I am trying to fit a Bowden (throttle) cable to an old 1960 Rover Economy mower, but am now scratching my head and thought I should ask for advice before proceeding.
There are two screws still in the handlebars, which suggests it had a plastic Conwire throttle lever on there originally. The problem is the cable clamp and connection to the carby linkage is all completely backwards. In fact it is more than being a full 180 degree turn.
I know lots of the modern Rover mowers have the engines reversed on the base, which means the throttle cables have to take a 90 degree bend to reach around to the carby. Rover came up with a simple telescopic guide fastened to the top of the cowl, which allows the cable to take the bend. But in the case of the much older Economy mower, it would have to take a very tight turn indeed, right around the back of the engine, and back towards the handlebars again, and then another 5 to 10 degree bend, in order to reach the cable clamp.
Before I waste my time trying to do the impossible, I thought I would ask first if anybody has any experience with a cable connection which goes near full circle like this one? Also what are the limitations of the Bowden throttle cables? How far can you physically turn them around before they will stop working? Every bend will put extra friction on the cable and make it more difficult to operate. Also, the old Bowden cables did tend to be very stiff. They were definitely not as flexible as the modern day cables.
I've run plenty of oil down through the cable overnight. I use the end off an old silicon tube and connect this to the cable using a 1/4" rubber fuel hose. You turn the silicon nozzle upside down, fill it up with light oil, and hang the lot off a post or something out in the yard. Over night the gravity gradually lets the oil trickle right down through the cable. I also sometimes reverse the cable and re-fill the nozzle with oil the next morning and leave for a few more hours, so you know it has really soaked through the whole cable. Then wipe off the outside of the cable with a rag and you're right to go!
