I have been looking for an early '72 302 throttle cable and have been unsuccessful. I did find one but he wanted $175 plus shipping. It looks like the gas pedal end of the cable was changed mid way thru '72. Mine has an eyelet and bolt where the newer has a plastic piece and metal end. The gas pedal must have been changed as well at that time. The newer version cable seems much more plentiful and cheaper. I'd change the gas pedal to the newer version if that was available. Any ideas???
You could buy a Lokar cable and use it, I have never done it but have seen it. You might have to buy the cable bracket as well unless you can make it fit the existing bracket
The early Mav throttle cable/pedal setup was used on several Ford cars for only about 3 years. The end on the cable can pop off. It is only crimped on, and the crimp itself is probably stressed more, because it is where the pedal grabs the cable. Mine did, and left the car stranded for a few days. Every junkyard piece I found had broken the same way, and that was 20 years ago. The later version looks stronger and I would switch if you can find the later pedal. I thought the transition happened going to the 1973 models, but you may be right that it was a late-72 change.
I just did the pedal swap. But after looking at it, you might be able to drill a 3/8” hole in the old pedal, and weld a washer on it, it’s a lot more narrow at the point than the later model. Then you can buy the cheap replacement cable for the later years. I did have to bend the bracket on the intake to get full throttle, the bend is different between the two pedals. I tried to upload pics, but can’t.
