the hinge off again, (very carefully so as not to wreck the pedal) and a second hinge was cut to size and drilled more accurately. This time it was just right: installed well and is nice and solid (picture). Didn't solve the stickiness which is probably the cable, but at least the pedal shouldn't fall off for another 37 years!

[Jon Weywadt]

PLEASE. reduce the size of your photos and re-post. 

[Artisans5]

PLEASE. reduce the size of your photos and re-post. 

Sorry Jon, took me a while to get back to this. I had thought the pics would resize automatically when I uploaded them and once I saw they didn't resize, I didn't spot the "modify" button

If they're still too big let me know and I'll redo it again.

[Jon Weywadt]

PLEASE. reduce the size of your photos and re-post.  

Sorry Jon, took me a while to get back to this. I had thought the pics would resize automatically when I uploaded them and once I saw they didn't resize, I didn't spot the "modify" button

If they're still too big let me know and I'll redo it again.

Thanks. they are perfect now.  

And... Good job. It looks good and just like the fix I made.  

http://www.matrasport.dk/forum/index.php/topic,1720.15.html

[sc1962]

Trying to work out why the throttle was sticky on a friend and my '81 Murena 2.2, I realised it was only holding on by the last little bit of the plastic hinge (1-2mm). Glad it didn't break off while I was driving! The hinge is just a thinner part of the same pedal moulding that flexes, so it's not too surprising it breaks after 37 years. So please for your safety check this hinge on your car.

New/replacement pedals don't seem to exist. Roy suggested various workarounds - replacing the organ type pedal with one from a different model, putting a regular pedal on the lever that actuates the throttle cable, but the approach I liked best was to keep the pedal and replace the hinge. So that's what I did. Not rocket science, but in case it's of interest, here's how we did it:

We enlarged the holes on one half of a stainless hinge (7cm wide and 4cm long when open)  to fit the existing fixing points on the floor, and then cut the other half to fit the shape of the back of the pedal (picture). We drilled two holes in the pedal between the strengthening ribs on the back and drilled corresponding holes in the other half of the hinge, then riveted the two together with 4.8mm pop rivets and washers- don't pull the rivets too hard or you will squash the plastic ribs and distort the pedal in the process (picture). It's a little hard to get the holes perfectly lined up, with the pedal being at an angle to the axis of the hinge (so it clears the brake pedal) and the hinge resting against the sloped underside of the ribs. So the first attempt wasn’t quite straight enough to be absolutely sure that the lever connected to the accelerator cable would stay in both guides on the underside of the pedal throughout the movement of the pedal (it leaned a bit too much to the right). So we took the hinge off again, (very carefully so as not to wreck the pedal) and a second hinge was cut to size and drilled more accurately. This time it was just right: installed well and is nice and solid (picture). Didn't solve the stickiness which is probably the cable, but at least the pedal shouldn't fall off for another 37 years!


that's a great idea and youve done an excellent job.one I shall keep in mind for the future