JayEstes

Well, good luck. Sure seems like most PO's are complete boneheads doesn't it?

Well, I'll give this a shot, but first time I saw this posted, I wondered what was going on here.... I'm assuming we are looking at the passenger side, and that button is the courtesy dome light switch. On my car, the weatherstrip that goes in the "same location" has a long metal channel that holds the base of the weatherstrip. Odd thing is, this channel goes all the way up and over the door. Of course... you have a vert, and I have a coupe, so, that wouldn't apply. So MAYBE the channel that holds the weatherstrip stops somewhere near the top of the door? Could it be that you are missing that piece of metal? weatherstrip on a vert can be hugely different from coupes, so I just don't know. Anyway, I have attached a pic of my drivers side (where I had this area exposed in prep for restore). See if this answers the question. Sorry the pic is sideways - not sure why.

A little more info for you. There are basically only 2 pieces besides the ball louvre. However, there is one other part that goes over the backside of the front piece and bears against the backside of the dash. You tighten 3 screws against that, and it pulls the forward half up tightly against the dash. That's how it is final installed with no screws showing from the front. I believe though that the part number 19893 has this part with it - it shows the screws which I'm talking about. If you already have the dash out, you can refurb your own in probably 3 hrs work. The relatively high price of a replacement may or many not be worth it depending on your situation. I can tell you though that the original parts - as long as they haven't been bent or rusted - are probably still usable. The front piece might need some paint. However, if the plastic louvre is broken or cracked, just go get a new one to fix it right. To give you an idea of how it looks apart I have attached one pic showing the front and back halves after I cleaned the channel the felt goes in, then a shot of each with the black loop velcro in place. I bought a standard width stick-on velcro and split it lengthwise, putting half in the front piece and half in the back piece.

They are a real pain to get out. I had the dash out when I took them out, but that is a big job in itself. I am not sure if you can take these out without the whole dash coming out. Also, I found that the cylindrical steel on the back side of the louver is RIVETED to the front side. It is impossible to get the ball out without drilling these rivets out. It was easy to drill them out - but it was much harder to drill a new hole and get a screw in there to hold it all together after I had refurbished the "felt" that the ball slides against. I found that the remaining - i guess steel - rivet was very hard to drill out, and the soft pot-metal of the front side wanted to wallow out around it. I ultimately got it together, but it's not a trivial job to do. I also found that after I cleaned out the old felt, and the slot it was glued to, that I was able to use a black, stick-on, loop side velcro in that channel. It's fluffy enough to compress down when the ball vent goes in, and after using a little plastic polish on the ball, it slides against it nicely. Have fun, this little refurb will keep you busy for awhile...

you probably haven't damaged anything.... but you've got to hold back the tension of the coil spring if you are replacing an upper ball joint. To take that ball joint out would mean the spindle is no longer transferring the load down to the LCA, and so the UCA would be pushed lower by the spring, and the coil spring could pop out at you. Not sure if it really would, but it could. They also recommend using an odd little compression device, applied to the ends of each ball joint bolt (where the castellated (sp?) nuts are) to apply pressure and then tell you to whack the spindle to break the bolts loose. When I took mine apart I did something similar using some all thread, but I don't know what most folks do. I think the bulk of people just go drive a pickle fork in there and be done, but that tool also has a bad reputation for ruining equipment with a lot of good mechanics, so I avoid using it where I can.

Here is a pic of mine (they are currently off for refurb). It's a symmetrical part. So, if I understand the question, the holes in the shaft are centered between the ends. The ends are the pivot points. Now, I do believe it would be possible to assemble the UCA with this shaft in a non-centered position. You might want to check the assembly procedures to ensure it is supposed to be centered. When I took mine apart, I thought I noticed that the shaft was not perfectly centered between the pivot points. I haven't checked the specs for torque and positioning on this so you might be advised to check that. And actually, I'm not quite sure where to look for that info other than the shop manual.

OK. confession time. I am working with a 71 coupe in this case (although my car is a 69 coupe). And, I didn't even go back and do a direct compare my harness (currently out of the vehicle), because it all looked so familiar. I am surprised the 69 has 1 wire and the 71 has 2, but I guess there must be some reason for that. It's amazingly similar other than that. Good news is that I was able to try both pins, and one of them - when shorted to ground - caused the gauge to go "hi". So, much to my relief, I don't need a new gauge, and I've verified the vehicle harness is good too. I now know it's down to either the sender or the float. I'm suspecting the float because I get a gauge needle movement up of about 3 needle widths just powering on the car. I also hear todays gasoline is bad for these old floats, so that's a likely candidate. So, now I'm looking forward to a nice long drive to empty the tank, and getting in to replace the filter, the float, and clean things up a bit. Thanks so much to everyone on this forum - I find this is an extremely helpful place to work my issues!... Jay

I'm assuming from that it doesn't matter which contact in the plug I take to ground? (There are 2 wires in that plug)

I'd buy an LED light kit for just about anything on these cars.... plus stuff that never had a light before.. :-)

That's what I needed to know thanks. I went ahead and disconnected the plug again with the new fuse, and (as one should expect after reading your post) nada. So in the "shorting to ground" process, is this the same as shorting one plug to the other, OR do I need to short one specific wire to bare metal on the chassis? Sorry, but while I like to think I am a somewhat capable mechanic - even simple DC circuits can just baffle me sometimes. And thanks for the "don't short for too long" comment - I probably would have screwed that up and broken something.

