Accelerator cable snapped again (update)

3rd time it's happened now, a little inconvenient as it required a duel carriage way stop. As usual it had failed at the connection to the pedal. Tried to drag it by hand but there wasn't much left to get hold of.

Whipped the bonnet off and stuck the remaining cable out through the side. Easier to get hold of with a pair of pliers. I have a brand new BMW cable but before I go cutting it to length I'll have a think about a better long term solution.

I believe the problem was because the cable went through the bulkhead via the adjustable cable support tube through the hole in the pedal bracket and then into a lock-off nut. This solution meant that the slack in the cable was rubbing on the sides of the hole and after 5000 km or so it snapped.

I made another quick solution using the old cable (getting shorter and shorter) but this time I made another hole in the pedal bracket so the cable could be looped through the original hole (surrounded by a rubber grommet), back through the bracket and then into the lock-off nut. It means the cable is always tight with the bracket. Let's see if the theory holds.

I first used wire wool to reduce the exhaust sound level but that burnt away in 5 minutes. Rock wool was the next thing to try and it was great, especially for track days where it can last the hole day. Laurence kindly gave me a clump that I put in at Brands after getting black flagged and it was still working at least 500 km later. A good indication when the rock wool wore out was the baffle started rattling.

I really wanted something that would last even longer so had a search around the Internet and found something called Superwool which burns at 1300 oC, twice the temperature as rock wool. Looked on ebay and there it was. Because of postage it was easier to buy 3 loads of 5 sheets, each of which is 5mm thick and 500x350mm. (Superwool HT-1300'c High temp insulation material). 

A different consistency to rock wool. 

   

Half a sheet wraps nicely around the baffle and I put a couple of circles at the end of the baffle too. The idle was a little slow but the sound was way down. I'll see how it goes, perhaps I can take the circles away to reduce back pressure. 

UPDATE: To be honest the Superwool was absolutely useless! Ok not as bad as wire wool but compared with Rock wool it was a waste of the £30 I paid (plus £20 postage). The first attempt where I used half a sheet to wrap around in two or three layers and two disk shaped pieces I pushed in before the baffle failed within a few kilometres. This is what it looked like after a short drive in the country:

The sheet the baffle is laying on was the same size as the one wrapped around it. The small lump next to it is what's left! I'm not sure what could be wrong, temperature is supposed to be 1300 oC so I can only think that the heat and combined pressure destroyed it. The sound limit was way down but the back pressure was too much so the second time I tried without using the disks but back pressure was still to high and after a 80km drive there was nothing left at all.

What to do now? Unless someone comes up with a better idea I'm not going to use anything unless I'm on a track day, a long day out with Anette or putting it through an MOT test in which case I'll use Rock wool! 

Another thing, felt it at Brands and a couple of times since - clutch starting to slip. Hope it will last until winter but I’ll order one just in case.