Does this hook up look correct? The hook that the spring attaches to is sandwiched between a bolt and the engine. Looks funky to me, am I missing a bracket?
<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o527/savagehenry42/?action=view&amp;current=spring.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o527/savagehenry42/spring.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

That picture isnt the greatest. Any other pictures??

 

I'll re-shoot.

 

This is a little better.
<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o527/savagehenry42/?action=view&amp;current=spring2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o527/savagehenry42/spring2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

Looks like a coat hanger bracket to me. But if it works and doesnt bother u, your fine.

 

Whoa.. I'd ditch the coat hanger and come up with one that won't inadvertently bend. Yep, you're missing a bracket. The OEM one uses both bolt holes atop the manifold so it doesn't swing and loosen.

You could make one yourself with a bit of steel plate. EZ!

 

Where can I obtain the OEM bracket?

 

There are some minor variations and this is on an FE (390) but yours should look something like this.
What year/engine?

 

Here's a 460 bracket. Cruise control sits on top of it







-Jameson

 

I would make your own bracket that pulls forward. It won't slop put the throttle shaft bore as bad.

 

x2 pulling back with both throttle and spring wear out the back of the throttle shaft. And that is the one part of the carb you really don't want wearing out.

It's not stock but better to attach the spring to the top portion of the throttle lever close to or where the linkage attaches and pull forward. This is a much better way to go about it.

Also while the coat hanger isn't the safest actually the single spring is more dangerous. springs break, use a double. Any good auto parts store should have double throttle spings one inside the other. Probably this one right here Mr. Gasket 19 - Mr. Gasket Throttle Return Spring Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com

My strong recomendation would be to kill 2 birds with one stone. Get some wire looms like this http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRO-302-636/ one of which will mount on your manifold between your distributor and valve cover, drill a whole in it and use it as a place to hook a set of forward pulling springs while also better retaining your plug wires.

 

Bare with me, I'm very new to all of this terminology. School me on forward pulling springs.

 

Some models had the spring mounted in front of the carb and connected to the top of the carb's linkage. ... the same effect as in your system where it mounts behind the carb but pulls at the bottom of the linkage to return the throttle to the idle position.

'hope that makes sense.

 

It has to do with the load placed on the throttle shaft.
The way the factory has it set up the throttle linkage pulls back to open the throttle. This will place X load on the backside of the throttle shaft bore in the carb. This load will cause the bore to wear.
To close the throttle there is a spring to pull the throttle shut. This spring hooks to the bottom part of the throttle arm, below the throttle shaft centerline. This means that to close the throttle the spring tension also pulls back towards the firewall, effectively doubling the load on the backside of the throttle shaft bore. All the load is placed on the backside of the throttle shaft bore. This is diecast aluminum or zinc and is relatively soft compared to the steel throttle shaft. This will make the bore wear egg shaped, causing air leakage, idle mixture problems, etc.
However, if you mount the return spring in front of the carb and attach it to the top of the throttle arm so it pulls forward to close the throttle, this effectively splits the load between the pull back of the gas pedal and the pulling forward of the return spring. This kinda evens things out reducing the wear on the throttle bore.

 

So I would insert the spring into the large hole in the center of the pic. Looks like the black bracket to the left is a return spring bracket, yes?
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