Speaking of Canada, it has been a real pain in a horse's arse. Most of our parts are from the States and with the borders closed and most suppliers won't ship here it has been hard to get started on anything you know you will take apart and have no idea when you can start again. Talk about a one hour job taking 3 months.
I don't mind the "over the time estimates" so much. It's the "total do overs" that really wrinkle my shorts.
That hasn’t been my experience at all. I’ve had no problem shipping to the US or having anything shipped to me. I just got a package from Summit a couple of days ago and I’ve received shipments from other places in the usual amount of time.
Danny, I think I'm going to pick up one of those Echlin switches for my roadster because of the blade type terminals. The block the switch screws into points the round snap on terminals straight down and I've had one of the wires o come off a time or two. Believe the blade type will hang on tighter. Never have been able to find any of the round female wire ends that really had the "snap" feel of the OEM Fomoco terminals. As for the need of a lift, at 83, I know exactly what you're talking about Trouble is, I bought my shop building almost 35 years ago when lifts weren't as inexpensive as they are now, was 48 years old and never thought I'd need a lift So I wasn't really concerned that the building only had an 8.5' ceiling
Your addition is correct and I am now a septuagenarian, with that being said and the fact that over that time I have broken a lot of bones, getting up and down,crawling in and out from under cars takes more time than in the past. I use to run neck to neck with the hare but today the turtle and I pace ourselves, slow and steady. HRP
Brake lights/lights are one thing we can't see EZ from driver's seat. I used both type brake switchs at def times,an more then a few type switchs for lights.. Could be me getting old,but seems nether last very long any more vs how it seemed they did before! My light switch is now being fussy about how I pull it to turn on lights,so some times wiggel it ca little an works.
Dana, I had a interesting conversation with one of the Anderson's who have owned the local NAPA store for as long as I can remember, I was telling him I had talked with the guys at the local Harley-Davidson dealership and was informed that they used the Echlin brake light switch when replacing them and also told they were better made than the common el cheapo available ay the discount auto parts stores. Mr. Anderson said that Echlin at one time was considered some of the best replacement parts in the industry but lake everything the quality had slipped since Echlin sold out to Standard and the part is now manufactured in Mexico, he also went on to say the same thing Old Man Dave eluded too, the switch manufactured with the blade fittings held up much better than the normal male fittings. HRP
Bill this peeked my curiosity, so I started trying to answer your questions, I finally found this. HRP The switch consists of 5 pieces: a metal casing, plastic contact support, brass solid washer, two small springs, and a rubber diaphragm that is sealed around the perimeter. When the brake is applied, hydraulic pressure bends the rubber diaphragm lifting the brass washer, which in turn makes contact with the electrical connectors. The two small springs prevent the brass washer from contacting the electrical connectors when pressure is not applied". The rubber washer is approximately 1/8th inch thick and will deform under fluid pressure. It is secured in the unit by a clamping effect when the unit is closed. It is prone to being crushed during the close up step and thus might allow brake fluid to bypass the seal. If it leaks it would leak fluid to the outside, which is not a normal failure mode. The type of brake fluid used has no affect on the electrical connection, because the fluid never touches the contacts. Pressure required to operate the switch is in the range of 30 to 50 psi (normally). As this is not a snap action switch, the contact points close and open slowly. This allows a weak spark to jump the gap during actuation, which eventually has a burning effect on the contacts. As the contacts get dirty the contact resistance rises. The contacts then generate heat with the current. With time the resistance goes higher, and the heat will be greater. Eventually he contact resistance becomes unacceptably high with unreliable contact. Then you have to stand hard on the brake pedal before the switch will make adequate electrical contact. When the pressure required is too high, there will be no contact, and the brake lights do not work. There is no wiping action on these contacts, so the contacts are not self cleaning. Combination of stiffness of the rubber diaphragm and strength of the springs determines how much hydraulic pressure is required to make the contacts touch. When the contacts are dirty, initial touching may not make a reliable electrical connection. Stepping harder on the brake pedal to make higher hydraulic pressure increases contact force, which may then make the electrical connection. That is, until the contacts deteriorate more. The switch must make a reliable contact with fairly low hydraulic pressure. When higher pressure is required due to deteriorated contacts, then the brake lights will not light up with normal braking pressure.
