Cheap hesitation or lag fix

[mirageman]

Hello all, proud new owner of a very gently used 09 yaris sedan 5 speed. Fell in love with it right away but was also immediately aware of the apparant lack of throttle response when accelerating from a stop. I've driven stick for 25 years, and I just wasn't getting the hang of this car. I've only had it for about 6 days and stalled it at green lights probably 10 or more times. I thought it was just me getting used to the way this car was made. I did some research and saw I wasn't alone. People have complained online about it and the general answers ranged from it just being the normal "drive-by-wire" response of the car to others saying they don't have that problem. I saw that most if not all the complaints came from people with the manual trans, because they would notice it much easier than someone with an auto. It troubled me more and more with each day, last straw was watching the Mrs stall out like 5 times in the driveway and hearing her wind out the engine to get it moving. I got in and studied. I mistakenly thought there was a time lag in the gas, where it takes a second for the computer to realize you are stepping on the gas, but that is not true. I found that at idle, there is about a quarter inch of play in the gas pedal before any response of the engine. I could step on the gas about a quarter inch and hold it there, and the car would not do anything, as if nothing was going on. It was not a delayed reaction, it was a NO-reaction. I confirmed this by connecting an ultragauge to the obd port and again playing with the gas and watching the rpm for a change. I then looked at the accelerator pedal setup and in an epiphany, saw my fix. The pedal's lever has a step on it that butts up against the housing of the unit. This serves as the endpoint of the pedal's range of motion. I was going to put a piece of plastic in there to take up some space so the pedal will not come up higher than it's effective range. I was going to make it so when you TOUCH the gas now, you're going to GET some gas now. I went to my "man cave" and found some angled hard plastic about 2mm thick and cut a piece to fit in there. With the engine idling, I wedged the piece in there and the engine raced. Too thick. Took a file and thinned the plastic some and retried, still too thick. Kept on thinning the piece little by little until I could put it in place with no response from the engine. That was my sweet spot. Surprisingly, it is no thicker than the plastic used in a common gallon of water, probably less than 1mm. Since it's placement is close to the hinge of the lever, a small change here makes a big change at the end of the pedal. I dabbed some crazy glue on the plastic piece and put it against the step on the LEVER, not the housing. Did this because if that piece were to loosen someday, it would fall to the floor. If it were glued to the housing and someday fall from there, it could theoretically wedge itself between the housing and the lever, holding the pedal down, which we don't want obviously. Anyhow, I let the lever go and let it come to rest holding the piece in place for two hours while the glue dried. I then tried it out and was happier than a pig in sheet. No more lag. Timing of gas and clutch are very intuitive, very natural feeling, just the way it is supposed to be. It also helped with going through all the gears, a day and night difference that cannot be realized until you experience it. This is a safe modification if done right. Worst case, the piece falls off and you're right back to how it was before. Attached picture number 1 shows the finished product, the arrow pointing to the angled plastic (white plastic piece) I had glued to the lever. Picture number 2 shows a close up with the accelerator pressed down so you can see it better.