I have a gas gauge that is not working. I first tried to verify the gauge by disconnecting at the sender (at the tank). I looked for gauge to go "hi" - but it did not. Next I went to the fuse block. After replacing the fuse, I notice the gauge barely rises above E when the key is on, but even with a filled tank, no higher. I am believing the gauge is ok, and I have mech/elec problem since it moves a small amount now. So, I think I next need to try disconnecting at the tank and seeing if I can get the gauge to go "hi"? If it doesn't, what does that mean? Whats my next step? go on a long drive to empty the tank (more fun than just draining into a bucket right?) and check the float? Any other advice here? Thanks in advance - J

Its not a trivial job, but you can do it with the car on jackstands. You will need a special tool to wedge into the suspension to unload the ball joints. It's a simple but special tool shown with dimensions in the 1969 shop manual (I can send you the pic/dimensions if you need). You will have to remove the tire, but can possibly do with the rotor/caliper (assuming disc) left on and connected to the ball joint you are not replacing. As for 3 bolt vs 4 bolt, I suspect it is fairly common to get a mix. My uppers are 4 bolt, (but they can be the 3-bolt style) but I believe just about all lowers are 3 bolt. My 3-bolt lowers are riveted in, if yours are like that - it would be easier to just replace the whole lower control arm (not cheaper unless you count time). If you have one side UCA with a 3-bolt and the other side with a 4-bolt, I suspect at some point the UCA was replaced, and they got the different UCA. I wouldn't worry about which it is, and just buy the part that fits - I don't think there is any functional difference between 3 & 4 bolt balljoints. When you get in that deep - be sure you grease the zerks on the ends of the UCA mount to the shock tower - these joints frequently get neglected being back behind those springs. When I got my UCA's off recently , I thought the shock tower mount rotation joint was in good shape until I disassembled them from the UCA. I then found the UCA threads which hold the ends of the rotation mount were stripped, and wallowed-out. Now I am buying new UCAs.....(Note: you can only check this joint if you take the springs out which is not required to change the ball joints - but you can lube the joint since the zerks are accessible all the time). well. That was probably more than you wanted to hear. Hope it helps though. Jay

Ed- Yes, my grommit was a little crumbly, but plyable enough to get it out and back in. Find a new one if you can - I never looked. If you find a vendor, let me know as I could still replace mine (as I have a lot of work to do before this goes back in). That grommit is kinda odd as it fills a hole that is right in the middle of a 45deg bend in the side of the main housing, so it's shaped oddly (if I remember right). Mike- hope you have good luck on finding one of those bulb housings. You can get a whole shifter for something like 80-90$, but you'd hate to do that just for a shifter light. You might be able to make something out of a solid chunk of plastic or something (maybe even wood?) if you found the right material that was machinable. Good luck guys.

I'm at the point of being ready to go back with paint in the engine compartment on the firewall. I've got it nice and stripped down. Was about to prime it, and I wondered... I've got the 500deg engine enamel for the paint, but what about the primer? I don't know if it can take the same heat, and I REALLY don't want to have the primer melt off under good paint. I don't really even know if that could happen, but thought I would ask. Perhaps using the enamel right on the stripped firewall without primer is a good approach? Anyone have any opinions/experience on this? Thx in advance, Jay

Guys- I happen to have my shifter out, which I recently refurbed. I've attached some pics I took here. I also looked into my 69 elec assm manual, but couldn't find a diagram of this. In my car, There is only one bulb, and that goes into the silver housing that attaches via the setscrew to the shifter shaft. That housing looks completely opaque, but I believe it has a slot that lets light go into the edge of the clear plastic indicator. This provides a cool, subtle light that illuminates only the letters right at the indicator. Mine also had a nice teal translucent piece of plastic placed flat against the clear plastic indicator, that I believe gave off a blue light (haven't proven that yet). I suspect that, in your case of 2 bulbs, the PO must have wanted more light coming from the shifter housing, and just spliced in another small bulb to do that. I'd recommend getting that out of there. I'm hoping this helps you guys... :) Jay

I appreciate the detail with pics. Really a helpful post - the pics worked great - thanks!

