Quote:
Originally Posted by BEEF
if and when you do this, post some pics. another idea is to use multiple springs that aren't so high of tension so that you could vary the tension by adding more or taking some away.
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Ok, well, maybe it's not that exciting, but it was cheap and easy.
First I went to the hardware store, $14.95 for a screen door spring. That's not happening.
Then I went to that bastion of quality goods, The Dollar Store. Got one pack of PlayDough, (generic) and one pack of... bungee cords. Not the good multi strand ones, but the cheap, flat ribbon-like ones, with the plastic connectors rated for no more than, say, 3 lbs of pressure. Not what you want to hold your luggage on the roof for a long vacation, but for this, perfect.
Took the PlayDough straight out of the can and put the whole thing under the accelerator pedal. Gave just a bit of resistance, and after letting off would easily go back to that point and then more resistance as it squished. I gave it too much gas coming off the exit ramp and had to stop, reshape the silly putty and continue with a lighter throttle pressure. I was shooting for just enough throttle to get me up the hills at 40mph (the lower legal limit) and not use any more throttle than that.
When I got home it looked like this:
I put it back under the pedal and gently pushed down by hand to get an idea of how much travel I was using.
It obligingly stuck to the pedal making the next step much easier, where I used the plastic hook on the bungee to go around the armature for the pedal. Then I hooked the other end onto some sturdy ductwork under the dash.
Then I pressed down on the pedal until the PlayDough stopped it again, shortened the bungee to that length and tied the shortened end off with a half hitch.
Then I went for a ride. Sure enough, I could feel definite resistance when I got to the end of the slack in the bungee. But if I needed to floor it I could. When I drove my usual route to town with the pedal just at the bungee's engagement I was doing 68mph downhill (65mph limit) and about 37mph up the steepest hill, so I had to give it just a *little* juice to stay legal. (40mph minimum)
Average speed, surprisingly, was above 55mph. (not from a scangauge, just my observation), so I think my next area of improvement will be from aerodynamics. There is hope.