Aircooled Accelerator Cable Replacement

[ShultzRoadHouse]

Driving to a dinner date last night, just shifted into fourth and then the pedal went to the floor. Pulled over and saw that the cable had snapped right at the throttle body. Had it towed home, found out that full coverage from geico sucks, looking for AAA plan now, but anyway how hard is replacing this cable? The Bentley shows a diagram and that's it. Searched for replacement posts but they're all water cooled and automatics, and also the bay forum. Any tips or short cuts? It's on the side of the street at home so hopefully it can't be fixed right where it sits. Thanks for reading.
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ShultzRoadHouse
'81 AirCooled Westy RIP
'82 Westy w/ '93 Subaru EJ22
'71 Super Beetle w/ '75 AJ 1600
'12 Jetta

[ShultzRoadHouse]

Bueller.......? Bueller......?
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ShultzRoadHouse
'81 AirCooled Westy RIP
'82 Westy w/ '93 Subaru EJ22
'71 Super Beetle w/ '75 AJ 1600
'12 Jetta

[FNGRUVN]

I haven't had to replace the accelerator cable on my A/C westy, but I did replace the one for my Syncro and that wasn't too bad.

The cable for the air-cooled is a little different, though. I bought a new one to keep as a spare. It came with just the inner cable(not the outer plastic-covered cable housing. So, I imagine you just feed the new cable into the housing from the front of the van. Look under the van, right around where the gas pedal is and you will see a plastic cover. Remove this and everything will be pretty obvious at that point.
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"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin

[MarkWard]

Tie a string around the broken end and remove the old cable. Use the string to help fish the cable back. Sorry, I can't remember if the spare needs to be dropped down. Mind is not what it once was.
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[ShultzRoadHouse]

Thanks for the tip, that's what found on the bay window forum too. Does the new cable need greased? It looks like it passes through a tube or something? I think the nose pan will need to be dropped. The new cable arrives tomorrow and the temp is supposed to be maybe 30 degrees, cold asphalt and fingers.
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ShultzRoadHouse
'81 AirCooled Westy RIP
'82 Westy w/ '93 Subaru EJ22
'71 Super Beetle w/ '75 AJ 1600
'12 Jetta

[reluctantartist]

I greased mine when I replaced it. An old habit from my bicycle days.
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1982 Westy, 1974 412 Variant... Yes, Aircooled's are great! Oh and I do have modern computer controlled vehicles too, but I just don't care about them.

[MarkWard]

If the cable comes with a sheath, you should be ok to install dry. Grease acts like a dirt magnet and there is a lot of dirt and dust under the van. The bus had a bare cable.
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[ShultzRoadHouse]

I replaced the cable this weekend, it took just about 25 minutes and was real easy to change. I didn't have to use the string trick, I just pulled out the old cable from the front and pushed the new cable through. It stopped at the fire wall fitting, but with a little wiggling it went right through. I made sure it operated the throttle position switch and I was good to go. I ordered two so now I have a spare. Thanks for the tips guys.
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ShultzRoadHouse
'81 AirCooled Westy RIP
'82 Westy w/ '93 Subaru EJ22
'71 Super Beetle w/ '75 AJ 1600
'12 Jetta

[Vanagon Nut]

So I replaced the cable on my "air cooled" 1981 Vanagon.

Is the barrel nut at forward end of the cable supposed to be splayed?

I just can't imagine how someone split that part. It looks to me like it was splayed so the part would stay in place while doing the cable replacement but of course the bolt wouldn't really tighten down. Can't believe the cable never came loose.

Looking up at pedal linkage etc.

thankfully, I had a spare VW barrel clamp lying around. Hopefully, it should work fine. (i.e. hopefully it won't rub on anything since it's slightly different)

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1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[Vanagon Nut]

So I found what appears to be an original type barrel clamp for use at the accelerator pedal linkage. Its shorter than the installed barrel clamp shown below and the hole puts the cable end closer to the linkage arm. As someone more knowledgable than me commented regarding that clamp, 'you should shim it so the cable is centred in the sleeve'.

To my eye, the metal content of the original part looks a bit like that yellow metal in the inexpensive clutch housing cross shafts. It is for sure fairly brittle. All told, its no wonder over torquing the bolt caused the replaced clamp to fail.

Neil.