More 1963 trouble

[Guest JouniK]

Ok, after sorting out the "bigger" problems, heres some more:

The right front brake is not too good... The both sides have new shoes and hardware, but the passanger side is just not working good enough. The pistons in the wheel cylinder are not stuck, and I adjusted the shoes so that the drum drags a little (on the drivers side no drag but the brake still works better). Any advice? I´m going to replace the cylinder, and the drum looked ok.

An other problem with the electrics: The right side brake light is not working. Turn signal and tail light works just fine. From what I´ve read the problem is ground, or the turn signal switch.

Also I got no instrument lights, clock or radio. The fuses are ok. Is there a common wire or something for these I could check?

Thanks!

J

[alini]

Have you bled the brakes?? Might just be air at the wheel cylinder. How old is your brake hoses? Swap them out if you change the wheel cylinder.

I'll have to check my service manual when I get home to see about the wiring.

[steelman]

If you have no dash or radio lights (console at shifter?) the headlight swith is bad. I had all good lights except these. Had a bad spot in the switch. Replaced the switch and had all lights back.

[Jim Cannon]

An other problem with the electrics: The right side brake light is not working. Turn signal and tail light works just fine. From what I´ve read the problem is ground, or the turn signal switch.

Do you have a tilt steering column? If so, then most likely the turn signal switch actuating cable is broken (not the switch itself).

[Guest JouniK]

Thanks! The brakes are properly bled the pedal is not soft or anything. The hose is new on the passanger side (the troubling side).

Steve, the radio is not working either. I`ll try replacing the headlight switch.

Jim, the cable is not broken, but the switch may be. I opened it once before, I´ll have to check it again. A replacement is hard to find, tried that before.

J

Edited June 29, 2012 by JouniK (see edit history)

[1965rivgs]

Aside from improper adjustment check the brake drum to be sure it has not been turned oversize. If so, proper contact cannot be made between drum and shoe.

Operate the tilt wheel in varying positions while checking the inop brake light. If the light functions in one position and not another the cable casing or sheath has broken and is no longer anchored allowing the contacts in the switch to "float" and change position with the tilt wheel.

Before changing the headlight switch operate the rheostat for the dash lights by turning the knob back and forth. Corrosion often builds on the rhreostat to the point good contact is no longer being made. You may have to operate the rheostat a few dozen times to skim the corrosion off.

Tom Mooney

[Guest JouniK]

Thanks Tom! I´ll have to check those. I guess the radio not working has nothing to do with the light switch?

Jouni

[Guest JouniK]

Thanks guys now everything else is working but the radio (and clock, but I thinks its something mechanical)

The instrument lighting works, thanks Tom. The switch just needed some handling

The brake light problem was in the adjustment of the turn signal switch.

The brakes only needed more precise adjustment.

I got the car inspected and registered today \o/

J

[Jim Cannon]

Congratulations on the inspection and registration!

If the automatic adjusters on the brakes are clean and free to move, they should set all brakes properly for you when you repeatedly apply the brakes going slowly in reverse. I hear one of my adjusters click now and then when I am backing out of the garage and apply the brakes. They will not over adjust when brake drums are cold.

[RivNut]

Jouni,

If you search the archives of ths forum, you'll find a discussion on what to do in order to get the mechanics of your clock working again - if it's a mechanical problem. If it's wiring or a fuse, I'm sure that you can handle that.

Ed

[Guest JouniK]

Thanks Jim, I´ll try that.

Ed, I think the problem is mechanical because the hands(?) won´t move when I tried to adjust them . But I think I leave that for the next winter, and just drive for the rest of the summer

J

[RivNut]

Jouni,

Take the contacts off the works, remove the small screws surrounding the bezel, remove the back, and you can unscrew the adjustment knob from its stem - a couple of really small needle nose pliers work good for this. The hands are press fitted; they'll just slip off. Now you can get the works out and look at them. You can see how the adjustment knob meshes to move the hands. Perhaps at this point you can see why you can't adjust the clock. At this point its also easy to spray the gears with some cleaner and lube them. You can physically move the arm on the mainspring and wind the clock, even without a 12V charge. The clock should run for twenty seconds or so after moving this arm. I did this to one of my clocks and have found out that for some reason a 12V charge will not wind the main spring. This clock is now a good candidate for a quartz conversion.

Ed