Tuesday, November 20, 2012

One mystery solved, and another plot thickens

Years ago, I discovered some mystery electrical relays in the drivers' side door. These relays did not appear in any of the circuit diagram, and were made in England. Combine that with the mishmash way the wiring was done, and it was clear that these relays were installed when the car was in England, but I could never figure out why. It didn't help that the window regulator in this door was non-original (and didn't quite fit).
Well, I have now figured out what they are for. Due to the mismash nature of the wiring situation in the door, I bought a new wiring harness for the door. While I was at it, I bought a new window regulator, since the old one wasn't the right size and would never stay in place. I installed both of them this weekend, and when I went to install the window switches I realized that there weren't enough terminals. After a little bit of research, I found that the window switches are dual-pole (so they connect two circuits at once), and the seat switches are single pole. The switches I had for the windows were seat switches! So, some time in the late 60's or early 70's, when the motor was switched out, the original window switches disappeared, and the owner only had access to seat switches, so he found a workaround involving the relays.
I have now ordered new seat switches (even though they are remarkably expensive for switches), and hope I'll get them this weekend. Then I can install the windows, just in time for the weather to get cold (that's Texas cold, so no worry of road salt or moisture).

Now on to the continuing mystery: the tachometer. It has never worked in the 22 years I've been driving this car. Before I started driving it, my dad had the gauge rebuilt. If the cable was attached to the gauge, it oscillated wildly, and was loud. During my high school year I presumed it was the cable. That has been replaced. Then the noise was gone, but it didn't move. Then I noticed the gear was missing. I must have lost it when I changed the cable. That's a fairly expensive mistake ($35 or so). So I now have a new gear. I installed it this weekend, but no go: the noise and oscillation are back. So what's the deal? The entire system has been replaced or rebuilt. The only other element in the system is the distributor, but if there was a problem there, the cylinders wouldn't fire.
I have come to the conclusion that it's the gauge. I'll try to take it apart this weekend to see if I can figure out what's wrong. Anyway, internet people: any ideas?

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