injection cable
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 317
Likes: 21
From: Ebensburg Pennsylvania
injection cable
Decided to take my car for the first long ride yesterday since I got it.Went 1/2 mile and it just died got the trailer winched it in and went home. I took the cable drive out it looks good measured it 6 1/4 inches long seems short put it back in making sure both ends were securely in the square slots car fired right up . Can this cable be to short?
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2003
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From: Greenville, Indiana
Decided to take my car for the first long ride yesterday since I got it.Went 1/2 mile and it just died got the trailer winched it in and went home. I took the cable drive out it looks good measured it 6 1/4 inches long seems short put it back in making sure both ends were securely in the square slots car fired right up . Can this cable be to short?
The vendors list the short cable a 6 5/16's.
Last edited by MikeM; Jun 12, 2017 at 09:17 AM.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 317
Likes: 21
From: Ebensburg Pennsylvania
That means it is a 1957 corvette and my cable is 6 1/4 inches and they have 6 3/4 inch cables for sale . . Could mine possibly be the wrong cable if I push it all the way into the fuel pump without the casing on it is 1/4 from the distributor not in it at all but 1/4 inch away from the slot in the distributor.
Race Director
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From: Inverness FL
St. Jude Donor '07
my 2 cents... other than the possibility of the casing being shorter on a 57 I see no practical reason for a 'short' cable as all C1 FI units are basically the same configuration. C2s, I don't remember....
personally, I would buy the longest one that is available to carry as a spare. FWIW, the bare cable will run and stay in place without the outer jacket.
personally, I would buy the longest one that is available to carry as a spare. FWIW, the bare cable will run and stay in place without the outer jacket.
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Always use the longer cable.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2003
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From: Greenville, Indiana
That means it is a 1957 corvette and my cable is 6 1/4 inches and they have 6 3/4 inch cables for sale . . Could mine possibly be the wrong cable if I push it all the way into the fuel pump without the casing on it is 1/4 from the distributor not in it at all but 1/4 inch away from the slot in the distributor.
I've been told some of the replacement cables had the wire wound backwards and cause them to break. Seems like it could also cause them to twist and shorten themselves and pull out of engagement?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 317
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From: Ebensburg Pennsylvania
That makes sense when it is all the way into the distributor it is about 1/2 an inch into the square hole in the pump although it has room to go approximately another inch. So if it would wined tighter or move some in that casing it could probably come out that 1/2 inch.That longer cable should fit I think
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
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From: Granbury Texas
There is a shoulder (should be anyway) on the distributor end of the cable. That shoulder is held by the outer casing so the cable can't slip toward the pump and pull out of the distributor.
I've been told some of the replacement cables had the wire wound backwards and cause them to break. Seems like it could also cause them to twist and shorten themselves and pull out of engagement?
I've been told some of the replacement cables had the wire wound backwards and cause them to break. Seems like it could also cause them to twist and shorten themselves and pull out of engagement?
2) Yes, that is true, and they DO break!
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It didn't pull itself out of the distributor but it did do a pretty good pretzel imitation.
Last edited by jim lockwood; Jun 12, 2017 at 04:45 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2007
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back in the day of corvette racers they ran without the outer sheath so they could change the drive cable quickly if it broke. just like snowmobile racers back them that carried a spare clutch belt slung over their shoulder. 
Team Owner
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From: Greenville, Indiana
I tried runnining a FI for awhile without the outer sheath. It worked as long as the rpm wasn't raised rapidly. The first time I rapped it a few times in neutral, the cable looked like a pretzel. It didn't jump out of the pump and has been my spare cable I carry for a long time. It's too twisted to put back in an outer sheath.
I've never had a problem with an OEM GM cable running inside the sheath per design.
Last edited by MikeM; Jun 12, 2017 at 06:31 PM.
Le Mans Master
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From: Mobile AL
FI drive cables
A "short" cable (with a short outer housing) design was factory installed on all '57 - '62 model FI units.
On '63 - '65 model FI systems the distributor base orientation was rotated a little in the clockwise direction. This moved the distributor cable coupling further away from the pump shaft and required a slightly longer cable and outer housing to connect the two. I believe this was done to allow more room to install a cable with a wobble pump in the fuel meter.
You can safely use a long cable in any '57 - '65 FI system. However, you may not be able to use a short cable in a '63 - '65 FI unit. It may not engage the pump shaft enough to stay in place at speed.
There have been many replacement cable designs over the years. In my opinion, most of the aftermarket cables are weaker than real GM cables. However, GM also sold a batch of backwards-wound cables as service replacements at one time. You should watch out for these when buying NOS cables.
On '63 - '65 model FI systems the distributor base orientation was rotated a little in the clockwise direction. This moved the distributor cable coupling further away from the pump shaft and required a slightly longer cable and outer housing to connect the two. I believe this was done to allow more room to install a cable with a wobble pump in the fuel meter.
You can safely use a long cable in any '57 - '65 FI system. However, you may not be able to use a short cable in a '63 - '65 FI unit. It may not engage the pump shaft enough to stay in place at speed.
There have been many replacement cable designs over the years. In my opinion, most of the aftermarket cables are weaker than real GM cables. However, GM also sold a batch of backwards-wound cables as service replacements at one time. You should watch out for these when buying NOS cables.
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