ZX Accelerator Cable - I need a clip

[beko1987]

What-ho chaps!

I ran into some fun last thursday, with a mild FTP on the M40 coming home from work



Pottering along, when *dink*, go pedal drops to the floor. Once on the hard shoulder, I fished around, expecting the clip to have come off the pedal, but no



Once the instant dread of 'well, there's nothing I can do about this' subsided, I called the big yellow taxi, who came surprisingly quick (the chap said they were quiet), and he started pondering what to do. His eyes lit up, however, when I opened the boot and handed him the new cable I'd bought 2 weeks earlier, with the intention of getting round to it (there was a white 1.9td zx hatch being broken very near me, so I had some bits off it)

However, it doesn't fit properly, but is doing the job for now. My main concern however is the white clip that goes onto the pedal. On the new cable, one of the retaining tangs is broken, and I don't want it to pop off again. However, I cannot find the clip on it's own...

My plan is, I have heard (on some other citroen type forum, and here I think) that bike gear cable comes in long lengths, perfick for chopping down to size, but I want a new, non broken white clip. My google-fu has let me down so far, does anyone know the official name, part number or a link to get one from? Or does anyone have a stash of them they would be willing to sell to me?

The only possible stumbling block I may come across is finding a length of bike gear cable with the right sized fitted end to fit onto the white clip, but I may brave town with the old clip in my pocket, pop along to the bike shop and see if they have any there that I can physically try to see if it fits, then just buy that! Can feed the new inner into the existing outer, and route it properly, at the moment the cable just sort of lays across the top of the intercooler...

How can an accelerator cable, off an identical L red 1.9td hatch, not fit mine? Going by how the original one was routed when I first got the car, it's far too short, stopping about level with the fuel filter...

[Richard_C]

Hopefully a proper expert will be able to add something.

Meanwhile in desperate times, metal meccanno can be your friend to construct links, as long as you think carefully about lock nuts and the like. I have a box of bits from 50+ years ago, but you can buy little starter sets for not lot of money. Its not ideal but if the proper part cannot be found its worth a go.

( I wonder if the original length problem is a LHD/RHD cable difference and someone fitted the wrong thing)

[beko1987]

That's a great idea! Didn't think of that. Could the feed the inner through the meccano, construct some L shape bracket to change the angle then bolt that through the pedal top!

May look into that! Thanks

[Richard_C]

Often these fancy moulded clips are there just to make it fast to assemble in the factory, so as you are not trying to make 1000 a day a substitute is fine.

You will probably find that if you pass the wire through a small washer, something like the sort you use with 1/8 pop rivets, it will hold fine behind a british standard mecanno hole. Maybe 5 holes worth of strip bent into a U with the cable through the middle hole will give you something you can bolt to the pedal. A lot depends on the size of your nipples.

I once drove my Hillman Hunter from Bradford to the middle of Manchester late one snowy night with some thick string tied to the linkage on the carb, over the air filter, out through gap at back of bonnet, through nearside quarter light and into the competent but irresponsible hand of my passenger. Its eerie when your passenger can induce a tail slide . Got me home, but I doubt the insurance company would have been overjoyed had they known.