The radio console is going to need to come out, which is fine because I need to pull the choke cable out too (the whole cable and housing is trying to move now, pretty sticky in there). Noticed it this morning when I drove her over for her new tires… if I pull the choke knob she chokes right up, but pushing it back in just moves the whole cable so the choke doesn’t open back up. Drove over idling at 40mph… lol

So, I went to O’Reilly and bought a universal choke kit for $10, pitched everything except the cable housing, and cut it to the proper length. Then I disconnected the cable at the choke (which moves fine by the way), pulled the cable out of the housing, removed the old cable housing all the way back to the dash, and replaced it with the new one. Pushed the old cable back through the housing (after greasing it up good), hooked it back up, and good as new.

The problem turned out to be that the housing was pulled off the mounting behind the dash… it was just sliding around with nothing to stop it from moving. The worst part was getting the old mounting point off behind the dash… because I got impatient and didn’t wait till this weekend when I was going to have the radio console off anyway, I had to assume the Lotus position and sneak an open end wrench up through to loosen the locknut from the back. Got it though after scraping my knuckles up pretty well. The new mounting is a lot smaller, but still fit fine in the dash opening, though I was ready to put a couple of washers in if needed.

Baby needs a new pair of shoes! Well, actually two pairs. My Kumho P185/70R13s are in, and will be installed tomorrow.

Also ordered the Retrosound Model One radio, which should be here by the end of the week. Between brake hoses and the radio swap, I know what I’m doing this weekend. Spring is in the air and I want to be ready!

Wondering what the trick to getting to the radio.  Can it come out the back of the console, or does the console need to be removed? I didn’t see any obvious screws holding it in place other than the two that hold the fresh air vent controls.

Ms. Jenavieve’s headlight switch hasn’t worked right since I got her. Same problem as outlined by others on the forum. Contacts were pretty burned up inside and the switch would basically fly apart if you looked at it wrong. Intermittent headlights aren’t a good option.

Anyway, was at True Value Hardware this afternoon, of all places, and they had a black rocker switch exactly the same size and style as the factory headlight switch. It’s only a single throw, but since I can’t imagine when I would want to have just the parking lights on, I spliced the blue and red wires together so that they all come on when the switch is on.

I also bypassed the dash light dimmer, since it has never worked right either. Even at full bright the dash lights aren’t exactly what I would call blinding.

$10 and an hour’s work. Not too shabby for lights that actually work when you flip the switch. One more thing crossed off the rapidly expanding to do list.

Well, here’s an update. My winter didn’t go quite like I expected it to. Crazy cold, too cold for the heat in the garage to compensate, and as a result not much has gotten done.

I’m rethinking the whole repaint idea for now, since once it gets nice out I’ll be wanting to drive her (other than cracking and bubbling in a couple spots, she looks pretty good from 20 feet away) so I suspect that the body work/paint may wait till after I’ve finished the mechanicals such as brakes and timing belt. And a set of tires… the sidewalls are pretty cracked on her current set and for what I can get a cheap set of 185SR70/13s for, I’ll invest in a temporary set so that I don’t have to worry about a blowout.