I have two GTEs at my shop that I’ve been working on, and one of them is getting the interior re-done. Although I’m currently working on the suspension and brakes. Sending these parts out early will allow my upholsterer to disassemble the seats and panels and start ordering the leather.

I noticed Tom Wilson’s GTE had a problem with the water temperature switch when the engine was running. It was designed to complete the two contacts at about 180 degrees F, but this one wasn’t working. This particular switch was no longer available with the two threaded connectors, so I sent the switch to ODD parts to see what Jim Simpson could do. We learned the switch was not only repairable, but also adjustable! The contacts were dirty, and after a good cleaning, the switch was working properly. I love when these old parts are serviceable!

The next problem was the driveshaft on the GTE. I felt a vibration on the drive train when I last had it on the road, and I felt it was coming from the driveshaft. After taking the drive shaft out, I found the u-joint wasn’t moving smoothly through it’s motion. I’ve seen u-joints bind from a number of reasons, so I look it apart to have closer look. After taking it apart and assembling it several times with the same binding, I finally found it would only bind as I tightened a certain side of the u-joint. On closer inspection I found the yoke was bent! As the u-joint was tightened into position, the bent yoke would draw the u-joint out of alignment and cause it to bind against the bearings. Now that I found the problem, I had to figure out how to bend this yoke back true because finding a replacement might be that much harder!