Reply To: 1938 Sportfour Bowden Cable

[Buccaneer]

Today was a lesson in futility.
I tried routing the smaller diameter, more flexible Bowden cable
underneath the front cover in the only way I could “guess” it
was originally, and it failed miserably.
I’m guessing the last guy drilled the hole in the front cover out
of frustration.
I ended up using the new cable, and ended up shortening it a couple
of times, routing it back through the front cover.
It’s a real PITA trying to get the cable hooked up to the carb
with the heavy front cover hanging on the cable.

To anchor the smaller Bowden cable in the tiller handle, threaded spool piece,
I found that a simple Derlin plug in the bolt hole (that positions the anchor spool
in it’s proper place inside the tiller handle) worked quite nicely. It squishes some
forming around the spiral cable. For good luck, I put some “Seal All” epoxy
around each end of the spool piece where the cable goes through.
At least this way, the original pieces can be used again for the proper size cable.

I put new spark plugs in it and am going to call it “Good” until next year when
I try it out on the lake again.
I’d like to find some photos of an original routed cable this winter to see how they did it,
then maybe try re-routing a correct cable in the spring. Right now, I’m sick of
looking at it, lol.

Aircraft Spruce, an online site, has some larger Bowden cable, but it doesn’t
say if it’s a “left hand” spiral like the original, needed to work with the anchor spool
and nut. The specs says their cable has a 6″ bending radius.
I see no way to accommodate that large of a radius under the cover.

Prepare to be boarded!