Instrument Panel

The printed circuit on the back of the speedo/gauges on the '68 is a bit dodgy. In particular, the pins for the connector have been soldered because they were loose. They are still loose and generally in poor condition.

For once, instead of "stealing" the one from the '67, I bought a secondhand one from eBay - actually for an AMC American not a Rebel - but the dials are very similar and the printed circuit is the same and fitted on the back of the unit no problem. This was all fine until put it in place and connected it upon which the tiny fuse for the instrument panel blew. I left it alone then as I had more pressing issues.

A couple of weekends ago I finally got back to it. Seems the back of the circuit board was contacting the metal case of the unit - hard to see why as the dimensions appeared identical to the old unit. Anyway, a couple of strips of insulation tape (and the tiny fuse raided from the '67) and I'm back on the road to a set of working clocks.

One reason I changed the circuit board rather than just fit the one I bought was to keep the mileage honest - I have a limited mileage insurance policy (although I haven't even managed 1000 miles, yet alone the 5000 I'm allowed!).

A Better Day

Last Sunday I gave up in (mild) disgust and exasperation as I seemed to be getting nowhere fast trying to bleed the newly completed brakes.

I cleaned up all the tools and put them away.

Today I decided to get the car out of the garage to blow away the cobwebs of the last few weeks it's spent inactive in the garage.

The car fired up no problem and as I drove out of the garage I thought I'd give the brakes a try. They aren't perfect, but they are working - great news.

Better than that (and I don't really want to write this down as I suspect it may be a dream), my efforts on the remote oil filter (and replacing a couple of dodgy looking clips on the rubber hoses that connect the transmission to the oil cooler at the base of the radiator) appear to have been rewarded with a car that no longer leaks oil - great news.

The '67

The '67 has been donating parts for the '68 for a while. This is worrying me as it makes it incomplete - and although it doesn't even run, I would like to make something of it one day. It's all dreams at present but I'm thinking mild custom.

Nice Wheels
Steering rack (no idea how I'd do that!)
electronic ignition
new carb or single point injection

As I said - dreams!

Oil Leak (continued)

The offending pipe
Once the Alternator was swung out of the way I was able to gain access to the connections for the send and return oil pipes for the oil filter. The connectors were very tight and very hard to get at. As they are pipe connections I could only attack them with open-ended spanners. One of them was so oval that I actually needed two different sized spanners - removing them took ages.

I then had to repeat the exercise for the '67. I made up what I hope is one good item from the two. I had some great responses from the AMC list again, but sadly, unless I'm missing something, we don't have anything like the preponderance of helpful hydraulic engineering places here that they do in the US.

For now, I'm going to try to use what I've got. I'll try to source something better as soon as I can, but for now I want the car mobile and oil tight (ish).