About Me

New Hartford, Connecticut, United States
Name: Todd Russo Location: New Hartford, CT, USA

Friday, August 29, 2014

Tackling two more punch list items


The rear windshield has been a pain of a project to say the least! I had to take it out because the rubber seal gasket I used was too short and incorrect. I purchased a new rubber seal and wanted to get it installed before I go back to work at school.

My wife and I tried and could only get so far. The top of the rubber gasket was not cooperating. It kept falling off of the car body and would not go back in place.
 

I called John over but after fifteen minutes of trying, we also failed. The window was then taken out and set safely in the rear seat.
 

So I decided to not let that hinder me on checking stuff off the punch list. I had only two electrical issues left to finish on the car, the interior light and the horns. I attacked the interior light issue first. I needed to screw in the door push switches and then make sure all the purple (power) and purple with white stripe (switch grounding) wires were hooked up correctly. They were all good.
 

Even after screwing the switches in to ground them, when I opened the door the light was still not going on.
 

I had a brilliant idea (or you can say the light bulb went off over my head) to check the obvious. And, sure enough, both the fuse and the lamp (bulb) were blown. So I swapped them out. Only the horn and interior light hook up to this fuse (which has power from the battery (purple wire) all the time and does not need the ignition switch). Therefore, this also cures one of the reasons why the horn circuit was not working.
 

And, viola!
 

The horns were another issue. I just had them rebuilt this past winter so I knew the horn units themselves were working. I figured it had to be a wiring issue (since the fuse was just changed). Here is what I started with.
 

Since the workshop manual had no information on how to correctly connect the purple (power) and purple with black stripe (horn switch grounding) wires, I did some internet research and found out the right way to do it. So I swapped the wires to look like this.
 

I then went into the car and hooked a jumper wire to the purple with black stripe horn wire and connected it to ground. The horns worked!! But after I put the horn button in the steering wheel and pushed it, nothing happened. I figure that something is amiss with the rotor (#16).
 

I put another call into Chris to see if he will come to help me with the rear windshield this week. I will have him check out the horn issue, too.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

A quick forty five minutes.


Chris had a chance to come up and help me with a couple tasks yesterday. There were two things to do on the agenda: to install the filler strip into the rubber front windshield gasket, and to hook up the tachometer wires.

He brought his homemade filet tool and started putting the strip in before I could even get the camera. But I did manage to get a picture of him finishing up the last three inches.
 

With the proper tool, it only took him about seven minutes to install the insert! This picture was taken after he left. Notice that I also installed the windshield wipers. Just putting the windshield in takes Old Biddy from being just a project, to being an actual car!!!
 

When I was installing the connecting wires for the tachometer, I read the instructions about ten times and still could not understand them! John even read them a few times before he became frustrated, too. Since Chris has done many of these, it took him just moments. I had one wire hooked up correctly (the one that hooked up to the coil), the other wire was obviously wrong. To make it right, he stripped the male connector off the “wrong” wire and put on a female connector in its place, then properly hooked it up to the fuse box (instead of where I thought it was supposed to hook up via the directions).
 

And, there you go! Old Biddy has a working tachometer!
 

Chris will be coming back next week to install the filler insert to the rear windshield gasket. I have to swap the gasket that is on now. Find out that story in the next post.
 

Besides installing the filler strip, he will also help to adjust the handbrake cables so they operate evenly, adjust the choke cable, and maybe even help with the wiring to get the horns working. A quick forty five minute visit takes this restoration a HUGE step forward!!

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Monday, August 11, 2014

With help, good things happened!


 When Chris bled the system a few months ago, he said there was an issue with one of the front brake calipers not operating properly. I asked John to come over to help inspect them.
So we pushed Old Biddy outside, lifted her up, and took her front wheels off.
 

When Chris bled the brakes he used a suction pump. And, since he was alone, there was nobody inside the car pushing on the brake pedal. When the two of us were inspecting the front brake calipers, I was stepping on the pedal and John was turning the wheels and looking for piston movement. Everything worked correctly as it should! That was a big relief!
 

John suggested I borrow his nylon tools for finishing the windshield installation. Instead, I went to the store and got a 1 ½” plastic spatula. I asked my wife to come out and help me. With her on the inside of the car pushing the rubber seal out, and me on the outside grabbing it….
 

….we finished in less than ten minutes!!
 

Now, I just need to use Chris’s filet tool to install the filler locking strip.
 
 
Chris is scheduled to come here tomorrow. He also wants to re-do the rear windshield with the new rubber gasket, and help hook up the wiring to the tachometer. Then, I can move on to the next big operation, the doors.

 Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The windshield project Part 1


I know it has been over a month since my last update. Not much has really happened until this past week because of my summer schedule. I was sick of waiting for other people to help me and I do not want to pay the high price to have the glass company do it, so I decided to try to install the windshield myself.

First, I tried setting the glass in place with the rubber seal on. That did not work well.
 

Then, after watching a couple YouTube videos on how to install a “classic Mini” windshield, I found out that he first thing I had to do was to attach only the rubber seal strip. That went well.
 

Then I set the glass in place and slowly went around pressing and prying it into the rubber slot. It was slow and tedious.
 

Then I got to the last thirteen inches, and no matter what I did the rubber strip would not budge. I tried everything from dousing it with dish soap to make it slippery, to trying different tools. I decided to stop for now before I damaged the rubber strip or worse...the windshield itself.  This is the part where I really need another person to help or it could become a catastrophe!
 

John will be over to help in a couple days. The front left brake caliper needs tweaking, and hopefully he can help with this windshield project, also. Chris has the windshield locking strip filet tool to aid me in setting the locking strip in place. I hope he will let me borrow it for a few days.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy