The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop "High torque" 292

Gentlemen,

A good 3 years after the completion of my 292 install project, I finally have gotten the pleasure to truly experience the good low end torque of a 292. You see, I finally got rid of the ridiculous, problematic, inefficient makeshift throttle cabling system and replaced it with another makeshift solution - albeit this one is solid mechanical linkage. Now I don't have to deal with any more binding and breaking issues.

On a six with aftermarket intake and headers, I'll never use a cabling system for throttle again. Just a week ago today, my unimpressive throttle cable broke in the middle of a trip - as I was making a left turn at a very dangerous intersection, of course - about 5 or so miles away from home - on a heavily traveled two lane road with my gas gauge lying squarely on the 'E'. :mad: Seeing my only two options I decided to attempt the dangerous trip home using the Edelbrock carb idle as my locked accelerator and make a go for it. So I sent the idle up to around 2000 or so rpms and made a run for it. Not enough juice to pull hills. Cranked it up another 700-800 rpms and by the grace of God made it home. After having a multitude of related throttle cable issues in the past, I decided that enough was enough.

I have the Offy 5416 single 4 barrel intake and the small Edelbrock (#1403) 4 barrel carburetor. The carb is turned 90 degrees, with the primaries facing away from the engine. I had the fortune of having a very nicely made custom linkage system that came with another Offy 4 barrel I got cheaply off Ebay. It's so well finished that it looks like a part of the aftermarket intake! Using some of the original 1966 Chevrolet pickup 6 cylinder throtle pieces I was able to get the old crappy system out and the new linkage system in place and working within 2 hours.

The new system allows me to get about 70% throttle, which still keeps me just short of being able to open the mechanical secondaries (But with gas at $3.09/gal do I really need to?). Best thing is with the limited slop in the solid linkage I can really get the best out of the 292s low end torque. A mild aftermarket cam and headers really only enhances the engines' natural low end. The engine pulls really strong from just off idle to around 3000 rpms and begins to quickly fall off after that.

Acceleration is effortless through the first 3 gears, but somewhat sluggish in the tall 4th gear (which has a ratio of .73:1). Cruising 80 mph on the interstate today at 2600 rpms was as effortless as ever, though that annoying 3 year old vibration is still there :mad: . Some things never change.

-ftyler

Interesting. When I installed a Carter 625 (essentially the same thing as the Edelbrock) I used a Mr. Gasket throttle pedal and cable. What a pita! It did the binding and snapping thing on me a couple of times and I idled it home, too. (Luckily it wasn't too far from home each time.)

I think I've solved the problem, but I stayed with a cable. I used the pedal and cable bracket at the carb end from a 74 C10's Q-jet but I had to use a longer cable, so I got one for a 73 Monte Carlo. I haven't had any trouble with it...and that was about a year ago. I had to modify the bracket a bit, but other than that, it was a real simple job.

ftyler
do you have a picture of your setup b4 and now
i'm installing a 292 in my 51 - 3100 and am using a bellcrank/ lokar cable as well as the stock pedal. the pedal pushes a rod to move the bell crank very similar to jack halton's setup.
no it's not running yet but it sure seems to operate smoothly. i can get all the 1-7/8'' linkage travel i need to open all carb ports. i also have a 1403 edelbrock. the plate i made is bolted to the engine below (#3-6 cylinders) & langdons 3+3 headers and the cable clears the front & side of the clifford intake using a 2' cable. i believe it is important to keep the cable lubed and i also think i will buy a small heat protective sheath covering for the cable.

so how did you do your old system so i don't follow and find out the cable system isn't going to work???

I've never been a fan of Lokar products and had some concerns about your using their cable at the time. My personal opinion is that, they are over rated, over priced and aren't very usefull for applications that are out of the main stream hot rod applications.
I used the same setup that ChevyAsylum described. Switching to the later style hanging pedal is not something I would want to do with the engine in place. I had to weld up the existing holes, cut a new one and tack weld the nuts in the new locations. I got the pedal from the wrecking yard and also several different cables. As ChevyAsylum suggested, I also used the longest one I had. Mine loops all the way over the valve cover and comes in from the back of the carb.
Here is one of several pictures ftyler posted three years ago. His engine is so darned pretty, I saved all of them.

[img]http://home.earthlink.net/~roadruner/1-1-2.jpg[/img]

One cable, one connection, no heat concerns, low cost and all Chevy.

redrill the intake and turn the carb 90 degress will fix the cables problems.

super250six

Thanks, Richard, for the memories of my engine when it was kinda attractive

"caroline's truck"

I don't believe I captured any good pics of the previous throttle cable setup. Besides being inefficient and mostly unreliable, it was REALLY ugly.

I think you'll do good if you follow up on your plans to keep the cable lubed and build some sort of heat shield. Thankfully with the linkage system I've put together I won't have to worry about doing either of these - ever.

-ftyler