Here’s my quick and easy temporary mounting solution for the control pad- just shoved the wires underneath the console. Even tucked out of the way, I’m still bothered by the ugliness.
What do you know. Digging through some bins this weekend, I discovered the original convertible top switch I had harvested from the 67 Mustang parts car I cut up to build CopyCatVert. That meant that one of the two stock-looking momentary toggles I had been using for the top could now be assigned to speed control duties. Click down gives me the SET/COAST function, up is for RESUME/ACCELERATE. (The other momentary toggle controls my heated seats). I’m experimenting with labels at the moment so just ignore that part.
Here’s the original 67 top switch mounted in the same location it occupied in the Mustang. It bothers me a wee bit that 68 Mustang verts used a different style switch mounted on a panel below the ignition switch, but the 67 version looks nicer and being a cheapskate, I have a hard time justifying the purchase of a 68 style switch.
I think the angle of the e-brake is throwing the perspective off a bit…the clutch pedal may indeed be twisted, but not as bad as it looks in that particular photo??
Very cool thread. I use the Audtiovox cruise unit on my Yamaha FJR1300A. Works a champ once you get the right settings dialed in. On a Motorcycle you need a vacuum reservoir to help on the hills but I imagine that’s not an issue on a car.
Just wait till I post my quick and dirty headlight vacuum motor repair technique. It’s still at the operational testing phase, but the short term results are promising…
Oh crap! My power steering pressure line just blew again! All over the garage floor! Shortly after I got the system working, the first line cracked at the 90 degree elbow where it goes into the control valve because I didn’t clamp it to the control valve housing like Ford suggested, so I got a new hose and installed the worm-drive clamp. That worked for about six months until the metal clamp chewed its way through the metal line and released its contents onto a restaurant parking lot. So I bought a THIRD hose and this time, I wrapped fuel line around it to insulate it from the clamp. Figured I had beaten the beast, but NO! Looks like this one blew because my seemingly brilliant fuel line insulator idea raised the line just far away enough from the control valve so that it was rubbing against the pitman arm at full lock. Good grief!
Look what I found at a local hot rod club swap meet this morning. It’s not a remote adjust unit, but hey, it’s nice heavy chrome and was only $5.
Tomorrow I’ll sqirt some Augusta Green on the body and base and have me a poor man’s xr7-G mirror.
I seem to be springing leaks everywhere. I just fixed the power steering and now one of my convertible top cylinders is leaking through the shaft seal. I could, of course, just order a new one, but where would the fun be with that? So, stay tuned as I attempt to demonstrate a rebuild.
STAGE ONE: DISASSEMBLY
The internal workings of a top cylinder are surprisingly simple, and absent serious physical damage to the shaft (e.g., substantial rust) or damage to the cylinder tube (e.g., dents), the only real obstacle to DIY rebuilding one is the fact that the cylinder tube is permanently crimped onto to the cylinder head. In other words, the only way disassemble it is to cut it open. So that’s exactly what I did:
Start by carefully cutting around the cylinder tube wall right at the shoulder of the crimped edge as shown in the above picture. The tube is aluminum and is quite thin and it cuts easily. You want to cut ONLY the tube, not the material underneath so your cut is only about 1/32nd inch deep. Also, if you clamp the cylinder in a vice like I did, do not tighten it very much or you could dent the tube, which will ruin it.
Once you’ve cut through the thin layer of the tube, get a grip on the head with a channel lock or some other violent tool and simply twist and pull the head and guts out from the tube.
Next, you need to remove the remaining crimped-on portion of the cylinder tube from the head. Again, it’s soft aluminum so you could either cut it with a chisel or as I did, hit it with a drill just deep enough to separate it and peel it off.
At the bottom end of the shaft is a 14mm nut.
Unscrew that and slide everything off. If the shaft has any pitting, that needs to get polished smooth. I hit this one with some 600 grit wet/dry paper, followed by a scotch pad. Other than that, the only thing to fix at the bottom end is a large o-ring on the piston. That portion of the project can be set aside.
There is a large o-ring at the base of the head (that fits inside the tube) that may or may not need to be replaced.
The rest of the seals live inside the head. Remove the snap ring and carefully pry out the contents underneath it with a paper clip or toothpic. Here they are laid out in order from top to bottom: snap ring, dust seal, flat washer, plastic ring, rubber o-ring. (The small o-ring at the bottom is from the top hose port).
With this cylinder, all of the o-rings look good and are pliable except for the shaft seal o-ring inside the head- it’s noticeably distorted and harder than the other o-rings and it has flat spots in two places. The plastic ring has a slight an oval shape on its inside diameter corresponding to the flat slots on the o-ring, probably due to the shaft pushing to the sides as the top goes up and down. I’m confident that these are the only two things I need to replace.
Ready to re-assemble with $1.59 new o-rings. Be sure to de-burr the edge of the tube and grease everything up real good so the o-rings don’t get damaged while inserting everything back into the tube.
Push the cylinder head all the way into the tube and be sure the line ports are in the correct orientation. To re-crimp the tube to the head, place a 3/16" metal rod over tube just below the edge and gently tap at it with a hammer while rolling the tube back and forth. Work your way all the way around, making a deeper and deeper crimp with every rotation.
…and the result:
Total cost: $1.59
Total time (not including trip to hardware store and installation in car): about 30 minutes.
