Sunday night, Aug. 13, 2023
I didn’t get the Plymouth out today for the Whiskey City Cruiser’s Saturday cruise. I kinda wanted to, but I didn’t want to rush getting it ready.
This week, I made a 12v fused line that takes power from the starter relay and provides it to the brake light switch on the master cylinder. In the process I also found a wire that had just been “stuck” between two ring terminals on the relay; I added a proper ring terminal and replaced it. On the other side o the relay I found something I had previously overlooked.
The 12V cable — a heavy one — that runs from the starter relay down to the starter had apparently gotten very hot in the past — about 2 inches of the insulation on the cable to the starter had been “cooked” and so brittle it split and was coming off in hunks. I have some liquid tape, but that stuff takes a while to dry. Instead, I fell back on some high-quality electrical tape in my toolbox, and I taped the bare wire securely. The truth is that wire is so damn stiff that it wouldn’t have been able to short to ground on its own; you would have to lay something on the wire and then hit the starter. The REAL fix is to replace the cable from the relay to the starter, but that’s a future project. The cable is black, not red, which annoys me, but I can live with it,.
I need to wash and wax the car now and then cover it up until the next cruise.
GAS GAUGE. Ever since the car ran out of gas, I’m always a little skittish about taking it anywhere. The rubber filler tube between the gas tank and the filler next is leaking; I’ve never looked at it, so I’m not sure what it needs — probably just replacement!
QUICK JACK NEXT? I have my Quick Jack system still sitting in the box, and I need to set it up and get it working now that I have power.