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Many Questions thread

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M

mightymidget

Jedi Knight
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This is photo of my regulator uncovered
Battery voltage, (not fully charged) not running 11.8 V
Vehicle running top wires on regulator 11.8V
Bottom wire on regulator 14.5 V

Cleaned up the points no differnce.
Question 1. Sure bet on needing a regulator?
 
Question 2. Wiring the monster, since I got it running fairly decent decided to check electrically and see what works what dosen't.

The turnsignal when place to left turn causes my headlight to blink. the left rear & front turn signals blink as does the dash indicator.

By chance has this happen to anyone eles to help me find the cause on that one?
 


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Question 3 can anyone tell me how the turn signal switch and the wiper switch are attached to steering wheel?

And do the covers have anything to do with the mounting are do they just cover up the switches once mounted?


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#1 Don't know regulators.

#2 There is a multi-spade-connector up by the headlight for headlights and turns. If memory serves, headlight wires are blue with a red or white stripe (for highs and lows) and turn signal wires are green wires. If you plugged a green turn signal wire in with the blue headlight wires, then you could get a flashing headlight.

#3 There should be 2 U-shaped brackets that connect each of the levers to the column, one from the left and one from the right. The cover is just that, a cover, and doesn't have anything to do with the mounting.

JACK
 
Thanks Jack, what you said about the wires is possible. This is my $500.00 midget that was a bit of a basket case.

When I got it alot of stuff was taken off. For some reason the previous owner was determined to take all the switches off the car. They couldn't figure out that there was two screws left under dash and ripped the steering wheel cover plastic out of the dash. Need to look through my boxes for the hardware you mentioned.

But on a good note I redid my hood today. I found a used hood while back, decided to paint with rattle can semi-gloss black
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Question #4: When I turn on my headlighs, the headlights and parking lights all come on. which is a good thing.

But can you not just turn on the parking lights with out the headlights?
 
Question 5. Trying to figure out why brake lights don't work. I found a switch on the passenger side of inner fender in line with brake lines that has a hot wire once key is turned on and another wire right beside it. Is this the brake light switch?

Just dosen't makes sense to me to be in line. but I could not find a pedal switch.. Where is the brake light switch?
 
I'm going from memory here (always dangerous), since I'm not in my office, but I can tell you this much:

1. The top terminal of the regulator is connected to the battery, so it should have the same voltage as the battery. The one next to it is connected to that terminal through a heavy wire, so it should have the same voltage.

2. The bottom terminal is ground, so there should be no voltage on it. If you mean the second from the bottom, (which may be the bottom wire in your figure; I can't see), then that goes to the generator, so 14.5V with the car running sounds good to me. Since your battery is very low, the generator will be going at full output. Only problem I can see is that the generator output is connected to the battery through a heavy wire inside the regulator, and I can't see a 2.7 volt drop along that wire. Might be a bad connection at the regulator or internally. Possibly the cutout relay isn't closing.

3. The next couple of problems simply sound like the column switch is hosed. (Sorry for using the high-level technical terminology.)

4. I think you've found the brake light switch. It operates on hydraulic-line pressure. This is much more complicated and less reliable than a switch connected to the brake pedal, so naturally that's the way it was designed. It simply breaks the circuit to the brake lights, and is hot when the ign switch is on.
 
From what you are telling me my regulator is operating correctly?
If so how does the battery get the juice to recharge?
 
#4 You can, at least on certain years, turn park lights on independently. I'm not sure if that applies for your year. I think it may be dependent on the headlight switch itself. I remember many years ago when I first started driving my Midget my park lights wouldn't come on seperately and I think I had to replace the headlight switch.

