Just Can't Stay Away 1972 142S

[MikeSr.]

Originally Posted by AndrewNance

The system on my car is very nice and has the perfect sound for a sporty DD. It's not loud at all but you can definitely hear it. Not sure what brand it is or where Mike bought it though.

Just a generic from Atlantic muffler- I was tired of the drone at cruise(3000 rpm)

[Coupid]

The instrument panel lights have never worked. I took apart the dash last week and plugged the "choke" light back in but didn't see anything else amiss. Today I replaced all the fuses and checked the bulbs in the cluster. They were all good so I tested it again, still broken. Then I reassembled the whole dash and low and behold the instrument panel was glowing a nice green:



As soon as I took this photo I had the bright idea to touch the dimmer switch and all the dash lights went out again. After some playing around with it, I got the lights to come back on but I'm sure as soon as I hit a bump they will go out.

Can I just replace the switch itself?

Does anyone have a spare? or is there an easy bypass?


I also put on a little chrome on the exhaust to cap it off.



It needs to be downsized.

[mjcerati]

How much did you buy it for? If you don't mind me asking.

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by mjcerati

How much did you buy it for? If you don't mind me asking.

Pmd. Now I'm saving for your wheels and instrument cluster

[Turborg]

Love the color!

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by Turborg

Love the color!

Thanks! You car looks great and you've done a lot of the thing I want to do to it... Once I finish sorting out the stage 0

[SquareD]

Nice 142, love that color. The best part is that it landed with someone that seems really enthusiastic about it. Keep up the great work.

[petiww]

Nice classic you have there!
Sadly all of them rusted out here, it is impossible to find them for a reasonable price. If you ever find one...

Originally Posted by Coupid

The instrument panel lights have never worked. I took apart the dash last week and plugged the "choke" light back in but didn't see anything else amiss. Today I replaced all the fuses and checked the bulbs in the cluster. They were all good so I tested it again, still broken. Then I reassembled the whole dash and low and behold the instrument panel was glowing a nice green:



As soon as I took this photo I had the bright idea to touch the dimmer switch and all the dash lights went out again. After some playing around with it, I got the lights to come back on but I'm sure as soon as I hit a bump they will go out.

Can I just replace the switch itself?

Does anyone have a spare? or is there an easy bypass?

Don't know what exact dimmer it has, but I actually managed to renovate the non-really working one in my 244.
Disassembled, cleaned all contacts, glued the resistor wire back, put it back together with a slight layer of grease and it works awesome now.
If everything is there and not broken to pieces, it is pretty easy.
http://s113.photobucket.com/user/pet...kymw1.jpg.html

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by petiww

Nice classic you have there!
Sadly all of them rusted out here, it is impossible to find them for a reasonable price. If you ever find one...



Don't know what exact dimmer it has, but I actually managed to renovate the non-really working one in my 244.
Disassembled, cleaned all contacts, glued the resistor wire back, put it back together with a slight layer of grease and it works awesome now.
If everything is there and not broken to pieces, it is pretty easy.

Thanks for the photos, that makes me feel empowered to try taking it apart. Since it works intermittently I bet all the parts are there

[Coupid]

Took a little road trip after work today and picked up a huge score of parts!

Somehow we managed to fit:

A less rusty hood
2 untorn blue seats
door sill trim
window trim


Can't wait to get back from Monterrey so I can get to installing them!

[Coupid]

Well I couldn't wait till next week so I swapped in the blue seats and door trim. It looks a lot better than the torn seats with foam dripping out everywhere. It will look incredible after I clean and vacuum them:

[Coupid]

Small update:

Putting the stock downpipe back on my STI so I decided to commute in the 140 for the past few days. It's a nice little car once it gets warmed up. I have ordered a handful of parts from IPD so I can tackle cleaning the carbs and tuning up the ignition. It will be my first time setting points so wish me luck.

[dopski]

Cool car, i went to sweden with a frind to pick up exactly the same car.
My brother has the '73 version of it.

The '72


The '73:


The color alone makes me jealous .

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by dopski

Cool car, i went to sweden with a frind to pick up exactly the same car.
My brother has the '73 version of it.



The color alone makes me jealous .

Both of those look like they are much nicer shape. I'll get this one there eventually

[amerbritcan]

Those seats sure look black. Also don't sweat the points it's dead easy.

[Coupid]

I swapped out plugs, wires cap, rotor and points and the car still runs!! The ones I took out look like they were last replaced sometime in the Carter administration so I think the car will be a lot happier with the new ones.



I'm not sure why #1 would be running leaner than the rest of them. Is that something to worry about?

Next up is to clean and tune the SUs. This should be exciting because just like with setting points, I have very little knowledge about SUs.

[UTAHGTBRICK]

Hey buddy. Pat here with the clean 780 bertone (burgundy). Your car looks fantastic. If you need shop manuals or anything let me know. I got a mint 69 142s as well. Welcome to the 142 club!!!

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by UTAHGTBRICK

Hey buddy. Pat here with the clean 780 bertone (burgundy). Your car looks fantastic. If you need shop manuals or anything let me know. I got a mint 69 142s as well. Welcome to the 142 club!!!

Thanks Pat! I remember your 780 but I don't think I've seen your 142 build thread.

I bought a Haynes so I can probably limp by with that. If you have parts or wheels I will be reaching out in the near future.

[UTAHGTBRICK]

Lol yep i got a set of wheels for ya. . I dont have the 142s build on here. I dont even drive the thing.

[Coupid]

Apparently SUs like to have "oil" in their reservoirs in order to run "right". Who would have known that... I just got back from a little jaunt around the city and the car seems pretty happy with all its new parts and some oil in its carbs. When I opened them up the piston was almost completely dry.



I wouldn't say it runs perfect but it seems pretty damn happy.

Now I'm not sure if I want to run the SUs or the special surprise I bought for it that should be arriving in the mail today?

[Coupid]

So I picked a few more parts up and I am planning to do the Weber conversion. It will clean up the engine bay and simply tuning.

I got the IPD kit with the jet kit and then found a dual output P1800es exhaust manifold. When the manifold arrives I will strip it all down and hope it will all bolt together.

Until then, I have this thing just sitting around staring at me:

[Coupid]

Still waiting for the new exhaust manifold to show up but I wanted to make sure the weber was ready to go. I dropped a vacuum port down the exhaust so that ended up taking up most of the time I spent on the car today.



After that was sorted I put on this new shift knob that I found while reorganizing my tools because my awesome girlfriend got me a little present.:

[NO_SPRK]

nice 142! you have my favorite year grill. funny how ive had some of the same issues as you.

are you really going to put that weber kit on? i just took mine off and went back to SUs... best swap so far.

i totally spaced out about the projects section. ill start one soon of my 144

HAVE FUN

[Hootbot]

That downdraft weber is a downgrade if the su's work fine I would leave them.

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by Hootbot

That downdraft weber is a downgrade if the su's work fine I would leave them.

I have heard opinions that its an improvement and that they are terrible. I think it mostly has to do with how well you can get the weber tuned vs what sort of shape the SUs you removed were in. The SUs are original so like 250k miles. They need a full rebuild and the price for this weber kit was less.


Plus I like how the single carb simplifies the look of the engine bay. If it really is that bad to drive with, I will start rebuilding the SUs and swap them back.