Another Short Ringo Update

When I tightened the hub retaining nuts, I crossed off vibration to make the to-do list only three tasks long. Last night I tackled all three starting with the oil pressure in the engine. As promised, I took some photos of the install I rigged up. At the engine is a 1/8 NPT male to 3/16 flared tubing adapter. Into that is the 12 inches of brake line ending in another adapter. Next is an all 1/8 NPT female T. Finally, into that goes the tubing fitting for the gauge and the stock oil pressure switch. To keep things from vibrating to death, I added a bracket attached to the aft alternator bolt with the T zip-tied to the end. I fired up the engine to check that there were no leaks of either the electric or petroleum variety. All joints were good-to-go, the idiot came on initially and immediately went off with first few revolutions of the engine.

On to ridding Ringo of his veering tendency while under braking. With his right rear up on the jack, I pulled off the wheel and brake drum and gave the adjuster wheel a couple revolutions in the tighten direction. The drum slid back on revealing only a hint of contact with the shoe liners. The wheel was bolted back on and a twist of the jack screw and the car settled back onto the floor.

Finally, I masked off the trim and body around the leaky corner of the backlight before squirting some silicone RTV into the joint between the stainless trim and body. With a latex glove covered hand, I forced the goo into the joint as deeply as possible before pulling off the tape and calling it a day.

Today I noticed right away there much less pulling when I hit the brakes during my commute. Another turn or two and I should have the car stopping true. Once I arrived at the lot and pulled into a parking space, I watched with bated breath to see if the TEMP/PRES light would illuminate once Ringo came to a complete stop and the rpms were at their lowest. Lo-and-behold the light stayed off. Yippee. I got out and took a gander at the gauge anyway and saw it was hovering right around 7-8 psi. Borderline, but with the switch off, I’m calling it a victory. I’ll probably squirt some water at the backlight tonight to see if the silicone created an impassible wall or not.