Good deal Bill, glad you got it done. That indicator wire is a weird thing...many other GM cars don't have it, so you don't really think about it when you drop the column. It's like the water pump bolt thing, kind of a rite of passage for working on them. But, WAY easier to fix than water pump bolts! I've worked on a lot of columns, I have the tools to do them. My 70 car never had a tilt. I have an extra finished one from my 442, just too lazy to put it in. All my cars but the 70 have them. Truth is...I rarely use the tilt. My 70 is getting on my nerves because it has a 16" wheel, I'm not real big, but it's still kind of tight. I've got a 15" one, but I'm waiting for a GSX wheel from Duane. What I REALLY like about tilts is if you need to go under the dash to change a fuse or look at something, it's a lot easier. The wobbling sucks, that's the main reason I would go into them. Kind of hated to see you put the old TS switch back in. It looks in the pic like it might be cracked or starting to crack where the lever screw goes. That's where they always break. Many times they are already broken, but seem to work ok. Then they get worse and sloppier, eventually breaking. At one time there was only NOS, expensive. But now you can get them for like $30.00 or so repro if you dig on ebay. Maybe you can work on your scooter now?
Boy-O-Boy... it seems like everything on these 45 year old beasts is a right of passage LOL! That stupid wire clamp on the bowl stripped out and it was on and of 3 times (wire included) when I quit. The spring part of the clamp is sprung. Ill probably put a #8 screw and nut through it and call it a day! What did the 442's use for an indicator. Id have thought they would be the same, or close. Hmmm. You have good eyes pal. I didn't see that TS ring crack until you pointed it out, and I DID look too! It still mite be a hair or bristle from a parts brush. I dunno. The TS lever screw did go in nice and tight and the lever feels strong. Believe me, I was a gentle as I could be with that thing! I'm gonna call the MC shop today to check on that gearbox. I'm officially ready for it and Ill have a week to futz with that. Pats taking off this morning in a rental car for Kansas City Ks. to hook up with her daughter whos 4 year old is in the Childrens hospital for 4 days now with some kinda blockage. No output and the input is full up so he's dehydrating. Some kinda blockage. He's sedated and being fed through a nose tube. That's gotta suck when youre 4 years old. KC,Ks. is about 11 hours from here. If the kid gets better Pat will drive them home to Springfield, Mo. where they live. Another 3 hour drive. Hopefully the kids better and Pat will be home for The Walking Dead season premiere Sunday night. I guess today Ill finish up on that lower dash cover and clean up my mess, AGAIN. Then start on the honey-do list. The old girl doesn't want me to get bored when she's gone! :TU: Thanks for following along guys... more to come I'm sure! ws
Good morning Bill! Sorry to hear about your grandchild. Hope that goes ok. That's a LOT of driving Pat's got to do. 442's have the indicator on the console, I think other floor shift GM cars I've had were like that, too. Normally, that wire stays on the speedo and can't fall off. then the other end at the column is like crimped on a bit. When you drop the column, you take the screw out and pop that "nut" piece off and just let it hang there. Kind of ghetto, but you could probably get a nut clip to attach to that nut clip. A regular nut will be hard to get on and off. Little widgets like that are just laying on the floors of the cars in the boneyard. Can't get in there 'til spring now.........
Thanks for the concern Frank! Pat just took off in a rented Hyundai. She made it 10 miles and called me to tell me what a POS it is... Hell, its Japanese so everything is new and improved. ALL the switches have "icons" and she cant figure out how to turn the dome lights off. I told her to stop for a cup of coffee while its still lite out and read the FFFF manual (RTFM) ! She decided at 1800hrs yesterday to go so it was a madhouse around here, of course! I did have a 1968 SS396 and 2 1970 SS396 chevelles with auto consoles and they were illuminated from within; I guess that was too simple! At any rate, we just keep plugging away, ya know? Sure glad I don't have to do this for a living anymore. I can imagine all digital stuff that's half the size. Jokes on the fat guy this time LOL... Gotta ask... where is Toytown, Ma.? Beantown? ws
So we used St. Elmos' fire to our advantage today... :bglasses: I took a larger sheet metal nut and slipped it right over the over-engineered OEM unit and put a larger screw in it. Cant even see the old one! Still had to keep it tho for the linkage hook (the over-engineered part), but the indicator slices right through the gears with the shifter. Got the AC duct back in and the lower column cover as well. Still missing is the duct hose on the left side. That'll hafta wait until the next time the dash pad is off. That whole corner is impenetrable. Reminds me of my first wife LOL... Talked to Pat and the grandson is home and going to school today. Two days of getting fed with a nose hose the same stuff they give you for a colonoscopy. GADS! Probably had to put the kid in a garbage bag for a day or two... Cant go there! ws
Glad to hear your grandson is out and back in school. Poor guy...that couldn't have been much fun for him. Good deal with the clip nut working. I know some ways to fix stripped stuff, but not like that piece. Yeah..."over engineered" I like that expression. Toytown, MA (Winchendon, MA) is about 60 miles west of Boston in central MA and a few miles from the NH border. It's a nasty place in the winter, we got like 15-16" of snow there yesterday, with more big snow expected soon. At one time it was the toy making capitol of the US. That was when toys were made from wood, wooden blocks, rocking horses, etc. That industry is totally gone now, it's kind of a ghost town. I moved there after 9/11, I lived near "Beantown" and real estate prices were really high there. So we sold our house there and moved out to Winchendon and made some $$$ on the flip. Weirdly, it seems every town or city here has a nickname. One town over is Athol "Tooltown" named for the massive Starrett Company that is still there. Hard to believe they still make things there, too...but only a shadow of what they once made. To the south is Leominster "Plastics City", once the plastic capital of the world. They even have a plastic museum there. They made (and still make some) combs, brushes, dolls, plates, silverware...a wazillion things. They are most famous for the pink lawn flamingos. Hard to believe, but they still make those there! See...the Chinaman hasn't taken all our industry, not yet! People still buy Starrett even though they could go to HF and get a similar mic or whatever for a fraction of the cost. Some people will still pay for quality stuff. I always laugh when I go to HF and see those "lobster claw" combination wrenches and wonder how you get them in a tight spot. Now the Craftsman wrenches are like that, too. They have to be like that, because the "chinesium" will break, crack or spread on the fastener. We have another house near Providence RI, so in the winter we mostly stay here. Winters in NE suck no matter where you are, though!!!
