A Very Busy Thanksgiving
 

After the dinner and festivities, my wife went up to list some items for her ebay store, and I headed to the garage for a bunch of items I recently wanted to address.


Battery cables - I replaced what appeared to be a small with one from Snyders. What a difference - 4GA vs 2/0 cable from Snyders. Definite difference as shown in picture.


The gas gauge - removed the old - cork intact - but now more of a sinker. Removed and attempted to install the new float - in trying to compress to get the washer on it split as pictured - you can imagine the colorful language. Fortunately I purchased a second rebuild kit accidentally, pushed on and soldered the bar. Removed the old neopreme gaskets, glass(discolored) and replaced with all new cork replacements. Now reads properly for the first time since I bought the car(and I imagine quite a time before that).


Speedometer - once in a while I could see it bounce, but else it was at zero. I did buy a new cable and tried it first by plugging into the speedometer and plugging a drill into the cable. It moved relieving me that the movement was good, and possibly the cable or gear in the transmission was bad. I pulled on the cable and it came up a little short. Replaced, inserted and hoped it was good.


I then took a quick test drive - speedo worked, the battery cable didn't get caught up in the clutch(the old cable was poorly routed in the clutch pathway), the gas gauge was good, and all gauges worked as they should. All in all a good night - thank you to all here to give me the support and confidence to take on these tasks. I'll see how successful the gas is the first time I put in more than 1/2 tank - more to come.

Re: A Very Busy Thanksgiving
 

Some of the old timers here likely know this, but I was interested to see that the round speedometer goes to 80, but my oval goes to 75.

Neoprene doesn't really describe the float being supplied now as ethanol proof. It's more like toasted rubberized styrofoamized cork, and it shreds, tears and splits with abandon.

Re: A Very Busy Thanksgiving
 

I've had one of those synthetic floats in one of my cars for at least a decade and it's still going fine.

Re: A Very Busy Thanksgiving
 

Fortunately, I think I've learned my lesson from the burned out 2cycle tools (trimmer, blower, snowblower, etc) and I now only purchase non ethanol fuel with exception of my diesel Passat. There will only be ethanol free fuel in this as long as I own it (or as long as its available).

Re: A Very Busy Thanksgiving
 

You misunderstand. Once it's in the tank it's fine. It's handling, squeezing, cutting or pressing; it's not like wet suit neoprene. It's fragile.

Re: A Very Busy Thanksgiving
 

There is an entry in the service bulletins that addresses rerouting the battery cable that includes a bracket bolted to the flywheel housing.
November 1929, page 395 in the service bulletins.