Scary Experience - Lesson Learned

[cycleguy55]

A couple of days ago, after some work on the engine I decided to take the Cobra out for a short drive to check things out. Everything was fine until I stepped on the accelerator - it seemed a bit stuff so I pushed a little harder. It was at that point I realized the throttle was stuck open and it was taking off in a hurry. I live on a short cul de sac so I was running out of time and distance before I got to the end and a T intersection. Thankfully I had my wits about me and got it shut off and stopped in time, with no collision or apparent damage to the engine - though I may have lopped a few years off my life expectancy. As one of my friends said, "Which was closer to redline, the engine or your heart?"

I opened the hood and there was nothing out of place or jammed. I then reached in to the foot box and tried to pull the accelerator pedal back - note the word 'tried' - it was jammed HARD. I'm about 220 lbs. and in reasonable shape and it wouldn't budge.

Subsequent investigation revealed the outer metal jacket on the push-pull cable had broken about 1" from the pedal end and the broken off piece had jammed hard against the remaining piece, even showing a bulge when it jammed. Of course, when it jammed it also jammed the inner cable in place, resulting in a stuck throttle.

I have since replaced the cable and it seems to work fine, though I'm still not a fan of the Neal floor mounted / hinged pedal and the push cable arrangement - I'll probably be looking to replace it with a top hinged pedal with either a pull cable or solid rod / bell crank system to connect to the carb. I'd appreciate any profound thoughts on this.

Lesson learned: If you feel ANY unusual binding or resistance in the throttle - DON'T FORCE IT! EVER! Stop the damn thing and figure out what's going on before going further.