Just got back with my $1600 gear box (!) So now whos' the ATHOL?? Ill be back in a while with camera in hand. This one oughta be fun "Reverse Engineering" the PO's handiwork; just like the Buick! Already spent 3 days getting the wiring straightened out so this should be a cake walk. Well maybe Ill become a firewalker instead LOL... ws
FUNNY, and yeth, Athol is Tooltown, forgot to mention it! I'm sure you have Starrett stuff there. That's a lot of $ for the tranny. One of those MC lifts from HF would make that job more fun.
Best deal in town for $279 on black Friday last year. Homey don't work on the flo' no mo' ;-0)) Trans is in and starting to make up primary chain housing before tightening stuff up. Changed some sprocket stuff too. Like from a 279:1 to a 323:1 That's a one tooth difference on the final drive trans sprocket... I hope this helps prevent lugging at 30mph in 2nd gear around town. The PO had it geared for the open road in Texas haha... ws
Just pluggin' along. There always a lot of reverse-re-engineering (that's a double entandre') on old stuff and old H-D's are no exception. Why should this one be any different than fitting a new cam or water pump on a 45 year old Buick? Too many variables and TOO MANY P.O.'s ! Anyways. got the trans lined up, snugged yet movable. Drive chain on minus 2 links for the smaller drive sprocket. Primary inner cover on with all the seals and O rings, and the starter mounted. The PO did a great job of helicoiling NF stuff with NC... try to figure that one out upside down with a flashlight in yer teeth. Some of the coils were still proud of the mating face so that had to be addressed, and finally. got to mount the clutch hub and it wouldnt "seat" on the taper on the brand new Andrews trans shaft taper. After a dozen tries. I used the old Prussian Blue and found a "chip in the 3/16 woodruff key way in the shaft, that was after destroying the locking tab that needs to wait for Monday for! ws
Something different... ws [video=youtube;jdW1t8r8qYc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdW1t8r8qYc[/video]
Only one at a time... ws [video=youtube;rURHVLM9nxs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rURHVLM9nxs[/video]
Yeah...the guy's a little wacky! I like the dog in the 2nd video at about 2:25. He's like..."my master is at it again!"
I like the part where raw fuel goes in but nothing happens until compression, then ignition. I was rebuilding a Smith 150 cfm compressor that had a 302 Ford motor with an engine cylinder head and one head was a compressor head. I ran the engine bank with no compressor head at about 1000 rpm and you couldn't even see the pistons; just a blurr... Id like to see that on NITRO! ws
Me thinkst ol' Birmin'ham is gonna take hisself a nap... ws [video=youtube;oavaGUCZ_5g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oavaGUCZ_5g&feature=youtu.be[/video]
LOL !! I'm taking a week off before that one starts up! Us old guys cant take it any more haha! Rolling out 2 gallons of black paint overhead, and laying on your back on gravel is a cake walk. I'm about 5 years behind on boat projects so this year I am gonna "Man-Up". ws
My pal at East Coast Diesel Injector svc. on Long island sent me this today. Some interesting stuff... ws https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-vehicle-collection/1970_Buick_GSX.html
Managed to finish up the old NEVERUDE with some fresh paint and gear oil and then tear the boat transom apart for some new pressure treated wood for the motor mount. Today its gonna be 32 and windier than a bag full of ***holes. Finally, the TAX MAN bought me a new set of GOODYEAR truck tires. These are the old Coopers for sale cheap...265/65R-18s. Just waiting for one of the "librarians" to show up LOL... ws
