Ringo’s Ready to Roll

Last Sunday afternoon I took Ringo for spin around the block and found that, once they were bedded in, the new brakes seem to work fine. The tires squealed a little, so I checked the pressures and found the fronts needed a few psi to get them up to 22 (to go with the 32 psi in the rears). I found that the idle speed, once the engine had warmed up, was a bit higher than desired. I popped the engine lid, and noticed the choke on the left carb was binding. I tried adjusting the rusted rod and broke it. Irrr. I’m sure the engine will still start with only one carb being choked, but we’ll see. I then pulled a wheel off Scarlett to temporarily use as Ringo’s spare. After bolting it into its mount in the engine compartment, I shut the lid and moved on to Glinda.


She needed me to fix her wipers. Starting with the easiest thing to do, the first step in troubleshooting was to look at the schematic in the ’68 manual and test the switch. It checked out, so I moved on to the drive end. To access it, I removed the air grill at the base of the windshield which also required me to remove the wiper arms from their shafts. Two loosened nuts after that and I’d disconnected the arm mechanism from the drive. Three Phillips-head screws held the drive assembly to the firewall and they came out easily. Once I removed the two long bolts holding the motor to the rest of the assembly I could tell the bushing at the far end of the motor shaft was not turning freely. Knowing I had a GUP drive assembly on the shelf, I decided to not repair Glinda’s, but bolt in the GUP. Everything went back together easily, and I remembered to adjust the at-rest position of the wiper arms before pushing them down on their splines. Everything now works and Glinda’s daily-driver-ness has been improved.