Longer Throttle Cable Mod for 97' TLS

[Mr. DOBALINA]

Hey,
I have run with a set of Heli-bar clip-ons on my 97' TLS with some cable length issues off & on for a few years. Finally got a set of Cycle Cat Adjustable clip-ons & found these taller clip-ons wouldn't work with the relatively short TLS throttle cable. I own a 2001 GSXR1000 & have some spare parts off a 2003 GSXR1000 laying around so I started looking at a cheaper alternative to get this to work without sending the TLS throttle cables to a company that lengthens them. I know quite a few people run the Heli-bars & just try getting away with re-routing the throttle cables with some success. Think I may have stumbled on a cheap, somewhat easy alternative.

First off is a picture of a stocker 97' TLS throttle cable sitting next to the longer 03' GSXR1000 throttle cable. The GSXR throttle cable end that screws into the right side handlebar switch is identical to the stock TLS counterpart. The GSXR cables are almost 2 inches or 50 mm longer than the TLS cables. That should be long enough to work well with a set of higher rise clip-ons.


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This should work just fine for 98' & up TLS models but there is an issue when doing this mod to the 97' TLS. The diameter of the threaded portion of the throttle cable housing that goes through a bracket on the throttle body is thinner & longer on the 97' TLS throttle cable than on 98' & up TL's and the 01' & up GSXR1000's. The diameter of this threaded shaft on the 97' TLS is 6mm and the GSXR part / later model TLS's shaft is 8mm in diameter. So the nuts that secure the throttle cable to this bracket on the throttle body are 10mm on the 07' TLS & 13mm on the later model cables. Here is a shot of the two threaded shafts for comparison:





So how do you deal with this issue? How about removing that throttle body cable mounting bracket that is attached to the side of the front cylinder throttle body & modifying it so you can run the newer style cable. First you need to lift up the gas tank & remove the airbox. In order to remove the airbox you need to at least loosen up the two TLS side fairing panels & push the rubber portion of the ram air tubes off of the airbox. I think it is a very good idea to bring a digital camera in the garage & take photos to assist you when it comes to reassemble things & also to figure out how the old throttle cables were routed so you can replace them with ones routed properly.

It is probably easier to just unbolt and remove the entire TLS left side fairing panel & leaving the right side fairing panel installed but unbolted from the radiator & pulled away from the frame a bit. I highly recommend stuffing a very clean rag into the throttle body openings as stuff has a tendency to fall in there & it is not very fun fishing stuff out of them. Here are a few shots of the bracket mounted to the side of the throttle body:






And another view of it:






There are two nuts that secure each throttle cable to the housing. Loosen the nuts & mark which cable went to what part of this throttle cable housings. That will make it easier to figure out where the new cables are supposed to mount up. Then loosen the two bolts that secure the bracket to the throttle body. Remove them carefully - you don't want to drop these screws as there are lots of places these screws can bounce into that will make life difficult. Unbolt the bracket & pull your old throttle cables out of the bracket set it on your workbench.

The idea is to enlarge each of the two slots where the throttle cables slide into & then to bend back the tangs that hold the throttle cable nuts in place as you tighten them down. A small hand grinder or Dremel tool will make this process easier but a rat tail file will work but will take a little longer. Here is a shot of the removed bracket & my starting to enlarge the slot on the left side:





After grinding that one slot large enough to be able to slide the new throttle cable in the slot grab a pair of pliers & CAREFULLY bend back the tangs that hold the cable nuts in place. Note, you do not need to bend these tangs back radically. The idea is that you want these tangs to be able to put some pressure on the larger throttle cable nuts & to do so you only need to bend them back a little bit. Here is a shot of the finished left side slot with the tangs bent back in a position that will work well:





No, it's not super pretty looking but will work very well. Here is a shot of that bracket with the new, thicker GSXR throttle cable installed in that one slot and the thinner, longer TLS throttle cable installed in the other slot for comparison.





Here's another view of that bracket to give you a better idea of how much material needs to be removed & the angle to bend the mounting tangs back at:






Move to the other slot & enlarge the slot as well. Use the new throttle cable as a guide to help you guage how wide you need to enlarge that opening. Do the same when you bend back the tangs on the bracket. Installing the throttle cable a few times after you bend the tangs back to see if they still hold the mounting/adjuster nuts on the throttle cables in place makes things easier. When you are all done working on the throttle cable mounting bracket it will look like this:





Now take the bracket & screw it back in place on the side of the front throttle body. Take a look at your old TLS cables you marked to figure out which throttle cable went into the front slot of the bracket & which one goes into the rear slot of the bracket. This is where that digital camera you used to document things comes in handy. Re-assemble the components in the order you removed them & mount the new throttle cables in the handlebar switch as you remove the old throttle cables. Adjust the slack in the cables as per the manual. Now you have some longer throttle cables installed that should work much better with those aftermarket high rise clip-ons you decided to buy!

[Loki-TLR]

Great howto for sure. With quite some people running different clippons and mx bars it's comming in handy! Make's me wonder if the cable's of a DL would be long enough to use with mx bars...

[TLexup]

Nice info Dobalina, good info for those like me who want to put an mx handlebar . Good point also Loki, I thought also if the DL cables for throttle and clutch will fit the TLS....

[Octofinger]

Great info. I never knew the throttle cables were different on the -97 tillis.
I guess this thread belongs to the Frequent TL Mods section though?

[cyclecamper]

I had Motion Pro make cables up custom for my old TLS with the extra-long Heli bars.

[tls-moose]

Are the "free lengths" of the inners the same, or are they different

I need to lengthen the amount of "free cable" on mine, as they are tight with both adjuster screwed right in as tight as they'll go ......

[veetwo tls]

FWIW

97 TLs throttle cables are long enough for raisers & mx bars + 1/5 mod

just rerought them.

[Mr. DOBALINA]

Originally Posted by tls-moose

Are the "free lengths" of the inners the same, or are they different

I need to lengthen the amount of "free cable" on mine, as they are tight with both adjuster screwed right in as tight as they'll go ......

The free lengths of the inners are different - corresponds to the length of the outer part of the cable...

If you need exact measurements I can do that, post up.

[hartrichj]

Originally Posted by tls-moose

Are the "free lengths" of the inners the same, or are they different

I need to lengthen the amount of "free cable" on mine, as they are tight with both adjuster screwed right in as tight as they'll go ......

Did you try putting both of the nuts on the throttle side of the bracket, using the machined cable housing end against the cable side of the bracket? That would buy you another 3/16" of free cable.

[socommk23]

i used a dl650 clutch cable on my 97 tls.
slightly too long and needed about 10mm of outer removed to work properly.....but it solved the cable length problem.