List,
Here is a long sad tale about a man and his machine with a happy
ending. two weeks ago today, my girl, the love of my life, walks out
into the arms of another man. the next morning, to console myself I go
out to get the spinners for my slotted mags I've been wanting so long.
I park the car only to find out that it will start no more. Great, what
next. the ammeter on the 66 starts doing this wild left and right dance
and then just pegs hard left any time I turn the key.
I inspect. No visable wiring damage at all! In a panic I call Les at
CDM
He tells me I must have a hard short in the starter solenoid and briefs
me on the hazards of melting my wiring and frying my ammeter. Great,
what next. Committed, I have my spinners installed to at least have
something good come from the day.
I push start her and get her home. Now I have new spinners.(shiney
chrome) But no running roadster (70 needs starter also, 68 is parts
car,67.5 is held hostage in body shop) and a now empty home. Great,
what next. Oh well, X files is on. watch tv, go to bed.
I decided to pull the starter and get it fixed Monday.
Meanwhile I'm dealing with all this domestic crap.
Monday comes Victor Laury says check if the triangle on the body is cut
out. great! it is! but the starter won't come out. It won't clear the
header. Great, what next. more tv, more domestic crap.
A long time ago I took out a 66 starter on a car with header and I
remember disconnecting the header, moving it a bit and pulling the
starter quite easily. no such luck today. the hell with it. more tv,
more domestic crap. the hell with the car right now, I,ve got to work
make money and deal with domestic crap.
Finally this week, I decided, my baby may never come back, but at least
my roadster will!
I pull the carbs, pull the intake manifold, pull the header only to
discover I could have gotten the header loose without taking every
thing else off. But now I have a clean shot at the starter and a chance
to clean. I checked the starter and there was nothing wrong with it at
all!
Great, what next. gave up, more work, more tv, more domestic crap.
next day I applied Victor's philosophy, If you cant drive it or fix it
clean it. I FOUND WHAT WAS WRONG!! the short harness from the starter
to the main harness had a raw wire not melted but worn through like a
rat had chewed on it. well, knowing that I had no rats living in my
engine compartment, I looked for the source. the wire had been rubbing
against the heat sheild until it wore through and shorted out. success!
the rat had been found. I repaired the wires, taped and taped and
taped, put the starter back in and now it worked.
I cleaned everything and repainted the header and the heat sheild.
now the car runs better than ever because I cleaned the carbs really
well. It looks better as well. I went to a lot of trouble to fix a
really simple thing, but I would not have found the problem had I not
taken everything apart. So, my baby is still gone but my other baby is
back.
The moral of the story is this; A cut out triangle on a car with a
header and a long starter is useless, and a shitty life is better when
your roadster is running
Roman
SoCalRoc
__________________________________________________
Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints!
http://photos.yahoo.com
|