Of the few days I get to work on my car to try to finish the
restoration, today was a good one and it was a bad one. It seems that
the more I try to get the car finished, the longer the list of things to
do to finish it becomes. Today I spent the afternoon trying to finish
up the wiring under the dash. I finally got the turn signal indicator
light to work and now all the instruments are illuminated when the dash
lights are turned on. Still can't figure out why the high beam
indicator light won't work. I'll get it though.
More perplexing is my starter pull cable. I went to start the car
by truning the key and pulling the starter knob and it broke off right
where it goes into the connector on the starter
spring loaded switch under the bonnet. When I went to look at it under
the hood, it was discolored and very hot to the touch! I guess I was
grounding through it. I don't see how. The engine is grounded to the
body with a strap connected to a bolt on the bell housing and
frame of the car. The car would run fine after the cable was removed.
I had been float gharging the car from the negative terminal to a head
stud to keep the battery charged. Could this have completed a circuit
through the starter wiring somehow?
I also tried to make the doors close properly by shimming the catch
on the "B" pillar and got the passenger door to operate perfectly. Not
so lucky with the driver's side. Shimmed properly and couldn't get the
door to stay closed. The mechanism mounted on the door would not engage
the catch on the "B" pillar. When I inspected both sides for a
comparison, the pin that snaps over the door jamb catch, in the driver's
door did not protrude far enough into the hole to "catch" the door jamb
catch. Now I have to get a new door mechanism with the chrome knob to
get the driver's door to stay closed before I try to test drive this
car.
The more work I do on this car the more work I make for myself.
Looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, being a railroad
engineer, I'm afraid it's a traim.
Mike MacLean-60 Sprite
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