Summer Tweaking

New cigar lighter connector. I also tapped into this circuit for the "clock" feed to the stereo head unit.
New cigar lighter connector. I also tapped into this circuit for the “clock” feed to the stereo head unit.

Summertime is drive time, even here where the weather is almost always nice. I haven’t been on any really long trips with the Thunderbird, but have had numerous runs in the thirty to fifty mile range (including one to look at a 1962 F-100 I eventually bought), and the car has run superbly—no overheating, odd noises or hiccups whatsoever. I feel like I could drive it as long as I please; a nice feeling when I look back at where this all started.

However, even on short trips it was hard not to be annoyed by a few loose ends not wrapped up in the spring, so I took some time this weekend to tweak a few items.

First was the cigar lighter. When I put the dash and console back in, the push-on power lead wouldn’t stay in place. It was just worn out, I suppose. I finally cut the old connector off and soldered on a new fitting. Two screws and the assembly was back together. I don’t smoke a lot of cigars in the car, but it is nice to have a way to charge up the phone, especially if I am going any distance.

A little shocked at how easily this went back together.
A little shocked at how easily this went back together.

The second item was a piece of unfinished business courtesy of the glass company that sealed up the windshield a few months back. They left out a screw in the trim piece above the driver’s side window, which allowed the plastic trim normally hidden underneath to droop. I put this off because sometimes taking the trim apart just makes things worse. After a while, though, the sag was obvious, embarrassing and rapidly getting worse. After removing the trim, the plastic internals went on with little trouble. I was surprised to find that the trim went back on easily—I even found a decent replacement screw in my box of spares.

This coming fall I expect to tackle suspension, front a rear. The car rides ok as it is, but rattles and squeaks beyond all reason.