Meet Gizmo

I remember, back in the day, the problems with the Ford starting system (which AMC also used). The car would run for months with no problem until the day you try to start the car and all you hear is a click from the solenoid, usually followed by loss of cabin lights. It stranded my parents one time, it stranded my sister-in-law one time. It stranded me in the Rambler one time (I always kept a tool kit in the trunk after that).

The fix was to clean the battery terminals and the high current terminals at the solenoid. Then the car would be good for another (undetermined) period of time.

Gizmo looks great!

Gizmo went to his first car show (Rambler Club meet) a week ago Saturday.  His temp and fuel gauges have been intermittently running too high (pegged on the high side) but my infrared thermometer said the temps were reasonable if on the high side.  I decided to make the 30 mile drive to the show.  I removed the radiator and thermostat when I got home.  The radiator is the little narrow 232 (no PS, No AC) basic radiator, one of the smallest I think that AMC ever used.  I found the thermostat stuck in the full open position and replaced it with a new one.  I am having the brackets swapped on a larger Blackstone radiator from a Hornet so it will fit the Gremlin.  I have been fighting intermittent problems with the gauges reading high.  The TSM gives too possible causes, bad grounds to or in the instrument cluster and a bad temp gauge (which has the constant voltage regulator built in).  I had replaced the temp gauge with a new one previously.  So I checked the ground circuit to the cluster and checked for continuity on the ground circuits in the cluster.  I cleaned up all the exposed circuit tracings where the lamp sockets and where any other contacts are made.  I have had the cluster out so many times I can do it in my sleep.  Today after cleaning it up I must have bumped the little noise suppressor pins (I have a radio.) and created an open circuit from the bent pins.  No voltage to the lamps.   Frustrating.  I soldered the pins and reinstalled the cluster.  Now the gauges and lamps all work.  What a battle.  Next I need to hook up the tach but I will try to do it with the cluster in the car.