Morris Minor Owners Club

Errrr - no! You're thinking of something else.....

no wonder Birmingham is full of Scottish ladies

well that proves the problem is with the thottle cable/return spring position.Put the spring on the lever where the throttle cable fits,and find somewhere for it to fit below the carb,usually on the exaughts clamp.then with the spring fitted the throttle spindle will be in the fully closed position. Then fit the cable making sure it dosen't pull the carb levers open.If you still have the problem then its the cable,either too tight or pinched up somewhere. As BM says the run of the cable looks all wrong,looks far too tight.Is it the correct cable,has it been changed,is that why somone has fitted the spring and lever where it is now, because thats not the correct place for it. Never seen one fitted there in a minor or any other car,and its looks like a very strong spring,the correct throttle return springs are very light otherwise it makes for a very heavy throttle pedal.
I suspect the heavy spring has been fitted where it is ,to compensate for a incorrect or badly routed cable.

As i said in an earlier post it is a new cable fitted in the summer. It is routed out of the bulkhead and is allowed the gently bend to the carb gently through the clamp. The spring is in the same position it always has been in working with no problems there is even whole in the original air filter for it to clip on to and the other end is connected to just the opposite side of the carb to the throttle lever. The fast idle screw is still away from the cam that it rests on. I am wondering if i pulled to hard on the choke and it has shifted as it is connected to the choke lever.

No - it's nothing to do with the choke -it is all to do with the throttle cable being too tight. Refit it with a little bit of 'loose' and it will be fine. I do believe early cars had the spring over there - trouble is it causes a LOT of wear on the spindle, and is better directly opposing the cable as described above.

Did you oil or grease the new cable, it looks very dry

Taupe

Is the long throttle stop bracket tight? On an old car I had this came loose and moved pulling the cable tight and opening the throttle. It happened while driving so was not a good experience.

Agree with above, if the arm slipped on the shaft the return function would not work. The spring fitted to the cable side and pulling against a bracket on the exhaust is by far safer, neater and out of the way.

It seemed to work ok after the cable was removed... I suspect the cable has been nudged - such that the end fitting has popped out of the housing - either under the crossmember where it emerges into the engine bay - or where it seats into the restraining bracket where the inner cable exits into the carb spindle grip.