"throttle" cable on spica cars

["Scott Johnson" <scott@domain.elided>]

Many folks have noted the hand throttle on SPICA cars. I **believe** it is in
the same spot as the choke on weber cars (but I am only speculating from
conversations, not actual eye-witnessing). 

As far as I can tell, the true function of the device is unknown. My 1750 owners
manual talks about it, a little, but doesn't explain its purpose. This is
somewhat remarkable since sixteen pages later is an explanation of how a 5 speed
transmission works, complete with diagrams.  Of course, later on the manual
talks about where to put a radio in a spider but does not discuss at all where
to put speakers!

As the thermo-actuator decays, which is the only major source of "drift" in the
tune of the system, the car won't want to idle when cold. It (should) fire up
just fine, but it requires a great deal of finess to "wake it up". It reminds me
of a very tiny version of a piston airplane engine... the whine of the starter,
then aHEM-pomp, pomp, pomp-pomp, pomp-pomp, pomp-pomp,
pompompompompmpmpmpmpmvrrroooOOOOMmmmm as the cylinders come on line one by one.
This requires lots of foot action with the throttle otherwise it dies. I've done
it so much I can usually count them.

Anyway, once you massage the tiny beast to life, if your SPICA isn't box-on
spec, when you let off the gas it'll collapse and die. Getting a somewhat (or
badly) out-of-tune cold SPICA engine to fire once is an adventure, and getting
it to fire again is just that much harder. So I use the hand throttle. Once the
engine is smooth, I hold the pedal in at the proper position then set it (pull
out and twist to lock).

I can then go about the business of putting the top down, arranging all
passenger contents, strapping in, etc. without having to keep my foot on the
pedal. As the car warms up the idle will usually change (up, but sometimes due
to slop in the hand throttle it'll go down), and after a few minutes it'll hold
idle all by itself.

Of course, if the car is absolutely bang-on, you won't need to do any of this,
but as things drift between tuneups it does come in handy.

Oh, and *never, ever* use the hand throttle as a cruise control. First its
really not precise enough to do the job, but most importantly it doesn't release
with application of the brakes, making it very dangerous.

Anyway,

Scott Johnson
Alfa Spider FAQ Author

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