Clown Puncher

when the accelorator is pressed down to the floor, the throttle has about 1/8 to 1/12 of an inch of play that i can push back. Will this make a huge difference or would this little bit do much of anything? :chevy

Super Stock

It could if your carb is undersized to begin with . Can you readjust the linkage or cable mount some?

Larry B.

The problem is the throttle rod/bracket assembly under the dash has bent over the years of "lead footing" just bend it until you get full throttle. It wil make a huge difference in throttle responce. A common problem on these old sharks.l


[Modified by Larry B., 7:28 AM 5/12/2004]

rob75383

:iagree:
About a week after I bought mine, I had my mom floor the gas while I looked at the carb. Would you believe that I wasn't even opening the secondaries at all- that's how bent mine was. The previous owner said that the tranny didn't downshift anymore, and it had to be done manually- NO!!! He disconnected the switch 'cause the tranny was trying to downshift at part-throttle!
It was kinda hard getting my hands in there to bend the rod, though, but it got done. Plus I re-connected the downshift/ cowl solenoid switch after that- and it works perfectly to this day.

-As far as the 1/8 play you are talking about, what part has the play??

Are you saying that after the pedal is pushed to the floor, you can still rotate the throttle blades by hand, essentially opening them up further than just by the pedal alone? That would sound like your pedal rod is bent as mentioned earlier.
Whether or not this is hurting your performance is anybody's guess.


[Modified by '75 383 ElkGrove, 7:46 PM 5/12/2004]

Clown Puncher

the part that is at play is the throttle arm. I can still pull it back about an 1/8 inch after the pedal is on the floor.

rob75383

I'm not sure how your linkage is hooked up, or what kind of linkage you have, but you might be able to tighten up the slack right at the carb with certain setups.
Otherwise, I suggest you do some warmup streches, and then crawl under the dash, and grab the pedal with one hand. With your other hand, reach up into the dash and find where the rod has the cable attached. With both ends of the rod in your hands, pull the end of the rod toward you, or toward the rear of the car.
You might be able to get away with just pulling the top end of the rod, and letting the pedal bottom out on the floor, but I don't know how strong the floor is right there, so be careful.

If I remember correctly, you can also remove the cable from the end of the pedal rod, and then just remove the mount (where the rod pivots) and bend the rod out of the car. This may be more trouble than its worth, since you might over/ under-bend the rod, and have to pull it out and do it over again.