So last week I went to a cruise in fairly close to home, as I'm pulling in my throttle sticks wide open! I start stomping the throttle to unstick it does not work then I try throwing into neutral well the old hydro kept pushing, by this time stopped traffic was coming up to fast to try anything else, so I aimed for the grassy hill and hoped for the best. It was not as bad as it could have been but I bent a rim, popped a tire, broke trans and motor mounts, bent the bumper and fender. But it could have been worse!!!
I am curious to know how when you are "Pulling In" to the cruise your throttle got to wide open to stick there? Glad to hear the damage wasn't worse but don't understand how you got wide open in the first place. My guess is there is a geometry problem with your linkage that as the throttle goes past half way it goes over center and then the springs pull it open instead of closed. I would look there first.
Or did the motor and/or tranny mounts break sometime before this happened, which can and does cause the throttle to bind?
Well the entrance was on a hill side and as I started pulling in cars came over the top of the hill, I think the motor mounts were weak and the motor shifted a little, there is nothing wrong with the linkage.
You fabbed that linkage to work with the Hydramatic, yes? Anything cam over top or break? Edit: sorry, you answered my Q, I type too slow.
Sorry that happened to you and about your car getting messed up. That's pretty scary when that happens. Glad you're okay. That happened to me before about 15 years ago in an industrial area where nobody else was around while I was testing out a new engine, and I got up to about 70 mph in the few seconds it took me to realize that all I had to do was turn off the ignition. If you have newer car or an older car with a newer locking steering column, remember that if you turn off the ignition, just turn it back one click. If you turn it back two clicks, you'll lock the column and then you'll have no steering.
Let me guess - you were making a right-hand turn into the cruise? This sometimes happens when you have an engine mount failure. You go to make a turn, the 800lb engine rolls over on top of the throttle linkage, and... VROOM. Glad you and the car weren't hurt too bad.
Nope it was a left hand turn. and I was not trying to show off the heavy car with a single track and hydramatic is not going to smoke the tires.
If your left hand (driver's side) motor mount is shot or very loose, that could be what did it. Before Chevy changed the design of their motor mounts in the '60s, the whole engine could tilt up from torque if the motor mount failed and pull the throttle open. Before they fixed the design of the motor mounts, their fix was to install a cable or chain on the left side that would anchor the engine down to the frame in case the left hand motor mount broke. If your motor mounts just rely on rubber bonded to steel, you might want to check them out really carefully in case the rubber has come unbonded from the steel. It might look fine, but pull apart under torque. I guess you could borrow a cherry picker and lift up on the driver's side of the engine enough to start to pull up and if it just pulls apart the motor mount, then you need a new motor mount, or at least you could install a short cable or chain to keep it anchored down.
If your throttle arm is on the driver's side of the engine and you made a left turn, that would tend to pull your engine over to the right, which would be pulling the driver's side motor mount apart and pulling on the throttle at the same time -- just like the problem that the Chevys of the '60s had before they redesigned the motor mounts. You might also want to replace your throttle return spring with something bigger or stronger in case the old one is rusted and weak. Most carbs have one spring wound on the throttle shaft, and another long spring on the throttle return. You could check both of those. On drag racers, they require dual throttle return springs just in case one fails.
Well its not a chevy its an olds with a single motor mount in the front and two trans mounts, and the return spring is brand new not weak. I'm pretty sure that the problem is the single motor mount on the front of the motor must have been worn like I said it showed no signs of being weak but that does not mean that it was not weak though.
Thats what I'm guessing the problem is, or I guess was! Now I have an excuse to start modifying it, to what I want it to be first off got to find some new wheels, thinking something like the old fenton hawk wheels, and frenching the headlights. Of course after I fix the motor mount and trans mounts.
my father in law took a ride in my wifes t bucket...he went to move it around the garage and was "sorta goofing off " , when the throttle stuck on him....about 40 feet of 165's marks on the pavement ....he knocked a wrecked cavalier off the pavement before getting it shut off.....only managed to knock a brand new pair of headlights off the stands and junk the new aluminum radiator and fan......the cause of all this fun............the double return springs got caught on themselves and the carb.
Sorry about the bad luck, but it reminds me of my fondest childhood memory. The return spring broke on my step-pops 64 gto tri power right in front of the baseball field. It was about 10-20 seconds of pure bliss for me at 9 years old!!
I had both front mounts in my '60 Pontiac break and it didn't matter which side, if they came apart the motor would come up and pull the rod linkage and floor the gas pedal. Of course I drove it around waiting for new ones to come from Kanter and got so I just flipped the key off when it would try to take off, let it settle, start it again in neutral with the car still rolling, and go on my way. Particularly on a car with manual steering, always hit the key first when it takes off.
Dual throttle return springs..saved my ass. All my cars use both springs http://www.jegs.com/p/Mr-Gasket/Mr-Gasket-Dual-Throttle-Return-Spring/743779/10002/-1
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