Improving on Mixture Control

I’ve been dealing with a very poor mixture control cable in the RV-4.

A bowden cable is the type of cable used on the throttle of a lawn mower. It makes for a very poor aircraft throttle or mixture control cable. There is just too much wiggle in them – no matter how good the end connectors are. The installation on my RV-4 was very poor. I attempted to improve on it – and succeeded – but it was still no good.

Last week, it was time to change that.

Of course, no change is every simple (at least not in my experience).  Some parts had to go, new parts were added, new fuel lines and hoses had to be fabricated, and so on…

Really bad!  See how the cable is wrapped around the mixture control lever!!  Yuck!

With the proper bracket, push-pull aircraft cable, and connectors; the mixture control is very solid – very positive – even the tiniest little adjustments are possible. It feels excellent! Well worth the time it took.

Here is the Van’s throttle and mixture bracket that mounts between the carb and oil sump (bottom of the engine). The push-pull cables mount to that bracket.

All new aluminum fuel lines (yellow arrows) needed to be fabricated to install the fuel filter and move things around to provide space for it.