throttle response improvement, $0 cost

[Frank Martin <fmartin@mr.oa.ithaca.edu>]

My guess is that that subject title should draw attention...

This may be overly obvious and simple to some folks, but:

I'd had in mind a Q-list post from some months ago regarding too much slack in 
a throttle cable. Recently, I was fiddling under the hood of my '89 100Q and 
checked the adjustment of this cable (car has about 114K miles on it) - there 
did seem to be a lot of give to it. So, I pulled up the positioning clip, 
backed up the cable about  1/4-3/8", and popped the clip in.  I've always 
thought that the car (and the only other Audi I've driven) had a longish 
peddle travel. Anyway, I've been amazed ever since that this little adjustment 
has made so much difference in day-to-day driveability. Just the plain old 
"feel."  There's no more horsepower, but you're into the "meat" of the 
throttle a tad quicker.  (My guess is that someone who didn't know what I'd 
done under the hood would swear the car had gained 5 or 6 horsepower. Gosh, is 
there money to be made there?)

A (very) small thing, but maybe worth checking this same thing on your (older) 
cars. Note: I didn't and wouldn't advise taking *all* the slack out. (Is there 
some spec. to this in manuals?)

Frank Martin
'89 100Q
'88 Mazda 323 GTX