Fixed the light in my gear selector thing on my 87 automatic
Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 2:36 am
I was going around replacing bulbs, and figured out how to pull off the shift.. stick... cover...panel...thing...
Found one of the wires going to the bulb holder was snapped off right at the base of the spade connector inside the plastic plug.. connector...thing... (as if it had been worked back and forth, over and over for say, 25 years.
(I stripped a tiny bit off the end before I snapped the photos)
I just so happened to have some short pieces of speaker wire from the speakers I'd just put in (never throw anything away!) and they had nice little covered spade ends on them! they fit together inside the female end of the connector.. plug ....thing! Perfect!
Not wanting to scrap the old connector, I left it on the end that was still attached and tapped into it with one of those "clampy-onny" wire things. then I took the wire that had snapped off and butt-spliced it to one of the short little speaker wires.
The bulb still worked! Wow! They don't make 'em like they used to...
Now I can see what gear I'm in in the dark! WooHoo!
While I had it open, I covered the (old, ugly and spotted) shaft with red vinyl. I have some carbon-fiber-looking vinyl somewhere, but I couldn't find it. The red looks super nice, though... think I'll keep it! The red on the button has to go though... cheesy.
Oh! If anyone knows how to remove the cassette tape holder... thing... let me know, please! I want that space for storage, but only if I can safely remove the tape thing without damaging anything.
Thanks!
Found one of the wires going to the bulb holder was snapped off right at the base of the spade connector inside the plastic plug.. connector...thing... (as if it had been worked back and forth, over and over for say, 25 years.
(I stripped a tiny bit off the end before I snapped the photos)
I just so happened to have some short pieces of speaker wire from the speakers I'd just put in (never throw anything away!) and they had nice little covered spade ends on them! they fit together inside the female end of the connector.. plug ....thing! Perfect!
Not wanting to scrap the old connector, I left it on the end that was still attached and tapped into it with one of those "clampy-onny" wire things. then I took the wire that had snapped off and butt-spliced it to one of the short little speaker wires.
The bulb still worked! Wow! They don't make 'em like they used to...
Now I can see what gear I'm in in the dark! WooHoo!
While I had it open, I covered the (old, ugly and spotted) shaft with red vinyl. I have some carbon-fiber-looking vinyl somewhere, but I couldn't find it. The red looks super nice, though... think I'll keep it! The red on the button has to go though... cheesy.
Oh! If anyone knows how to remove the cassette tape holder... thing... let me know, please! I want that space for storage, but only if I can safely remove the tape thing without damaging anything.
Thanks!
