Ken G's Journal

Swapping out the voltage stabilizer by itself did not resolve my fuel gauge or temp gauge problem.
The stabilizer is giving out the correct voltage but the gauges were not working so I pulled the dashboard and decided to start eliminating potential problems. I ran a new wire from the stabilizer to the fuel gauge and a wire to ground.
Gauge one didn't do anything, Gauge two did nothing, but gauge three from the parts bin worked. YEA!!!
A step in the write direction. So I hooked that gauge to the wire going to the tank, nothing. I went under the hood where the main harness connects to the rear harness. The rear wire was in good shape continuity, and the front harness was good. I tested both and they seems to be fine but the connector between the two harnesses was a bit corroded. I cleaned the bullets a bit and used a new connector.
Fuel gauge fixed!!.

That is all I have time for tonight but tomorrow I hope to get the temperature gauge working. Problem is I don't have 3 of those..

Oh the ups and downs of working on this car.
So I changed out the alternator on Wednesday and as soon as I started up the car I had a major failure of the water pump jetting coolant everywhere in the engine compartment. Huge mess and annoyance.

I had a water pump on the shelf which only took me an hour to track down. For some reason I didn't label that box. Friday night I removed the alternator, coolant, radiator and old water pump. The bolts came out easily enough and I was able to clean it up.

This morning I installed the new water pump and all the other bits. When it was all back together it started right up and I thought i was off to the races, and well then it started to stumble. I tried to give it gas and it just would die, but if I left it back to idle it would sort of run.
I thought I heard air leak so I searched around for that that and tighten a few things that I hadn't worried about before. Still no luck, It would start, barely run and then die after a couple of minutes..

I remembered that when I started it the first time I didn't heard the fuel pump prime, so on a whim I disconnected the positive to the fuel tank and turned the car over a could of times, and then reconnected the fuel pump.
Turning the key the pump started to prime and when I started the car all the issues were resolved, lots of power, no pause. So weird, something must have off with the pump and the car was only getting the fuel that was flowing via gravity.

SO ok the alternator is working, I don't see any leaks on the water pump and the car is running like it was before. I still need to fix the fuel and temp gauges so tomorrow I'm going to swap out the voltage stabilizer again and see if that sorts that out.

The water pump failed tonight. I started the car up and had coolant spraying everywhere. What a mess.

Yesterday I installed the passenger door window. Having the experience of the drivers side this one went in so much easier. Maybe an hour to do it. It runs up and down nicely and everything is tightened up.
I spent the rest of my available Sunday time doing some research on how to install the door cards, carpet and the rest of the kick panels.
I've decided I'm going to first try using Velco for all of it.

I know that I will need to remove the panels and the carpet in the future for some deferred projects and if the Velco works I will be very happy.

The new alternator should arrive tomorrow and if that works a lot of things will fall into line. Well I can hope.

The fuel and temperature gauge issues continue. I have tried two different voltage stabilizers to no luck. I ordered a solid state one from Dave Connitt who was great and very helpful.
While I was waiting for that to arrive I noticed that my Alternator was kicking out 18 volts. I know that is high and I wondered if that was causing the issues with the voltage stabilizers?

No problem I have a spare sitting on the shelf from the 1977 MG, I'll just swap them out. Well different bracket and different plug but I was able to get it installed and lined up. Started the car up and that one is also generating 18 volts! What the hell? That was a total surprise as I didn't remember any issues in the other car.
So I've ordered a new Alternator which should arrive next week and I hope to get it installed and hopefully this will resolve any issues.

In the mean time I worked on finishing up the install of the drivers door window. It wasn't as hard as I expected, (Probably since I didn't replace all of the old rubber like I should have) but it was a little hinkey.
I could get it to move up and down in the middle but it would not completely open or close. Reading on the forum I saw a little note that someone said you need to use short bolts or a lot of washers as the tracks could bind in the back.
Through trial and error that ended up being my problem I didn't have the original bolts so I used what I had available. 1/4-28 1/2 inch long bolts and I guess they were too long so I added 4 washers to each. This fixed my binding issue and now the window goes up and down somewhat smoothly.
I aim to get the passenger window in yet today and then look to start on the door cards and carpet.

I continue to work on sorting out the issue with the fuel and temperature gauges to no success. After fiddling around with those things for a couple of hours I decided to change focus. I installed the front vent windows and the back tracks. While I should have done it the right way by replacing the rubber gaskets on the windows, the glazing and all that, I decided that will be a project for future me.

I want to make a little project and knock something off the list so it was a win. I hope to get some time in the next few days to install the glass and door cranks but we will see what happens next.