Stealthy Indicators Revisited

Back in September I fitted an incredibly loud buzzer and a bright flashing light to the indicators to try an avoid leaving them on all the time (there is no self-cancelling mechanism) and said I would report back.

Result:  100% success, I have not accidentally left the indicators on since then. 

Instrument Panel Problems

Suddenly yesterday the speedometer stopped working.   So it was off with the passenger side dashboard to check it.   Soon found the cable had come out of the instrument cluster so pushed it back in.  I thought it should screw in but couldn't get the outer cover to turn.  Maybe it is just a push fit and it had vibrated out ?

So took it for a test run and the speedo was fine, but now the tachometer wasn't working.  I also noticed the oil pressure light in the instrument cluster was not working although the auxiliary one I have mounted on the top panel was fine.  So I assumed I had disturbed a wire while fiddling around behind the cluster.

So off with the dashboard panel again, unplugged the main lead plug from the back of the cluster and looked for a break.  Everything seemed fine, although still a rats nest.   So plugged the lead back in again and 'bingo', everything worked.   So maybe the plug had also vibrated loose.

Anyway, everything now working again.  Which is a good thing as it is bl...y cold in the garage :-) 

Folding Doors

Since I bought the car some 15 months ago I have tended to drive with the doors fitted and the soft top rolled up and stored at the back.  Only on really warm days when there was no chance of rain would I drive with the doors off.  Even then it was very 'blowy'.

That has changed dramatically since fitting the Wind Deflectors (see here) and now I drive all the time with the doors off.   This gives me a problem as to where to store the doors while driving.  There is no point having the soft top fitted if I don't have the doors.

The doors are desgined around a metal 'skelton' covered by fabric.  A discussion at the last Meet showed me that many other owners have simply cut the vertical struts of the skeleton so that the doors can be folded and then stored behind the seats.

So out came the hacksaw and 5 minutes later I have 2 folding doors. 

They still fit perfectly, and as they are anchored at opposite corners the structural integrity has been maintained.  It may be that the bottom front will flap a bit at high speed, so I may look at attaching some small magnets to clamp them to the stainless steel body.
 

Most importantly, they now slide in nicely behind the passenger seat.  So now I can go out without the doors fitted comfortable in the knowledge that if I get caught in the rain I am fully ready.

Exhaust Heat Shield fixed

One of the downsides of the dramatic noise reduction as a result of rubber mounting the exhaust (See here) (now you can hear me coming from only 100 yds away rather than half a mile) is that it exposed some other noises and rattles that had previously been hidden by the exhaust noise.  

One intrusive one was a vibration from the bell-end of the exhaust heat shield.

  This was actually loose when I bought the car and I thought I had fixed it by clamping it to the rest of the heat shield with some stainless steel brackets.

Apparently not well enough :-)

 Having seen other Superspecs I knew it was actually supposed to be fitted inside the heat shield.  My problem was that the screws holding the hear shield together were rusted solid, which made them impossible to remove and also looked very unsightly.

 So it was out with the drill and I drilled out all 6 of them.   That enabled me to position the bell housing properly inside the heat shield and then I bolted it back together with stainless nuts and bolts.  So now it looks much better and I will be able to remove it easily if needed.

And with addition of some pop rivets on the heat shield to stop the bell housing coming loose again the job was done.

A quick test drive and the rattle has definitely disappeared.   At the moment I can't hear anything else rattling or vibrating , but time will tell.