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jhorton3

jhorton3

Jedi Warrior
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Midgie is now legal with insurance and tag. Spent last night and today putting the Securon seat belts in. Need to make up some pieces to elevate the seat height because they're riding too low. Put the rear bumpers together and mounted them along with the grill assembly.

Today was the first day I felt brave enough to take Midgie out on the road. Took her up the road a couple of miles to the gas station. No sooner had I stopped at the pump someone was commenting about the car. That made me feel good. Took another longer trip too after I pumped the tires up to 24 psi front and 26 rear. That made a big difference.

Still had problems with the oil gauge leaking. Nothing like a hot oil bath on your knees while driving! Took another gauge and connected it up.

Car is still leaking oil underneath but I can't figure out where it's coming from. I think the transmission is too full and it could be coming from there. I popped the filler bolt off and oil was above the bottom of the hole. Transmission is quite noisy. Also miss having 5th gear like I did in my Fiat and Miata days. A Rivergate may be in Midgie's future.
 
First few drives are always a good thing. Glad you got it out on the road.

These cars do leak oil, even if you go through all the seals and all the bits and bobs. Shouldn't be a lot, but there will be some.
 
Congrats Jim!!!

Will be looking for you and Midgie at next week's Varsity Cruise. If you make the drive over OK you'll have 5 hours and a good pit crew to get you ready for the ride home; we're expecting up to half a dozen LBCs there (we may even out number the Camaros!) /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif And the ride home...trust me, it will be heaven. I did an 85 mile (round trip) to a cruise last week in the TR3; longest straight line venture thus far. It ended at 9 PM and I had about an hour of the absolute best ride in 35 years coming home...I was 16 again...you can't buy feelings like that!

PS - I have a spare room if things don't work out well /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Ray
 
First ride is awsum, take lots of them till you get it sorted out. Prob will be lots of minor sorthing to do.
 
I'm making small circles in the area around the house and expanding them out a bit further. Plan on going back and forth to work a couple of times. While it's good to get her on the road finally I do it with a bit of apprehension, especially for something that's been off the road that long. Always carrying my cell phone and AAA card!

Right now she's "weather challenged" and you can imagine what yesterday was like. I wanted to take a night run to see how all the lighting was working out. No chance. Rained the entire night here.

Took her to church this morning. One guy just bought a 99 Miata and was really going nuts over Midgie. She did fairly well. Would've liked to have driven her a little more, but rain's moving in again.

This week I'd like to put the original top on and order another wiper motor as I think mine is shot. I flip the wiper stalk in either position and the motor does nothing.
 
Jim, don't be so quick to blame the motor. Do a little troubleshooting first. Try running power directly from the battery to the motor and see what happens.
Jeff
 
Be careful about the battery power to the wiper motor- some (all?) year models have power constantly to the motor and the switch (or self-parking circuit) is the ground. Check your manual before doing much (including buying another motor).
Bill
 
Bill, I meant (or assumed) disconnect the wires at the motor and wire it appropriately to the battery, thus eliminating all switches and the rest of the wiring.
Jeff
 
That wiper motor is kind of bullet proof, check good.
 
It has been raining every day here. Not so good for driving our cars. I'm in the Cobb/Cherokee County area and looking for people to drive and hang with.
 
Over a year ago I ordered a brush set and installed them in the wiper motor. Does the wiper system have to have a parking switch or the washer pump connected in order to work? I don't have either one fitted to the car. When I flip the stalk there's no movement, no noise, nothing.

Yesterday's trip back from church was fun. She moves along pretty well between 35-40 MPH. Trying to get it up to 50 MPH is a bit of a struggle. I know she should be able to reach that speed with no problem. She also started some tailpipe backfiring on a downhill run.
 
No rain tonight (finally) and too her out in the dark for a loop ride. She's still got too much hesitation so there's something still wrong with timing or carb settings. I got her up to 55 tonight on a straight away, but she should be able to do better than that. I downshifted at one point from 4th to 3rd and started getting a lot of backfiring. Also got something else behind the radio console...sparks! Not sure what was sparking, but if jerking the car around would make it spark quite a bit.

Pulled her into the drive and noticed there was a trail of oil behind me. Oil continues to drip under the car, especially out of the hole with the cotter pin in the bottom of the transmission bellhousing.

Got a lot more work before I make a trek to Athens this weekend.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Oil continues to drip under the car, especially out of the hole with the cotter pin in the bottom of the transmission bellhousing.[/QUOTE]

Now, THAT sounds like a serious rear main seal leak! How much oil we talking?
 
I stayed beside the car with a flashlight after my ride and saw multiple leaks starting from 3 inches from the rear of the oil pan to about the middle of the transmission. Could be that oil was blown back that far. Out of the hole in the bellhousing I saw a drop of oil about every minute come out.

If that is the rear mail seal then I guess I'm pulling the engine and transmission again sometime soon. What's the best way to get that rear seal to stop leaking like that?
 
She's definitely leaking from the rear seal area. Drats! Guess I'll be pulling an engine instead of heading to Athens this weekend.
 
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