Re: There goes that trunk cable again!

["Michael Liu" <mliu@domain.elided>]

I haven't lost a trunk cable yet, but I did have the fuel filler door
release cable break on my '90 Alfa Spider. The cable had a solid metal "eye"
pressed onto the end where it attached to the release lever. The problem
with that design is that, as the lever is pulled, the metal eye would travel
trough an arc, thus bending the cable sharply where it entered the eye's
ferrule. This puts a great deal of stress on the cable at that point and
eventually, fatigue sets in and the cable snaps.

The replacement cable (from IAP), does away with the metal eye (for both the
fuel door release and the trunk release--I figured I'd replace it at the
same time!). Instead, the end of the cable is formed into a loop. Because
the cable is free to flex and pivot about the attachment point on lever, it
no longer is made to bend sharply, thus this problem should be eliminated.
Incidentally, the new fuel door cable is a larger gauge than the original
(now the same size as the trunk release) which should also help.


Michael Liu
San Francisco, CA
'90 Alfa Spider
'69 FIAT 124 Spider

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