All, This thread was a great read. Really appreciate the discussion above as I have this in front of me. Makes me appreciate more why I might want to pay to have this done. Q1: Does anyone have an estimate for the total number of hours a pro might put into covering 2 front seats? I'd probably triple that if I was gonna try it myself. Q2: Can you buy any covers with a fabric center section? I mean, I live in Houston, and it is freaking HOT and HUMID, and black vinyl is absolutely the LAST product I want to sit on in shorts! If I really want fabric on there, do I HAVE to go custom? Thanks! J

I've got 235/60/R15s up front on 8in rims, and this (new) car (to me) has significant rubbing issues (worsened in the last 100 mi or so I've driven it). is it the 8in RIM width up front that is bad? A sagging suspension? or ?? Several folks posting don't have any issue with this size. Perhaps it is the backspace on the RIM? Seems like this should work based on the discussions above. I can't figure out why I'm having such a bad rubbing issue. Any suggestions would help...

Love that. Great find! Amazing stuff out there. Grabbed some great pics from there to hang up!

Wow. Love this thread guys! Particularly the pics. I have a 69, currently stripped down, and this will help me get the wheels i need for that car. Love the looks of all those above - I am green with envy! As a related, but slightly off-topic question (1971 model), this weekend, I had a SWEET little 1971 fall into my lap on Sunday. I took title yesterday from a fantastic human who gave me a great deal on it. To the Q, it has some great looking wheels and RIMs, but it does have a rubbing problem in front. It has some "anti-rolled" fender lips (lack of a better word) from this issue - as expected, worse when hitting bumps during a turn. I really like the looks of it as is, and I am curious if I can put some gas shocks in to lift the car a bit, and roll the fenders to get by with it? What do you think? It seems very low strung, a bit soft, and I'm pretty sure it has old shocks which need replacement anyway to help the ride.

One other thing, I do have the exploded view drawing book, which shows the blow-apart view of the strut, but it only shows the original inner/outer sleeve design which doesn't have the "frame washer", and the cupped washers look different on front and back sides (although they do seem to be "cupped side towards the rubber... Hard to tell actually...

Aha! Thank you! I think... any input is help, actually. I don't have any other directions, and I have been making assumptions about the cupped washer placement based on limited experience with it.... and what I have taken off so far. In the attached pic, I show the d-side refurbed, and the p-side as it came off the car. Are you saying that the concave side of the aft washer should be towards the back of the car? If so that is surprising to me, and it doesn't seem to resemble the looks of the old one which I have removed. Thanks for the feedback though, this is helping me get this figured out.

I don't really have a good answer for you, but I'm hoping others do. Those cheap little "sheetmetal" screws (for lack of a better term) are not very secure. From my experience, the "bolts" don't hold them well after they have been removed a time or two - it's hard to get the "threads" to track properly and re-seat as it did originally. I'm not sure if it is possible, but have you considered putting a die on the bolt to give it a real thread, and then using a real nut? I suspect that the "bolts" on the quarter panel ornament are soft, and it might not work well. I've got this same issue - my ornaments are off right now, and they don't match the side body skin curvature very well, so you need to torque these nuts down a bit to get the ornament to hold flush everywhere. Hoping someone else has some thoughts for you - I would like to hear them. I'll take a look at mine and see if I can get some other ideas. I have the same issue. J

I don't really have a good answer for you, but I'm hoping others do. Those cheap little "sheetmetal" screws (for lack of a better term) are not very secure. From my experience, the "bolts" don't hold them well after they have been removed a time or two - it's hard to get the "threads" to track properly and re-seat as it did originally. I'm not sure if it is possible, but have you considered putting a die on the bolt to give it a real thread, and then using a real nut? I suspect that the "bolts" on the quarter panel ornament are soft, and it might not work well. I've got this same issue - my ornaments are off right now, and they don't match the side body skin curvature very well, so you need to torque these nuts down a bit to get the ornament to hold flush everywhere. Hoping someone else has some thoughts for you - I would like to hear them. I'll take a look at mine and see if I can get some other ideas. I have the same issue. J

I have pulled the front strut rod (drivers side) on my 69. When I followed the shop manual, it said to pry the forward washer forward with two 18in pry bars on either side to "separate the inner sleeve from the outer sleeve". My parts are all original (I believe), and these sleeves were stuck so bad that I pulled the flange of the inner sleeve through the hole in the forward washer. See pic. No big deal really since I have a rebuild kit. However, the rebuild kit I have doesn't use the inner/outer sleeve design. My new kit has a single "fairly thick" sleeve, 2 bumpers, 2 washers - but only a single piece that could go on either the front side of the frame hole, or the back side. The pic shows this configuration. There are no instructions with the kit. Does it even matter which side I put the "frame washer" (for lack of a better word)? Let me know if anyone has any idea how this is supposed to go... Thanks, Jay