1971 Polara 2 door Hardtop.

Had a bit of a panic attack earlier. My carpet was soaked. Got caught in a downpour Monday afternoon and noticed my floors were soaked... Carpet is now out. I needed to replace it anyway. I havent narrowed down my leak. The cowl drains were plugged up pretty good. Cleaned em out and will do a water test tomorrow. Found broadcast sheet #2 as well.
Changed the Speedo cable out and the 140 is still bouncing all over. Very upsetting after fishing the cable out and back in.

More wrenching tomorrow.

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Cables are a good place to start but it is almost always the speedometer.

A friend of mine put in two NOS speedos of the roller type that was popular in the 50s-early 60s within a year, they both died pretty fast due to old lubrication. As with NOS master cylinders for exaple if you want to be absolutely safe you'd have to overhaul them, but with a speedo you Need the Hands and skills of a watchmaker.
 
These are pretty durable and simplistic in operation. I've taken several apart never to have one bounce or go bad because of the unit itself
 
I' d lubricate the cable and possible the mechanism but I never had too.

Is the cable set right? Both ends? It's ran at a smooth easy route?
 
I' d lubricate the cable and possible the mechanism but I never had too.

Is the cable set right? Both ends? It's ran at a smooth easy route?
It is routed exactly as it should be next to the prop valve sneeking right behind the booster. Clipped into the floor pan and over to the trans. It spins freely. I had it apart and lubricated it. I'll pull the cluster.
 
Speedo issue solved!

I took the cluster apart tonight to inspect the operation of the Speedo head itself. Using my old Speedo cable and my drill. I spun it counter clockwise on my bench to see if it was still bouncy. Sure enough it was. Not the cable. I looked at it further and noticed nothing visibly wrong with it. So being the risk taker I tend to be vs paying a professional, I grabbed my brake clean and shot a quick blast near the magnets and moving parts. Followed with a little shot of WD40 and after that a few drops of 5/30 from an empty jug I found laying in the corner. Back to the drill. I got it spinning still bouncing but noticably getting better. After spinning at various and getting steady readings at a consistant RPM I felt confident it was fixed. I re installed and took it for a ride and it seems to function good as new!

It had been off the road, in a Virginia police car in a yard exposed to the elements since 78 and I was silly to think it would be a good working unit. But upon my initial visual inspection, I didnt see anything out of the ordinary. Lesson learned. Bench test everything before installing and giving myself a headache.

Got the ignition lock and door locks matched up. New Yorker pays the Dodges once more. It'll be nice to be able to lock the car now. Also while I was in the doors I looked into adjusting the windows and as I expected a few parts of the track and other parts were in the bottom of the doors. I fixed what I seen was wrong and lubed up the latches and moving parts and put it back together. However I did have to replace the "up stop" for the passenger window. Need to find a non broken one for the drivers side. What makes that part break so easily?

Spending the better part of tomorrow cleaning and detailing for Volo Saturday.

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I am so Proud of Minnesota. She is such a good girl. I have never made little car show displays for any of my previous cars. So I took the large collage my sister made me for Christmas, framed the 2 build sheets ive found and the warranty information before the show at Volo...by the way. You guys really need to try to come to this event next year if you can swing it. Excellent to see CBODIESONLY. I even busted out Dads old Plate from the DE23 that started it all. DE23N1??????? To be exact...

Back to the car

List of things that bother me to date in order of importance:
- Needs a radio badly.
- Worn out front end parts I assume are Original.
- Carb needs opened back up to fix a ripped accelerator pump cup. Somehow the new one ripped giving me an off idle stumble if dont ease into it.
- Trunk floor needs attention before it ends up being more then a few small patches.
- A pillars and rear window channel/Dutchman panel need some work.
- Engine bay needs a critter style cleaning and detail.
- New Carpet and Vinyl Top.
- Dye the Monacos dash pad and replace the cracked one in the car.
- The 318 needs the 302 heads I have waiting checked out, and the other goodies I have for. Probably entire rebuild at that time.
- Repaint and body work.
- Get wipers to park properly
- Figure out the Blower issue. Most likely the switch.

This will all come in time. I am committed to the Broughams restoration currently. Having Minnesota to daily drive in the nice weather keeps me sane. Also it's nice to have the option to be able to change channels for a little bit. This past week cleaning and fixing small items was just what I needed to give me a break from cutting welding and grinding. So I will knock out things i listed above when I need a break from Wildcat.

Time to return my focus back. It's rear window resurrection time.

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Nice to see your cars getting the love they deserve :thumbsup:.
I am sure a lot of members were concerned about my cars future when I first joined. Yes I am young but I am obsessed. These cars will be loved by me and the rest of my family for a long time.i I am grateful for this sure showing and teaching me so much. No RT Polaras here. Just highly optioned beautiful Polaras.
 
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