This article was created to show how I made a short, direct link throttle cable set up for my 1g DSM. The OEM cable is several feet long and goes through two pulleys and clutters the engine bay. The new cable is a direct link from the firewall to the mount on the intake manifold, and is only 7 inches long. This modification will bypass and thus disable your cruise control. The new cable costs only a few dollars to buy some extra hardware and reuses the original cable and brackets. The finished and installed cable will look like the one I have made for my daily driver.
Tools and Supplies: An angle grinder with cut off wheel, Tin snips, Hardware, Welder or apoxy (JB weld).
Procedure:
1. Take off the original cable by removing the two 10mm bolts that hold the cable mount to the fire wall, it is located to the left of the clutch reservoir. Then remove the two bolts that hold the end of the cable to the intake manifold. Now remove the cruise control and pulley assembly from the passenger side of the engine bay or the center of the fire wall.
2. Now that the cables are out you can either cut the sections you need with a cut off wheel or tin snips. Cut the firewall mounting bracket 2 3/4 inches from the flat mounting flange like so.
You need to trim this piece because original bracket bends up and towards the driver side, we want the bracket to bend towards the passenger side and point up, but if you bend it, the thin steel tube will be crushed or break off. If you did manage to bend the tube so it faces the passenger side and points up then it will be to long and not require any of the flexible steel coil.
3. Cut the cable at the very end were it attaches to the intake and throttle body at least 23 inches away from the end of the steel line. Then pull out the steel line that is inside of the flexible coiled steel cable. Then you can cut the actual coiled cable from the back side of the intake mounting bracket so that it is a little over 5 inches long. I suggest you measure for your situation before you cut.
4. Now you need to make final cuts and measurements and when you are satisfied with your fit you need to flare out the mounting bracket that attaches to the fire wall. I did this because it allows you to seat the end of the coiled steel cable inside of the mounting brackets tube so it will be held in place while you connect the two. I flared out the opening by boring the tube's I.D. with a 3/16 drill bit and then used a center punch to flare out the tube. This way the coiled steel cable will slip inside of the tube about a 1/4 inch so the cable is held in place when you weld the two together.
5. Now that the cables are held in place they can be welded together or bonded by using JB weld or another apoxy. If you do weld the pieces together try to back out the plastic insert that is in fire wall mounting bracket so it is not melted closed. This is a picture of the cable before I welded it.
I suggest that you leave the steel line inside of the coiled steel cable while welding so that you can move the cable incase it becomes welded to the coiled steel cable. This is a picture of the coiled cable joined to mounting bracket tube.
6. Now that the two sides are connected you can install the new cable. Inside of the car you need to secure the steel line to the gas pedal. This is a picture of how I attached the new cable's line to the pedal.
I used a screw, nut, and a line stop (which is a circular piece of metal with a threaded hole on one end so you can insert a cable and lock it in place with the screw). This is a picture of the hardware to hold the line in place. When you lock it down make sure that the line is pulled tight and the throttle body is resting closed then lock down the line stop so it is in contact with the pedals eye hole.
This is the final product installed. I broke you of the intake manifold mounting screw and did not drill it out before the picture.
Conclusion: The throttle cable works fine and looks very good inside of the engine bay but the throttle is a little more sensitive and easier to move because the cable is not moving through an elaborate maze of pullies. It only takes a day of driving to get used to it.
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to PM me any time. And please rate the thread also.
How to make a short, direct link throttle cable
