Wanted to know if anyone has any pictures of their throttle linkage. I have a 67 firebird 400 with an edelbrock intake and holley carb. The stock linkage didn't work so wanted to know what I can do or see what others have done.
I had a heck of a time with mine. If you use the top big hole on the carb you can't get the throttle all the way open. If you use the lower small hole it opens too fast and it's hard to control. I rigged mine up with the middle small hole that seems to work well but had to add the sleeve so the nut would miss the lever. The swivel I got from Jegs or Summit.
Anyone have any issues with the arm hitting the head and not allowing enough travel?
I've always suspected this was happening, (but with the 455 it was still plenty at the time) and after swapping my Performer for a Performer RPM, I double checked the linkage travel and it doesn't seem to be enough. It certainly won't open full throttle and it contacts the back of the head...
I'm going to have to pull the arm and rod off and make sure they weren't "bent" to fit by a previous owner or something... just wondered how much travel other 67's had or how much room between the firewall and the back of the head?
Oh yeah, Holly Carb now and soon to be a Q-jet... just sold the Edelbrock I was going to test on it...
Brett, The arm can go on either way.(It has a square notch in the hole where it bolts to the gas pedel.)I had it on the wrong way and it hit the head when at idle. Don't try to bend any thing on the arm or gas pedel, it wont work.You can bend the arm that goes to the carb to clear things. I had trouble getting my carb to open all the way and found it was mostly that I had to much insulation and carpet thicknes. I still have to push hard to the floor to get wide open. You'l find the Q-jet even harder to get to wide open. seems it's that last bit of travel thats needed and is hardest to get.
Brett, are you using the big hole in the throttle lever? That one requires a lot of pedal travel to move the lever. I had problems with the linkage hitting a boss on my performer intake.
Up until this point I was using that position on the throttle linkage plate, but will search through my parts bins for a new fitting to use the smaller aft position as shown in your picture.
I doubt the previous two owners had messed with it at all, I imagine it's all in the correct position (pedal, arm and all) but I'll go through it all step by step just to be sure I can get as close to full travel as possible.
If worse comes to worse, I would maybe switch to the OHC-6 pedal and cable assembly to be able to get full travel.
Just needed to see if anyone had run into any similar issues?
Thanks for the input, and sorry for jumping in on the thread!
My '67 is still apart but I have a number of 1st Camaros which all use the rod linkage (well V-8s do anyway). Each application has a specific rod shape...one for Z/28 (high rise aluminum intake) one for normal SB and so on...my bet is that one off those might work very well with a '67 bird using an after-market intake. Classic sells about 5 different kinds (the Z/28 style one is actually adjustable for length).
The piece that Ames sells for the 400 has a swivel that fits the hole below the one I use. I didn't like the quick throttle response with that hole. That repro 400 linkage has a really wierd fine thread that you can't find nuts for. I ended up using my 326 piece with the swivel from Jegs (in the carbs section).
Before you go looking for the 6-cylinder throttle "cable" ...
The '67 OHC Firebird uses a rod that is shaped differently than the V-8 rod. The firewall has the formed features for the cale that was eventually adopted for '68, but I'm reasonably sure that none of the '67 OHC Firbirds used a cable.
The '66 and '67 Tempest use throttle cables for the OHC.
But I am sure that all their blocks only have two bolt holes on each side.
Maybe I'm thinking of the '67 Camaro 6's that share the same firewall. I know at least one '67 f-body came with a cable so that's why the firewall has the indentation.
Once I get back into it this week-end I'll asses the situation and will see what my options are. I'll probably fab up a new rod linkage or will try a couple different stock ones. (I have a buddy who owns a Muscle car parts shop) I'll give that a try first...
Maybe I'm thinking of the '67 Camaro 6's that share the same firewall. I know at least one '67 f-body came with a cable so that's why the firewall has the indentation.
John, '67 Camaro L6 power plants use a cable (as do 68 & 69) I'm sure the indent is there due to the corporate cousins thing at least. The design of the Camaro And Firebird interior throttle arm for cable linkage is different, as would be the cables. For what it's worth...Cross-ram Equipped Z/28's use the L6 throttle design with a different cable...the throttle lever wasn't actually strong enough to deal with the double linkage from the 2 fours so there is a GM bulletin for a fix which involves shortening the arm and adding a gusset.
I use the stock linkage on my '67 400 running a Holley 650. No problems but the firewall arm does hit the head at idle. I adjusted the rod to do that so I could get max pedal height. It doesn't hurt anything, just makes a thunk when you let of the gas too hard. You can't even hear it unless you're under the hood.