Is it the norm for my Series II's accelerator to take bionic strength to push?
I even bought a rubber sleeve and my foot still slips around when trying to remain steady on the pedal. Just checking what is the norm!

 

The LHD E-type throttle linkage is a Rube Goldberg contraption of extraordinary magnitude. Even though they knew the vast majority of the cars would be sold in - and their revenue would originate from - the US and continental Europe, Jaguar treated those markets as complete afterthoughts and half-assed the engineering.

There are several bushings and ball & socket joints on the path from the pedal to the carbs. Personally I'd inspect and lube them. If it is hard to advance the pedal, the return springs may find it hard to retract the throttle and then your whole day will be ruined.

It will never be great (Rube never trapped the mouse) but it can be safe. SNG has a cable conversion but I'm not sure it works with ZS from a US S2.

SNG Barratt - The Ultimate Jaguar Parts Specialist

It's said to be the second best upgrade you can make to an E-Type - after the EDIS conversion.

Have fun

Jim

 

When I first bought my 69 FHC 15 months ago, I had the same problem, it was very hard to push down. I removed the gas pedal and from the floor and it had been buggered about a lot from POs. I cleaned everything and straighten the linkage and reattached in the correct place on the floor. I also removed the return spring in the alloy pedal housing and lubed all the bushings. This helped a lot. I traced the complete linkage and made certain everything was working properly. I now have a nice smooth pedal. It's a very peculiar designed linkage and needs to be perfect to work properly. It took many attempts to get it right. Also make sure the carpet is not in the way especially the trans tunnel carpet.


Andy

 

Andy and Jim....Really helpful to have others suffer the same problem. You start to think "its only me" as I'm staring at those hundred moving parts and using the full force of my quadriceps to push that pedal....if my tech doesn't even want to touch it, you know it's bad. Will begin this wisdom to him, and force him to the table!
Thanks!

 

ebrand,

I stumbled on this and thought it might be useful. You can see all of the linkage points in the LHD throttle mechanism with each introducing a little error, a little slop or a little binding.

 

ebrand everyone on this forum uses their real names which makes communicating easier.


On the diagram that Jim listed my problems were:
Parts 2 and 3 were bent and not moving freely
Hinge on pedal part 1 was stiff
Spring part 5 was not in correct location
Pin part 11 was gummed up in housing


You'll probably need to take it all apart and make sure everything moves easily.


andy

 

It's David.
Thanks
So to take that apart, that's like a grand in time for a good tech.

 

David, it shouldn't be that much for someone who knows what they are doing. I'm sure that my independent Jaguar/British car shop who specialize in E-types would be able to fix it in 2 to 3 hours. I spoke to the owner just last week and he said that it's very common. He said that in many cases because the mechanism is stiff it's difficult to get the car to idle, so many non E-type Jag shops add another strong spring to bring the idle down making it even stiffer. I didn't mention it before but there was an extra spring on my mechanism.


BTW if you're handy with a wrench it's fairly straight forward.


Andy

 

Thanks Andy,
This spring I'm determined to tackle this issue. I have another tech who I can start fresh with, as the other shop, they get weary and don't want to be the bearer of bad news, so customers become frustrated or even angry at them for excessive time on a time intensive job. So they start to avoid jobs that can easily unravel time-wise and of course they are juggling ten other restorations or jobs and don't want to deal with it....it's a thankless job.

As a handicapped driver with 'foot drop', meaning my ankles are paralyzed, I push with the whole of my leg, since my ankles are not there. So a three hour touring is not poss. as I can't keep the foot on the accelerator...it just falls off! And that narrow tunnel, not a help. But I'm determined, in order to keep the car it needs to be sorted out. Despite being 64 and falling apart, having the 'E' keeps me challenged, in shape and feeling young, despite it being a tough nut at times.
Again, thanks.
David