I found something interesting underneath the seat. Each one of these cars is stamped with a chassis number and something called an assembly number. My car is assembly number 451a ('a' for US spec and 451 for number built in 1978). On various parts of the car, this number can be found written or stamped. Since different parts of these cars are made in different parts of the factory, they marked the assemblies with the assembly number so they would all make it back onto the right car. On the bottom of the seat foam, it is written "AS 451 USA". Good to know these are the original seats!
Since I passenger's seat was out, I decided to pull the driver's seat as well. I wanted to do more cleaning, especially in the center console area. The job was much easier with the seats out. It was also a good time to track down the last remaining electric gremlin -- the back up lights. When I unscrewed the panel with the console switches, I immediately saw the problem. For some strange reason, the wires for the back up switch were disconnected. I keep finding electric stuff unplugged or disabled. Why would someone do such a thing? I hooked the wires back up and the lights now work.
Having the console partially disassembled also allowed me to have a look at the parking brake handle. Since I got new cables, I was hoping to get the brake working again. However, the handle does not seem to stay up. I can hear the mechanism click as I pull the handle, but the ratchet does not hold the handle. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to live with this for a while. I was not able to get enough access to really get at the handle. To remove the switch panel, I would need to remove all the switch wiring as well as disconnect all the heater control cables. I already had to disconnect the choke cable to swing the panel out of the way and I wasn't prepared for full disassembly. It feels like the ratchet mechanism is stripped out so I'll probably need to find a new parking brake handle. Seems like a job for another day.
Moving right along, I put the console back together. Before I put the gated shift plate back on, I wanted to tend to one small detail. This car has reverse in the upper left and there is a small tab on the underside of the gate to prevent accidentally hitting reverse. Normally, you push the shifter knob down to slip past the tab. The tab was worn and there was nothing preventing a reverse shift. I fired up the welder and built up the tab and a bit of grinding made it the right shape.
I put the shift gate back on and the newly shaped reverse lockout tab works perfectly.
The last for today after putting the interior back together was the addition of a one-way check valve into the return line on the cooling system. On these older carb cars, there are two hoses on the coolant expansion tank. One is on the bottom of the tank and supplies additional coolant as needed to the engine. The other line goes to the top of the tank. No one knows for absolute certainty, but various people in the 308 community suspect that this line is the cause for air getting into the cooling system. It was suggested that a check valve installed in this smaller return line would allow coolant to flow back into the tank, but would not allow air to get sucked back into the engine. I have been noticing that the cooling system is indeed pulling air from somewhere. Hopefully this will solve the problem.
Posts
