I was beginning to feel like I had bought a new car and wasn’t getting to drive it because all I was doing was tearing it apart to fix little things.  But all that changed yesterday.  I had to cut off the seat belt to get at the bracket.  That let me get the passenger seat out and see the rust building under it (more on that later).

At that point I decided to just reassemble the console, set the idle air adjustment, and go for a ride.  As I was pulling out, I realized I couldn’t press the accelerator very far.  This was definitely not a problem driving home, so I began to suspect I was responsible for the throttle cable coming off the spool.  I parked it and after a little fiddling, the cable is back on the spool.

I drove into town and gassed it up.  Now that the idiot lights are working, I could even see the gas reserve light come on.  The engine runs well, but I still have a high idle (2000-3000) when it warms up.  I’m going to replace all the rubber hoses on the intake and see if that makes any difference.