I thought I had oil filters under control, and have more than a few tools to remove them. Then I did the first oil change on the wagon in my avatar. Newly built 327, built by a reputable engine shop. It’s a wonder I didn’t set the wagon on fire out of frustration. Changing the oil out should have been a ½ hour job… not a full day. Got a new oil filter ready, and even bought one of those shiny new Ryco oil filter sockets. Dropped the oil out, and found out that my fancy new Chev sump holds 6½ litres… cause my drain pan only holds 6. Cleaned that up, and tried to get the old oil filter off. Can only get at about 1/3 of the filter circumference because of the deep pan sump. No way was it coming off by hand. Fancy Ryco socket did not fit the fancier Cooper filter. The filter also laughed at the strap wrench. Something was clearly wrong, as the strap wrench has a 2’ handle. Thought I was turning the wrong way (lefty loosey, righty tighty…. checked a dozen times)… nope, turning it the correct way to remove. Figured it was desperation time, so punched a screwdriver through the filter (OK, now we are committed). Still wouldn’t turn. Got a bigger screwdriver. No turny either. Got stuck in with a podgy bar, and a wood block. Managed to drop the wood block square between my eyes, and crack myself in the mouth with the podgy bar. Number 1 Son was wise enough to ask if I was OK before laughing, then rapidly departed. Wise boy. Demolished the filter all the way down to the spin-on ring part. Tried tapping it off with a screwdriver and hammer. Busted the handle out of the screwdriver. By this time I have taught the neighbours kids to swear like a sailor. Made up a pin wrench with ½” steel rod, and engaged it on the spin-on ring drain holes (see photo below). Bent the ½” rod. Straightened the rod (multiple times) but no turny. Managed to slice my finger open on my marvelous pin wrench metalwork. Figured it was beyond desperation time, and broke out a cold chisel and 3lb lump hammer. Finally got the damn thing to spin off. For sale: 1 SBC oil filter, barely used. Looks like the rubber seal had not been given a smear of oil when it was put on. Rubber hadn't vulcanised, but sure did grip the engine block well. New filter (with oil-smeared seal), new oil and run up. Cheers, Harv
Harv, thank you so much for sharing your story with us, I can visualize the oil running over the edge of the drain pan and frustration of getting the filter off and finally the victory of defeating that dammed oil filter. I feel so much better about my battle with the brake light switch, I wasn't hit between the eyes with a block of wood nor did I introduce any metal to my mouth and above all there was no blood shed! But I'm proud of you my friend, that oil filter got exactly what it deserved. HRP
Harv, I feel your pain! Had one on the 350 that was in my Lincoln when I got it do the same thing, well it didn’t overflow the drain pan, I did that myself when I tipped it over dragging it out from under the car! I broke a strap wrench, went and got another, proceeded to twist the can off the base. Took me a couple of hours too, couldn’t get to it with a chisel, had to use a long punch and a long pry bar with the 2lb hammer. One thing about it, I wouldn’t have ever had to worry about it falling off, it sure wasn’t going anywhere!
At this stage of the game the die is cast, ,my ceiling is 10 foot, the garage is sheet rocked walls & ceiling, 18 inches of insulation blowing in the attic and heat & air ducts in the attic. I would be more inclined to build a attached garage to my garage to house a lift. HRP
I've got a 1950's single-car fibro-cement shed, with a car-and-a-half worth of stuff stored in it. Rafters are maybe 8 foot. Neighbours are tolerant, but would not support a 2-story shed in suburban Sydney. When I dream, I dream of clean epoxied floors, big red toolboxes organised neatly and a 4-post hoist. I have a cunning plan to construct a mechanic's pit (remember those?). Nice long trench down the middle of the shed, narrower than the wheel track and deep enough to stand in. The only thing stopping me is my luck. If I concrete-sawed the floor slab I have visions of the whole thing coming down around my ears. Cheers, Harv
If you do decide on the old time pit be aware of the potential dangers about toxic fumes in the pit. IIRC there have been threads here or maybe over on the Barn about dangers associated with pits.
Trying to follow all this to improve my Latin. After two pages I still have no clue what Carpe Diem is. Something to do with oil changes, lifts, and brake light switches. Those crazy Romans.
Words to live by right there. Remembering back about 40 years ago when we didn't have the chain parts houses here and all three of the local parts houses closed at five and were closed on Sundays and it was a 20 mile run to the only two parts houses in the area that were open after five or on Sundays. That was the Old Bowdens auto parts. At my age every thing I do on a car tends to take longer than it used to.
LOL your day was an easy one. We own an OT 4WD, a GMC that I bought to haul my Mom-In-Law the last 4 years if her life. I dearly loved that woman . . . I digress. The starter on the Jimmy took a dump last spring. It sat all summer. We bit the bullet and bought a new starter. How hard could it be to change a starter on a 6 cylinder car, right? Had to pull the front wheel and ultimately cut a chunk out of the fender well. 4 bolts all total, hot and start wire on the solenoid and two bolts holding it to block. 4 hours later and me and the missus all dirted up and it was done,
Danny, I am still trying to figure out how you managed to reply to my post from one thread on to a different thread, but I am no computer genius? Thanks for the switch breakdown. So either the rubber gets way too hard for the switch to work (which I can see with all the crappy rubber out there nowadays) or its the contacts that are the culprit. I believe its the contacts for the most part. I also believe that high current draw to the brake lights, through the contacts is largely to blame for the contacts to get too burnt/corroded to pass current through. Granted, two or even four standard brake light bulbs don't create that much resistance to operate themselves, but added with crappy grounds at the sockets, and poor or old wiring or just too light of a 15 feet or so, gauge wire to the brake lights, or breaches in the wire (that create corrosion and more resistance), or poor terminal connections, to the brake lights create a lot more resistance in the circuit and then there is a large arc at the switch when the brakes are applied. I also believe that where a larger charging system is used, such as putting a 100 plus amp alternator where the whole electrical system was designed around a 40 or 60 amp type charging system, taxes all the wiring also. Most of the cars we deal with here with electrical issues, don't have fancy new electrical systems installed and are mostly original wiring. Almost all of them have higher Amp alternators than were originally designed for. I still wonder if using the mechanical brake light switch in conjunction with a relay on a separate circuit from the actual circuit to the brake lights to operate it, would help the switch survive longer? Bill
I use a micro switch ( post #50 )as a stop light switch in circuit a with a fuse and relay,the switch only sees 150 milliamps,enough to fire the relay,wich see the few amps it takes to fire the LED's this is a completely new harness....with an old harness converting it to fire a relay to run the main circuit is a smart fix.I know it looks busy but its not alot of work,and the peace of mind is priceless..
Carpe Diem - "Seize the day" to attack the day's problems with vigor, so yes my friend it does have something to do with oil filters & brake light switches. HRP
Best way I found to test my brake lights is turn on the 4 ways and step on the brake pedal . Flashing stops switch is working correctly . GM and Ford wiring , Dodge will not do this . Everything I touch anymore is project , the biggest reason is off shore produced junk , plan on doing it at least 2 times or , buying more parts in the beginning and it will go faster .
The Jalopy Journal
