John S's Journal

Found out my brake lights had quit working. Connection on one of the bullet tubes for the switch had come loose when I had put the Cooper filters on apparently. Re-soldered one of the terminals at the switch because it was hanging on by a thread.

Discovered a bodged connection at the right rear brake light. No bullet tube - just electrical tape holding the feed and the two brake light wires. Dug up a spare tube and fixed that. Also fixed bad grounds on the left and right marker lights. License plate lights appear to go nowhere so that will be next.

Took the car across the street for a quick photo in front of the old barn.

Thought I’d post a before and after photo. Not perfect by any means but I can live with the way it looks now anyways...

I’ve been driving around without it since getting it operational. Initially it was because I wanted to strip the underside and paint to match the engine bay. The original color was Pale Primrose but unfortunately that went by the wayside courtesy of a previous owner. The car is more of a golden yellow on the exterior and the engine bad was painted red with a black engine also by one of the previous owners. I found a close match to the PP in rattle can form and the engine bay got stripped and re-painted when I replaced the clutch. Much to my chagrin, the rattle can color was discontinued so I ran out about halfway through the bonnet painting. Ordered a can of PP from PaintScratch and finished the job and there is a subtle difference between the engine bay and the bonnet so I have a tri-color yellow car now. Maybe someday it will all be the same color.

I didn’t like the cheap foam that I ordered of Amazon to replacing the missing insulation so after a trip to a local upholstery shop, I came away with some black 1/8” closed cell foam and was able to cut it larger than the two openings and slip it under the bracing and perimeter of the bonnet. With that done, I could finally install the bonnet and call the exterior good enough for now.

I thought I was going to swap out rotors today thinking it was a simple unbolt the old and bolt on the new. Found out with the wire wheels it is more involved. The rotors aren’t bad and the pads are virtually new but I got a deal on the rotors and thought it was going to be easy peasy. Cleaned the rotors, de-glazed the pads and decided to wait until driving season ends at which time the front end is going to get rebuilt. Lots of sad looking bushings underneath...

Now installed in the dash. A couple of tach/speedo brackets and the green arrow turn indicator arrived so I could finally install the dash. It’s in now with all new LED lights with the exception of the ignition and high beam lamps. Kept those as incandescents. A heater fan switch also came in and that finished off all of the bits and pieces that needed replaced. Had to dig through my spare wiring harness for a couple of panel sockets to replace some that were missing. The dash is in and looks great. So much so that a I’m now looking to upgrade other interior bits. Just found a radio console on the BST forum so that’s next. And there is the matter of securing the nuts on the dash studs...

But after buttoning up the radio console wiring it was time to get it out and have some fun. It started right up yesterday so the tuning work that I had done prior to ripping the dash out was apparently successful. I’ve been a little concerned about the plugs looking a little sooty but I really hadn’t had the car out for much of a drive to really heat it up. A little 15 mile round trip yesterday out in the country to make sure there were no issues since the dash wiring repair and reinstall. No issues other than the speed wasn’t working but the odometer was so my suspicions about the LED light being a little too long were confirmed when I looked into it today.
Ran it longer this evening and the speedo works but is bouncing so it probably needs some lube. Pulled the plugs when I got back and they look good.

Next up are some new rotors that I bought from a member. Steering rack gaiters and a look at the front suspension.

...to being done. Been a bit of a struggle getting the last few bits that I needed but today was a good day. Two new jeweled indicator lights arrived and they are perfect! Also got a good used bezel and one turn indicator in the mail today. Sourced a couple speedo/tach brackets and knurled nuts and they are on the way. Looking to find one more threaded signal indicator before I bond the bulb holder to the back of the dash with contact cement as the green threaded indicator has stripped threads. Don’t want to go there but finding them has been a challenge and I want to get the dash back in and drive.

Added a few more things when I had a spare minute or two. Turn indicators went in but that isn’t the end of those. Brittle green threaded @#$&%-*$$! Who designed that set up? Anyways, one broke off almost entirely and the other one isn’t much better. Neither one has enough threads left to accept the bulb holders on the backside. Managed to Super glue the one to at least be able to insert into the dash so both appear correct but won’t light up if left that way. Sourcing some from the B,S, & T forum hopefully. Got the fan switch in but the new dash pad with the foam behind the vinyl in the gauge fascia made fitting all of the gauges and switches a challenge due to the added thickness. Some more than others. Had to pick a lot of the foam out around the mounting holes to get it so that things would fit. Poor design on the new pad. I would like to see just an added layer of vinyl bonded to the fascia instead of the rigid foam. Heater and vent knobs are on but one won’t click in because of the thickness. So, the only things left to cut in are the Ignition and High Beam indicators which I’m also hoping to replace.