<VV> No gas pedal

[Dennis & Debbie Pleau]

Since I originally posted this question the car was buried under 18" of 
snow with 4' drifts around it, but this is Colorado, so it warmed up and 
now we only have a trace of show.  I pulled it into the garage and jacked 
it up and found, the rubber grommet at the bell crank on the transmission 
was gone and the rod and bell cranks were about an inch apart.  The plastic 
bushing had most of the shoulder broken off  and a crack through the 
barrel.  The C-clip was intact and looked good.  Since I need the car 
tomorrow, I din't have time to order the parts from a vendor.  I decided to 
go to the hardware store and see what I could make work.  First though was 
some kind of plumbing rubber washer to replace the missing grommet and then 
a couple of fender washers to keep everything together.  I didn't find 
anything close to the dimensions in needed,  Next I went to the hardware 
section and found a 1/4 id by 3/8 od bronze bushing and a rubber stopper as 
well as the fender washers.  I thought I could cut the bushing to the 
correct length, drill the stopper to fit over it and then take a slice of 
the stopper where it had the correct id to fit in the bell crank and slap 
the fender washers on each side to keep everything together.  That way I 
would have a good bearing surface, to replace the plastic bearing surface 
and a rubber connection to reduce the vibration in the pedal, just like the 
factory.  When I got home, I cut the bushing and opened up the drawer on my 
tool box where the razor knife is to cut the cork and noticed a short piece 
of 3/8" fuel line, I checked the od was a perfect fit in the bell crank and 
the id was a perfect fit over the bushing I had created.  I used the fuel 
hose in place of the rubber stopper, put everything together and now have a 
very solid connection, probably a lot more solid than the factory.  Since 
the only friction surface is a bronze bushing on a steel shaft (which I 
lubricated before installing) I expect it to last for a long time.

Next time I send in a parts order to a vendor, I'll probably get the proper 
parts, just so I have them if something goes wrong, but I think my solution 
will last for a long time and it is fail safe.  If the rubber hose fails, I 
pick up some slack, but the bell crank is captured between the fender washers.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Dennis


At 02:51 PM 10/9/2005, Dennis & Debbie Pleau wrote:
>My Corvair almost left me stranded today.  I was driving down the road and 
>the gas pedal went to the floor and the engine dropped to an idle.  I 
>pulled into a parking lot and checked the engine compartment and 
>everything is properly hooked up.  It was raining and cold at the time.  I 
>then decided to turn up the idle screws and run the engine as fast as I 
>could which was about 2800 rpm out of gear.  I then proceeded to drive 
>about 30 miles, mostly on the shoulder when there was one.   On the level 
>I could get into 4th and do about 30 to 35 mph.  I learned roads I 
>consider flat actually have a lot of up and down and since I had no 
>torque, I had to use all gears.  I used 2000 as my shift up point and 1500 
>as my shift down.  I started laughing at one point, I was taking a back 
>road home I was going up a hill which is probably 8 to 10 percent and I 
>started down shifting every time the engine got to 1500 rpm until I was in 
>first and right on 1500, and didn't have any more gears.  I got down to 
>1300 rpm at the top but it made it.  This back road I took for about 10 
>miles, about 7 miles it gravel with a 40 mph speed limit.  Washboarding 
>put down by cars and trucks at 50 mph will just pound the heck out of you 
>at 25 mph.
>
>I got to fix the car this week, so I can take it to a joint Pikes Peak 
>Corvair Club, Rocky Mountain CORSA driving event next weekend.  The first 
>place I'll look is at the bell crank down by the transmission, if that's 
>not it where is the next most likely place to look?
>
>Dennis