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Just a few news items, in case anybody needs a couple of good laughs. First, I totally dropped the ball on the photo for the calendar, so too bad for that. Latest item was having a dead battery the other day, and was very troubled to figure how this could be. Kinda a long story but it goes like this: it was the tachometer. [WTF??, I can hear you all saying.] My original tach was very jumpy (see prior posts)and was a very loose approximation to what the engine was doing, and so I complained. JPS sent me a new "fixed" replacement. Replacement was installed, while noting the unbelievable rat's nest of wires, all too short, and trying to be careful to do a 1:1 swap. This was many weeks ago. Second tach is better only by not being jumpy; but still a poor approximation for an engine rev counter. I did notice after swapping out, that the illumination lights on the tach were acting funny, but passed it off: car was running fine. Complained again to JPS about the second tach, and so arranged to have North Hollywood Speedo rebuild my cheap Chinese fake unit w/ real VDO innards. JPS actually paid for this -- retail is ~$200.00. So I swapped out the tach a second time. This time, I paid real close attention to the wiring, and after consult w/ JPS understood that the "GEN" idiot light is located as a red lamp on the tach. A wire comes from the ignition (switched power), through the lamp filament, and off to the alternator, as the DF terminal wire. Well, guess what? During the first swap, I put the switched power lead meant for the idiot light to an illumination lamp, not the idiot light, so no voltage to DF, so no charging by the alternator so flat battery, after a while. Except, if you are paying attention, when I might drive w/ the lights on, as that power wire went to the idiot light, and was the only time the DF line was energized. Third tach change-out involved tracing wires to be sure I know where they go, and now the wires are where they should be. Idiot light lights when supposed to, illumination lights do likewise, and the alternator is charging the system when it's supposed to. Well damn. All's well that ends well? I suppose.

PS: The NHS rebuilt VDO tach works like a dream. My new toy car now actually has a real honest to goodness tach.

Second item, a small matter: Passenger side valve cover (cast aluminum, nice looking fins and w/ two studs/bolts + O rings to secure and seal, just plain leaks, and there is nothing I can do to fully seal it up. The one on other side works fine. So, I put on an OEM VW stamped steel cover w/ bail (JPS supplied), and this seems to be working perfectly. Not so glamorous, but fully functional. Besides, it hides up behind the muffler, so who can see??

The sorting continues . .
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