Hi Dan,
Steve isn't putting you on--TDs really did have clocks, little buggers
about 1" on the face, at the inside of the tach case.
They are mechanical, windup clocks, only they self wind. There's a
little rachet gizmo that moves as the spring winds down and then contacts
another contact. When that happens, the points zap and the ratchet gizmo
flings back, winding the clock for another few minutes. You hear it
ticking away and then a soft brzpp sound as it rewinds.
The clocks ran well. The one in this car ran for ten years or so. When
I heard about Hal Kramer working on them, I sent mine to him. A couple of
days later it was back, clean and eager to be installed. In place it runs
"like a Swiss watch" and keeps perfect time. TD oil pressure gauges and
ammeters may or may not be accurate, but the speedos and tachs are, shall
we say, optimistic. The clock is spot on.
It's nice to have a mechanical instrument that's very much a part of
the era of the car.
If you happen to see any old British movies of the period, see if the
guys have wrist-watches. I'm going to bet that they do not. By the time
the Bs came along, wrist watches were ubiquitous and the car clock was
less necessary.
Bob
On Fri, 29 May 1998 20:30:05 -0500 "Dan Ray" <danray@bluegrass.net>
writes:
>a Clock? I'm no help here at all. :)
>The car is just trying to tell you, "screw what time it is -- drive me
>dammit!"
>This is sacrelige, I know...and totally out of bounds for a "young"
>(haha) B
>driver...
>I guess I need to buy a good "MG" book to tell me these things
>(library
>needs).
>When I went through airborne school, the "black hats" taught us
>there's
>"airborne time" and regular time.
>Is "MG time" like that? It should be. Time stands still when driving
>one. I
>drive off into the country on my lunch time, when stressed by "More
>with
>Less".
>I live more in that half hour than some people live all year (take on
>a
>catchy recruiting commercial).
>
>Dan
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Steven Tritle <stritle@epix.net>
>To: mgs@autox.team.net <mgs@autox.team.net>
>Date: Friday, May 29, 1998 6:28 PM
>Subject: TD clock
>
>
>>My clock stopped working. It was restored and transistorized by Hal
>>Kramer. Is Hal on the web?
>>
>>What do I look for when trying to troubleshoot this problem. It has
>>worked for 3 years. I just installed a new Lucas battery 3 weeks ago
>and
>>it has more "juice" than my Interstate. Could that have precipitated
>the
>>problem? Any ideas anyone? The connections are good.
>>
>>Steve
>>52 TD
>>
>
>
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