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It's Alive!!!!

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davester

davester

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After all this time (11 years in my garage) the GT has come back to life. Even before that 11 it was probably mostly stationary for about the 5 previous years. This was my dad's car, bought by him in 73 and taken over by me upon his death in 79. Many thanks to all those here who proffered advice, old parts, rebuilt parts, new parts and even a couple of free parts to help get her back on the road. Also, many thanks to my 21 year old daughter for putting in many hours at the end. It came to life this last weekend and today I drove it down to get new tires and spent a few hours fiddling with timing and carbs.

It's pretty complete now. The only major hit list items are to fix the @!$!! running lights which won't go on and I can't find the fault, fix a scraping noise at the right rear on right hand turns (brake drum to back plate contact?), a snapped off turn signal stalk end, and try to improve the rather faded paint. Pix below:

MGfront.jpg

MGrearobscured.jpg

MGinterior.jpg
 
Have you checked all the ground points for the lights?

New info: noise from right rear when turning right......check the tightness of the u-bolts holding axle/spring together...also check the spring bushings....last, check the front spring bolt hole to make sure it's not elongated......your rear end might be shifting just a tiny bit & it's already offset at the factory.

I'm assuming your tires aren't excessively wide?
 
I used a grounded test light on the lights so the grounds don't appear to be the problem. Does anyone know where the blue to blue connector between the wire from the switch and the main running light circuit is. I can't seem to find where that comes into the main harness and I'd bet that is the problem.


I'll check those things Tony but I was pretty careful to tighten everything up when I put it all back together. Also note that the scraping is pretty clearly metal to metal...I'm pretty certain it is the drum/backplate because it had this problem many years (decades?) ago. I'm not sure how the spring attachments could cause that to happen. The tires are pretty standard 185/70-14s.
 
Congrats Dave.

This is good right there.

This car need to be handed off to your Daughter and then passed on within the family.
 
One thing I do when rebuilding a suspension system...put everything in place but don't completely tighten anything while car is in the air....put the car on the ground & roll it forwards & backwards & then get un underneath it & tighten everything.....you'll be amazed at the difference that makes.
 
Tony
On the 14th you said something about the "rearend being a tiny bit offset at the factory". What do you mean?

My '68 GT pulls a bit to the right. I tried checking it (just with a tape measure) a year or 2 ago, and I kept coming up with the wheelbase 1/4" shorter on the passenger side. Does that mean anything? I didn't have any alignment equipment, so I may be off in left field.
Thanks
Lynn
 
davester said:
I used a grounded test light on the lights so the grounds don't appear to be the problem. Does anyone know where the blue to blue connector between the wire from the switch and the main running light circuit is. I can't seem to find where that comes into the main harness and I'd bet that is the problem.


I'll check those things Tony but I was pretty careful to tighten everything up when I put it all back together. Also note that the scraping is pretty clearly metal to metal...I'm pretty certain it is the drum/backplate because it had this problem many years (decades?) ago. I'm not sure how the spring attachments could cause that to happen. The tires are pretty standard 185/70-14s.
Click to expand...

You can have "hot" to teh light but if its earth is through th ebody and the body lacks a proper ground strap then that could be a problem. Check the reverse situation and determine if teh light assembly is in fact grounded (applies to both + and - earth) by connecting a VOM on resistance to earth terminal of battery and then to what should be grounded body of light. Anything more than nominal resistance or open indicates lack of ground to light/ With only a single wire test light connect one end to non-grounded battery terminal and other to light body. If after all this you have ground but no hot to light then it could be wires, switch, or fuse. As a later-than-mine your fuses are probably not on the inner fender under the hood in a high moisture area - but keep in mind that even though a fuse may look good it may not be making proper contact through the circuit.
 
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