Time peace

In life it seems to be the little things that bother me the most…

There are longer term #Project924 objectives, sorting the bodywork, engine and interior, all of which will no doubt need a lot of attention, and I am happy to accept that these will take some time. The little niggles, things that I am sure many people wouldn’t miss, well, they should just work. Perhaps it’s just me, but I can’t understand people who say, “oh, that’s never worked, but I don’t need…” Need doesn’t enter into it, if something is there, it should work (if financially possible).

First of these little problems was the interior light, which wasn’t working when the doors were opened, I fixed this some time ago*. Then the washer jets and the aerial, which I fixed more recently. To be fair the washer jets need to be in top order. Next on my list was the clock which hadn’t been working since the car arrived, infuriatingly reminding me that it was broken every time I got in the car – naturally it’s one of the few unobscured dials.

I dismantled the broken clock to see if there was an easy fix, but that only served to make it more broken. That clock had to be reassembled and re-fitted to the car as a missing dial is even worse than a broken one. Thankfully I managed to buy a replacement clock, two actually, which I had acquired separately due to erroneous eBay bidding. I fitted one of the donor clocks, which didn’t work. So my thoughts moved to a possible electrical issue. My first move was to check the power, testing it at the clock terminals with a mutimeter I immediately blew a fuse. Thinking I done something stupid, it happens more than I’d care to admit, I popped in another fuse and tried again, with the same result. This could be a theme so I nipped out and bought a good supply of spares. While I considered a plan of action I connected the power cables to the second donor clock, to keep them out of harms and from touching. A few minutes [faffing about] later and I noticed the minute hand on the clock appeared to have moved on. Resetting the time to 12:00, to make sure I wasn’t imagining it, I left it five minutes and confirmed it was fully operational! Hurrah.

Why the power kept blowing a fuse when tested and yet the spare clock worked, I don’t know. Why I even bothered connecting the second spare clock to keep the wires from touching anything I don’t know either. But I now have a working timepiece and that makes me happy.

 

Skip this bit unless you do need to do this yourself; there are six screws to remove, two from the dial console (above left) in the top corners. Then two below the heater controls, remove the fan knob and heater sliders and then the panel. This will expose the final two screws at the bottom of the dial panel. Above right shows the back of the old clock, unscrew the nuts and slide the clock out. There are three connectors, ground, live for the clock and live for the back light.

Not to detract from my happiness, but the working clock is from an earlier model 924 and has a slightly different font for the numbers than the one it replaced, slightly bothersome, but I hope that over time (not a pun) I may learn to ignore this. Oddly, with the position of the clock in the dash and with the adjustment knob in its centre, I can’t see the hour hand. That would be the same on the 924S version and therefore I can dismiss as quirky.

Looking at myself I do think it odd given the overall state of the car that I become so obsessed with such details. But then, having chatted to other motoring enthusiasts, I am sure I am not alone!

* An unexpected advantage of fixing the l door lights, I can now operate the electric windows by opening the door, no need for the key in the ignition. Simple, yet, marvelous.