Monthly Newsletter - Austin-Healey Association of Southern California

The The Behind the Wheel Wheel– Wheel
Cont.
Cont.
(through '67) show only three green wires coming off the
fuse panel. One is for the brake light switch. One is for
the
wiper motor. The third one is used in combination for the
electronic tach, the heater motor, and fuel gage. For
some strange reason, I've got a factory fourth green wire.
From the fuse panel, it goes to the main harness just inside
the passenger compartment at the passenger
side door. I'm thinking it was probably for a seat belt
warning system or radio or some other accessory. So instead
of ganging together the heater motor circuit with the
tach and fuel gauge, I think I'll use if for a separate heater
motor circuit to the fuse panel. In any case, after much
searching and repairing, I got these wires fixed and working
properly! It was now time to install the dash, once
again!
On to the gear shift plinth! You guessed it! Broken screws
in the chassis! I had to drill them out to be able to attach
the plinth with the sheet metal screws that hold it in
place. The replacement transmission in this car is a later
rib cage unit, allegedly rebuilt, and has the gear shift lever
with the metal cylinder on it. So you need to have the
shift lever boot that covers the whole lever instead of the
earlier "donut" type grommet. I'll need to get a new one.
At last I could now put on the turn signal plastic cover.
Luckily I had another set. The one that came with the car
was cracked! The only trick here is to realize the machine
screws that hold the two plastic halves together are "flat
head", that is, recessed. And they were posidrive screws
originally. They are about an inch long, have a 6-32
thread pitch. However, you can use Phillips head machine
screws if you don't have the original posidrive screws. The
steering wheel that came with the car is an after-market
leather wrapped one, made in Italy and is in great shape.
However, it does not have a horn push capability. The
adaptor hub does correctly nestle onto the plastic turn
signal cover, so I guess I'll go ahead and use it. Why?
While the stock steering wheel is now, once again, available,
the horn push for this '64-'67 wheel isn't. You can
buy all the other bits except the push and it's large copper
cylinder adaptor that attaches under the steering wheel
nut. So that means I'll have to mount a horn button somewhere
other than the center of the steering wheel. And
the later turn signal units that have the horn push built
into the stalk won't fit the diameter of the steering column
so can't easily be mounted in substitution. There are very
few alternatives to stock for this one function to work! I
was fortunate to have an Austin emblem that could be
adapted to fit the center hole of the after-market steering
wheel and it all looks great. Now where can I attach a
horn button on the fascia panel without drilling any holes?
I thought it was now time to clean up the cockpit from all
Healey Motor News
By By Ron Ron Ron Phillips
Phillips
the under dash activity so I got out the old shop vac. A
good hint is to empty it before you begin sucking up all the
little unknowns from the corners, especially on a basket
case. Why? We all know that if you drop a part, it will
seek the farthest, darkest corner to lodge. Hey, it's true!
By emptying the vacuum first, if any metal parts get ingested,
you may be able to hear them hit bottom. Or
better, use a magnet when you are done to search in the
vacuum canister for those rare and strange fasteners that
were lurking in the recesses of you car.
Back to the horn. I finally decided since it never rains in
California, to forego the windscreen washer control and
substitute a vintage starter button. You know the kind.
There's one on every big Healey up to the BJ8. While it
does have an "S" molded into it, I think I'll let the "S" stand
for "Sound" instead of "Start!" This is a temporary fix
pending finding an original horn push and steering wheel
and all the other fiddley bits it takes to make this system
work as original. Interestingly, my slightly earlier '67
Sprite never had a windscreen washer, but the dash has a
hole for the control. What the previous owner more than
20 years ago (that's how long I've owned it!) put in a toggle
switch and routed the starter circuit through it. Switch on,
the car will start. Switch off, it won't. This was a cleaver
little safety device since he drove the car daily to UCLA
where he attended Med School. Obviously, it was never
stolen. But hey, it was pretty ugly when I bought it. But
that's another story.
Finally, I could turn my attention to something other than
wiring! It was on to the fuel pump. At least I was staying
somewhat in the Electrical section. So while I was under
the car taking out the fuel pump, since of course it didn't
work when powered up, I decided to see if the gas tank
drain plug was tight. It wasn't. Unsuspecting, I removed
it. And to my surprise, and disgust, a vile brown, really
smelly fluid began covering the floor. Nothing for it. Up
went my hand and the drain plug into the tank fitting.
Down came the disgusting brew along my arm. Ugh! Now
the shop will smell that way for days and me, too! In any
case, I got the drain pan and then drained about a quart
of old gas from the tank. The good news was I didn't see
any rust! With the pump removed, I blew out all the fuel
lines with compressed air, both back into the tank and
from the pump to the engine bay. It was time to look at
the fuel pump which I removed from the car to work on it.
It looked new, and in fact was a Harting replacement
rather than a Lucas pump. So it was off with the terminal
cap and sure enough, the points were dirty. I sprayed
WD40 over the mechanism, cleaned the points, and it
clicked away smoothly! Now, let's test to see if it pumps.
How? Well, I could dip a rubber hose connected to the
inlet side of the pump (it's always marked on the Harting