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Wend a bit further south.

DrEntropy

Great Pumpkin
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Took a bit of time off this weekend to visit friends "down island". Fussed with a Caterham 7 throttle return spring issue. Unresolved, as the Elan spring is a larger diameter material than the wimpy one on the Seven. Fitting it would mean cobbin' larger diameter mounting holes in Weber linkage and Caterham parts. We'll MacGyver a "helper spring" rig on it at a later time.

The NEAT part was fussin' with a '64 MOKE!!! This li'l gem was found a few years ago, runs fine (after a waterpump R&R) and is a hoot to drive. It has had an intermittent "clickety-click-click" noise in the dash/floorboard area since purchase, both friend and self concluded it was the speedo head or cable as it sounded "light" and seemed to match frequency with the bouncing needle on the clock and the tire revolution... And besides, we've ALL heard that condition often enuff to INSTANTLY diagnose it. Disconnecting the cable did nothing to change the noise, so the "Ah-HA!" was that the cable was fubar. We fussed the cable from the transaxle and pulled it apart with no apparent damage or obvious flaws showing... :madder:

Lifted each front corner one-at-a-time, spun wheels by hand, tightened the inner U-J saddle bolts a bit (nothing "loose" I just snugged a couple 'cause I was THERE). As I was fettlin' on the right side, friend says "Hey! come 'ave a look at THIS!" On the left shaft, holding the rubber boot onto the driveshaft slip joint, some DPO put a "Jubilee" clamp which had come partially adrift... and just below it is a little "pocket" area of the frame. I stick me digits in there and touch something wot feels like a rock or piece of cast metal I can move around. It was a bugger to get it out of that recessed frame bit but once out we discovered it to be a piece of stone about the size of a matchbox. The clamp had "witness" marks like it had been hitting something on the head of its screw. Wellll, we replaced the clamp with a tie-wrap (no real load needed to locate the "big" end of the boot) and put the beast back on it's feet. Out for a ride and NO annoying clickety-click, a well relubed cable took the bounce outta the speedo. We were amused at the cause of that persistent noise and our assumption it just HAD to be the clock. What a circus. That li'l piece of roaming rock will be kept as a trophy to the kinds of silly things that can cause ya to think these cars possessed by gremlins.
 
Great story... never overlook ANYTHING! I'm sure we all have those tales. Thanks for sharing it.
 
The Moke (and dearest friend) in question:
 
What a neat little runabout!
 
I love the Beware of Alligators sign :yesnod:
 
:wink: We thought it a nice touch.
 
A freind of mine has oduls of them piled like cord wood that he purchased at auction when they stopped using them on catalina? Some navy sation off the coast. If you whant one His sells them they all need total restoration. But honestly how many parts are on those things! He gave me one in the spring to fixup for him it was running fine but had some quirky little things I fixed. Had it all summer it was a hoot to drive and the kids wanted nothing to do with going anywhere but in the moke. I have to admit more than thirty minutes on those seats was torture! Its an Island car no frills fun to drive sort of a cross between a mini and a Radio flyer
 
doc, quote, "silly things that can cause you to think these cars possesssed by gremlins", whodyatinkputitdare?
grin.gif
 
Yeah, Ant'ny, we know. "Chance" as the culprit is just too big a stretch. :jester:
 
Doc - was that photo made around West Palm Beach?
 
Nope. Gulf side, near Charlotte harbor entrance.
 
Tony, I would have sworn it was South Hutchison Island, especially when the Doc said down island.
 
Well, it's "down" from here.

My mileage is better goin' that direction, too! :smirk:
I coast a lot goin' down hill now that fuel cost is goin' up again. :devilgrin:
 
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