OK, OK,
I think I just found out what this "thing" is and why it's there.
These cars were the earliest recipients of an introductory computer chip
imbedded someplace under the dash that was capable of detecting the amount
of money in the owners wallet and the available funds in his/her check
book. From this it was able to determine how expensive the next breakdown
would be. They perfected this chip to later exceed the earlier
breakdown/repair costs. Along about '77 they devloped a new, more powerful
chip that needed to be encapsulated in metal to keep it from letting smoke
out of adjacent wires. It required an enourmous amount of power so it had
a heavy brown with white stripe wire attached to it. This chip was not at
all successful as the metal container kept it from detecting the right
amount of money the owner had. It worked in a far too random nature.
Sometimes nickle and dime repair jobs, other times bankruptcy type repair
costs. They removed it, but in the true British traditions, they continued
to place encapsulated nuts along where it was originally located. But alas,
the damage had been done. The car was deemed too expensive to repair and
too unreliable in performance from point A to point B and occasionlly back
to point A.. Production on these wonderful and quirky vehicles ceased in a
year or two. These chips had a half life so they have all disappeared,
with only a very few of the metal ones remaining. These had a secondary
function of driving present owners partially nuts! Some it pushed over the
edge!
FWIW, TIC
Paul A
PAsgeirsson
>>Chris, remember that the 1977 Midget has a unique wiring diagram. The
'78
and later cars are different. The mounting you described is exactly
correct.
I guess I'll have to wait until some car shows and check out other Midgets.
(Cars, that is.)
Allen Hefner
SCCA Philly Region Rally Steward
'77 Midget
'92 Mitsubishi Expo LRV Sport
- - - - - - - - - - - -
In a message dated 4/5/00 8:00:29 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
ckotting@iwaynet.net writes:
<< Hmmmm. I'm surprised that you didn't at least have a pair of captive
nuts in the firewall.
Allen, the ones I saw are about 2 1/4 inches apart, laid out
horizontally about 1 inch down from the loop of fuel vapor tubing, and
look like they maybe take a 10-24 screw. (All measurements are strictly
by eyeball.) They're above the fuse box. Is that the mounting point?
Perhaps there's something >else< bolted in there on the California cars,
or the spot is covered with other stuff.
Chris
Swift Justice wrote:
>
> Ajhsys@aol.com wrote:
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> >
> > I'd truly appreciate it, Chris. It is just above the fuse block,
mounted on
> > the firewall, next to the bonnet hinge. Also, look at the wire loom
below
> > the fuse block and see if you have a brown wire with a white tracer,
and
if
> > it's connected to anything.
> >
> > Is your car a California spec, federal, or UK model? I believe they
all
had
> > slightly different wiring circuits.
> >
> >
>
> I'll chime in.
>
> On my original Calif. late model '79 with every piece of smog goodie on
it,
> there is no "can" w/wiring, no provision or marks on the bulkhead for
one,
and
> no single brown wire below the fuse block. There is a set of two thick
brown
> wires that go from the loom to the fuse block, with a flat fusible link
between
> them. >>
----------------------- Internet Header --------------------------------
Received: from triumph.cs.utah.edu (triumph.cs.utah.edu [155.99.188.52])
by sphmgaac.compuserve.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/SUN-1.9) with ESMTP id
LAA04371
for <PAsgeirsson@compuserve.com>; Wed, 5 Apr 2000 11:31:18 -0400
(EDT)
Received: (from majordom@localhost)
by triumph.cs.utah.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id IAA01969
for spridgets-actors; Wed, 5 Apr 2000 08:56:23 -0600 (MDT)
From Ajhsys at aol.com
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 10:54:41 EDT
Subject: Re: More electrical
To: ckotting@iwaynet.net, samesq@pacbell.net
CC: spridgets@autox.team.net
|