Winter degredation

[peterg]

I went to start the 403 after the winter and found little 'mushrooms' on my carb cover where there are pin holes in the epoxy coating!

Worse was to come though. The engine appears to have nipped up and the mixture (choke) cable broke at the dashboard end.

Is there a source for repair or replacement of these?

I was surprised to see that it goes through two nearly 90 degree bends in the engine compartment to get to the carbs. Is there a better way to run the cable?

[Geoff Kingston]

I got control cables remade by a local engineer/motorbike shop, if you can't find someone locally I think Speedy Cables near Swansea could do it for you.
I agree its not the best layout but the Battery box is in the way of a direct pull cable. Also I find the chokes do not fully close so I tend to do that from under the bonnet while the engine warms up on the hand throttle. Perhaps a stronger spring on the connecting lever would help overcome the issue I mentioned.

[mikebro]

Sorry for the late repsonse but I am only recently at the stage of reinstalling all the controls through the bulkhead on my 403, and have only just sorted out how my choke (mixture control) works. Whether or not my setup is original I have no idea. There are more holes in the bulkhead than I need! However, I took plenty of photos before I dismantled everything and can confirm that my choke cable goes through the bulkhead immediately right of the left hand glove box, near the top of the available space. It is above the speedo cable, the oil temp and press and the rev counter cable which also go through to the right of the left hand glove box. It then has to bend right and then left to be fitted to the linkage that joins the chokes on the three carburetters. It goes to the middle of the linkage. Geoff talks about a stronger spring, but there is no spring on mine. I have overhauled my carburetters myself, and the chokes have a built in "snap" part way through their movement, which provides a "two-stage" feel to the choke as one pulls out the choke knob. The two stage feature is described in the Owner's Manual. There is no "turn to lock" on my choke cable, which also confirms, IMHO, the no-spring design. The choke is simply pulled out or pushed in. I have also overhauled my choke cable, taking it apart and cleaning and regreasing the inner before putting it back together. It works very smoothly and with no difficulty.

I have seen photos of other cars where it looks as if the choke cable has been routed much lower down, and more or less in line with the knob on the dashboard, underneath the battery compartment. If this were the case, the path within the engine compartment would be more tortuous. However, a properly maintained and well lubricated bowden cable should be able to cope with a couple of bends no problem.

Mike