Jess,
I have a few things to add.
On the AC, the first thing to check is that the flexible hoses are connected to
the vents. There is a enhancement you can make to increase the speed of the
blower motor.
I have found air leaks difficult to permanently eliminate. I'll fix one and
another pops up later. An electric compressor which you can turn on with a
switch is nice to have.
There are several places which sell covers custom made for the Bricklin and
they fit very well. Some of the big outfits advertise in the back of Road and
Track. You don't really want a car cover to be waterproof. It would keep water
out, but also hold it in. Most covers are designed to let the water evaporate
before it hurts the paint.
Bricklin doors are really hard to seal completely so I keep mine in the garage
on rainy days.
Scott Isensee
In a message dated Tue, 14 Mar 2000 6:21:14 PM Eastern Standard Time, "John T.
Blair" <jblair@exis.net> writes:
> At 01:19 AM 3/14/00 -0600, Jess Nicholas wrote:
>
> >Continuing in our saga of acquiring a Bricklin...
> >
> >Got another look at my soon-to-be baby, along with a nice three-hour
> >test drive the other night. #2417, I believe, is about to become mine.
>
> Jess, that sounds great. I just looked up that car and I don't have any
> info on it in the database. If possible, could you give me the name,
> address, phone # of the current owner.
>
>
> >(1) The A/C fan blows and blows, yet little comes out of any vent. I
> >understand this to be a problem with these cars. Is this easily fixable?
>
> Yes, this is a design problem. Yes it is fixable. Have you read the
> FAQ I've written on the BI web page? Terry Tanner has developed a set
> of new brackets to align the A/C and heater boxes. This will increase
> the air flow emensely. However, that may not be the only problem. On
> my car #887 the A/C box had a huge chunk out of it where it mated to the
> heater box. Consiquently, no matter what I would have tried, it would not
> have worked. The solution was to find a new A/C box. Which I did!
>
> >(2) How easy is it to fix the gauges? The altimeter and tachometer are
> >both slumbering at this point in time, and the gas gauge jumps and
> >twitches more than a dope fiend stuck in an ant bed. Getting the thing
> >to hold still long enough to provide an accurate reading is like
> >expecting a three-year-old to sit perfectly still through a Shakespeare
> >reading.
>
> This one is a little tuffer. It could be a bad ground wire, disconnected
> or bad connections at the sending units, etc. The gauges are readily
> available. As to the gas guage, This could be a bad ground at the sending
> unit, or a bad sending unit. I've found a source for sending units, but
> they aren't cheap - about $90.
>
> >
> >(3) Does anyone have any advance tips for radio installation?....
>
> Other than the stock arrangement, or installing something like Ferio
> seats with speakers in them no.
>
> >(4) Anyone here ever consider a two-battery setup?...
>
> No. Shouldn't need that if the charging system is functioning correctly.
>
> >(5) The doors of this particular car seem to want to imitate Dustin
> >Hoffman's character in "Rain Man." They have been converted to air,
> >complete with the secondary air shock to reduce stress. It was a good
> >conversion, although there is now a leak somewhere in the system. The
> >current owner had manually filled the air tank in the rear prior to my
> >test drive, and the first three or four times I operated the doors,
> >everything went fine. The fifth time--I was trying to shut the driver's
> >door--something went higgledy-piggledy. I pushed the "down" button, only
> >to hear air escaping quickly behind my head, while the door stayed up.
> >When I finally got the door down, I realized I'd bled the entire
> >contents of the air tank completely out. Also, this car has an air leak
> >somewhere.
>
> No real problem. It just takes a little time to find it and correct the
> problem. There have been several discussions on this topic and some info.
> printed in the club's magazine.
>
> >(5b) If I'm filling the rear air tank manually, what psi do I fill it
> >to?
>
> Anything is better than nothing. However, it should be between 90 - 120 psi.
>
>
> >(6) Anyone make a decent car cover for this thing?
>
> Wall Mart sells a car cover that actually lists Bricklin. They don't
> appear to be too bad. For most of the people that I know that have
> car covers, they usually take them off if they know it's going to rain.
> The sun and the birds are the main thing car covers help with. As to
> rain, depending on the cover, and where the car is parked, a cover can
> do a lot more damage than not having one on during a rain storm. Not
> to mention, what are you going to do with this water logged 40# cover
> after the rain?
>
> John
>
> John T. Blair WA4OHZ email: jblair@exis.net
> Va. Beach, Va Phone: (757) 495-8229
>
> 48 TR1800 48 #4 Midget 65 Morgan 4/4 Series V
> 75 Bricklin SV1 77 Spitfire 71 Saab Sonett III
>
> Morgan: www.team.net/www/morgan
> Bricklin: www.bricklin.org
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