Beware when installing your throttle body T bolt clamps!!!!!!

[turboc87gn]

I recently did a water pump on my gn and when i reinstalled my up pipe i had my t bolts with the nut on the bottom facing the driver side of the car pointing slightly upward do i could get to them with a wrench a lil easier,BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!! I had been cruising around for a few weeks no prob then last night disaster struck.....

I was screwing around with my buddy in his 2001 ls1 t/a while we were waiting on cars to show up for trailer car street race....We lined up and i went wot ,well when i let off the throttle it stuck wide open going almost 100mph with a cross street rapidly approaching .. I killed the ignition and luckily my hydroboost accumulater gives a few pedal pumps before the pedal gets hard..
I got it stopped safely, popped the hood and the throttle bracket got caught behind the bolt on the clamp... the last few weeks i had only cruised around and hadnt floored the car so i had no idea so guys be careful a $5 clamp and a rookie mistake could have gotten ugly .....

 

[coach]

Stuck throttles suck...big time!!!
What kind of new underwear did you get after that???

Thanks
Coach

 

[TurboBob]

wow, close one!!

Good advice to check throttle travel after fiddling with the parts on the throttle body.

Bob

 

[turbov6man]

Seen this happen before. Glad you were able to shut it down. Very bad things can happen. Good thing you kept your head about you and didn't panic.

 

[Smokin-6]

Cruise control gone wild! Glad you kept your cool and got her to stop...

 

[RmvBfrFlght]

Good thing about these cars is that we can key-off and not lock the steering. Just checked the black car here and the t-bolt bolts are on the passenger side (yea, I got nervous, been at WOT before, but it could also be close).

Glad to hear you saved her.

RemoveBeforeFlight

 

[turboc87gn]

Thanks fellas my dads was tellin me about a guy he knew that happened to and he locked the steering and crashed into a brick wall so im glad i kept my head on str8 and the guy upstairs was lookin out for me and my GN

 

[gentek10]

that must of been scary as hell..

 

[GNRick]

Glad you were able to think straight under pressure! And we know the hydroboost works! Not trying to steal your thunder but I posted a question about removing the high pressure power steering hose. When you installed your HB did you have to remove the pully blocking the hose where it connects to the pump? There is no room to get a wrench in there that I can see, after turning the smaller nut on the hose. Again, glad you shut your car down ok!

 

[86 TR]

This has also happened to me after I installed my precision I/C and a new stall converter. I was checking the stall speed in the garage under boost and the throttle stuck. I was like WTF? Killed the ignition then found the problem. You should see the burnout marks on the garage floor

Glad to hear everything turned out ok.

 

[3.8L V-8 eater]

Here's another one to watch for...Took a friend of mine to see a guy who had a GN 4 sale.....He's on the board but I won't mention any names ...Anyways he took me and buddy for a ride turned the corner heading to a stop sign and got on it for a second....Next thing you know we crossed over a curb passed over the intersection and took out a stop sign before coming to a stop in a guys front yard 15 ft before his house .......I popped the hood and seen the throttle stuck about as far as you can go!!! Turned out to be the throttle lever stuck on the lip of the fuel pressure gauge that was turned too far towards the center of the engine....That gauge face looks to be pressed on and has a lip which was a perfect place for the lever to get stuck!!!

 

[SITHV6]

EXACT same thing happened to me down track and someone eles in the burnout box on here. My horror was at the end of an 1/8th mile run at 100mph too! Had a bent valve on one of my GN1s and decided to take the heads to a local guru's shop and have them redone with Ferras and angle work yadda yadda. Well, come time to put it all back together the old cuban guy there decided to clock the bolt the same way prolly thinking the same thing...easier access etc. That weekend took the car out to the local track...was going nice all night, nothing too fast to worry about til the last race. Some trailered in Fox body 5.0 that likes to pop the wheels off the floor...oh great...! Lined up after a happy burn out and waited. Tree'd him and was quite smug with my holeshot and simply kept it floored . Thinking it was gonna be an easy win, i see his bumper slowly creeping up next to me! So what do i do? I mash the pedal down like u would when u see a cigarette on the floor to get every centimeter of gas i could get! He gets me by about a headlamp and i let off....ummm.... LET OFF ?! Car is stuck at WOT on an 1/8th mile track at 100MPH !! Like a playful cat i'm batting at the free swinging gas pedal thinking like an idiot that the pedal will somehow magically get unstuck...Hmmmm nope...Brakes....BRAKES???? *mental note that vacuum brakes are NOT your friend at WOT!!* Car will NOT slow down and i can already see the end of the runway coming up! I try to shift the car down a gear to get SOME drag to slow down. Accidently shift it down to 1st gear and the car blips its rev limiter 3 times in protest....OWIES! Shut the car off and hoped there was just enuff pressure to stop/slow the car before running into the weeds. Car shuts off and with the "Bobs Barricade" thingy in front of the car i turn the wheel with the weeds tickling the front bumper! Since the strip is actually an old aircraft runway they had a section to loop taxiing planes waiting to leave. Pull over into it and pop the hood hoping to god themorons at the other end dont try sending some pro-mod parachute dependant monster down at me. Under the hood i try playing with throttle and its stuck by.... YUP the clamp in the 3'oclock position. Took a flathead to it and started the car. Upon closing the hood, Gabby Rojas, another uber fast white T-type had just made a run and ws looking at me like...WTF are You doing out here? The Morons DID send more cars out after i had broke down! Swear to god if i had a flaregun i'd have used it since the far end of the track has NO LIGHTS. Think i posted this story before...but wanted to share in the Misery again!