#5 I'm pretty sure your brake light switch should be on the pedal box inside the engine compartment. It is threaded into the pedal box and conacts the rear of the pedal lever and should be a little 2-wire switch in a flattened oval shape. I think 1 wire is Green with Purple stripe and the other is either red or black (can't recall exactly). The switch you are looking at on the passenger fender is the brake pressure failure switch and it controls that funny rectangular switch/light on the dash directly in the center between the fuel gauge and combo gauge. Pushing that switch should turn the light on as a "test" to make sure the bulb is not burned out. Otherwise, when that light comes on, it means you are about to have brake failure.

JACK
 
Thats kinda what I thought it looked like, I belive the pedal box has been changed in my car to a later model. I will check this out tonight because there are no wires or switches in this area now. unless I missed it somehow
 
On '67's the brake light switch should be the hydraulic type switch on the passenger inner fender well, the brake master cylinder should be a single-line type with a metal reservoir, and the pedal box should have no brake switch. On later cars they moved the brake switch to the pedal box (and changed it to a mechanical switch), and changed to the dual-line master cylinder with a plastic reservoir. I've had better reliability with the early hydraulic type brake switches than the mechanical switches, particularly the aftermarket ones you can buy now.
 
I thought you were talking about the Bugeyes, but I see from the later pictures you are asking about the 67. The Bugeyes used a pressure operated brake switch and had no warning light.

As for the regulator, I suspect that something is broken internally between the generator and battery, or at least a bad connection. That's the only way I can imagine you would have 14.5 V at the generator output and 11.8 at the battery.

You could disconnect the regulator wires and see if you have continuity between the D and A/A1 terminals. (Use an ohmmeter or continuity test lamp.) If not, that's the problem.
 
Just as I thought, someone updated my system and I have the plastic brake cylinder now, need to see if I can tell where the switch bolts in
 


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This is a photo of my car before I installed motor. Notice the switch /sensor on passenger inner fender with brake lines also the master cylinder I have
 
Also I still need to know how to trouble shoot a regulator before I spend $60.00 on one I don't need.

Unless anyone has a used one they KNOW is good to sell me right.
 
From the photo of your engine bay that shows the steering column, and from the previous photos that show a padded dash, I think that you may actually have a '68 model. I've had two '67's and both had the metal dash, the single line braking system, and the earlier style steering column (without the bulge where it penetrates the fire wall). What's your VIN? I'm not sure at what point exactly the changes took place. It might have been a mid-year change.
 
I agree. We've had '67s and '68s and yours has many signs of a '68. I can see in the photo the threaded hole on the pedal box where the brake switch WOULD be, but I also see the pressure activated switch on the brake failure switch assembly. NOW, that assembly IS a SWITCH with a little piston that moves laterally inside and that brake light switch that is threaded in there will not function as a pressure switch on that assembly. It's designed to work with the straight "Tee" from the earlier models where pressure is distributed equally to all the wheels. It's a little confusing but I can tell you that the switch that is SUPPOSED to go in there is a plastic one that is easily broken and hard to find a replacement. So perhaps someone fit that in there just to "plug the hole". Just remember; there is a difference between the brake LIGHT switch and the brake FAILURE switch.

+1 on everything else hpmowog said. Wrong dash, wrong MC, etc.

JACK
 
actually this car is a junk yard dog I beleive. It even has the split bumpers on the rear, and when I got the car a knocking 1098 sat in the bay.

So you ae saying I need the switch for pedal box and find the brake wires. and the brake switch is hard to find. does that mean I will need to watch Ebay or buy used for a switch?
 
Brake Light Switch MOSS 181-980 $23.95 and Nut 317-070. Bolts in hole right at the bottom of the pedal box and activated by top of brake pedal arm coming in contact with the switch. Also, '68's were the change over from Positive to Negative Ground. Bugsy my early '68 came with a '66 1098 that the owner had connected up as Positive Ground. Engine would start and run as long as you fed fuel to it as fuel pump as well as all rest of system was negative ground. After 2 weeks of head scratching I took a look at the battery, turned it around, reconnected, and voila engine ran and started and things worked as they should. I got a bargain as the DPO didn't understand why he couldn't make the car run.
 
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