[Doug Houston]

Well, I can tell you a lot about the fuel pump and fuel gage.

In about May of 2009, the fuel pump quit. I had it replaced with a United Delco fuel pump and float unit assembly. About $800 worth. The fuel gage didn't work, or was erratic at best. Back to the shop. Unit #2 was installed. no gage action this time. Unit #3 inatalled, and gage reads full tank. Somewhere,here I lost track of what happened. Along the way, the fuel pump quit, so another unit; this time, fuel pump only replaced. Still, gas gage is not functional.

My patience totally gone, I had the mechanic drop the tank, and see if we could see anything wrong. For once, he shone a flashlight into the tank, (It's plastic)and there was a baffle, crowding the float arm, so that the float couldn't move. We then got out the original float unit that I'd saved, and the float unit on the replacement assembly was slightly different from the original one, which cleared the baffle. So, back into the tank with the original float unit, and a new pump. It worked like a champ. Not long after, the fuel pump quit. I lost track of how many fuel pumps that thing has had, but it must be around 6 of them.

I think you know that there are baffles in gas tanks to prevent the fuel from sloshing all the way, one side or another.

Now, on the transmission cooler tubes. The radiator had to be replaced. there is a cooler coil on each side of the radiator. My car has the two electric fans, and no oil cooler, so only the driver side cooler is used, I believe. Anyhoo, the cooler tube fitting was corroded into the old radiator, so the mechanic cut the old tube at the hose section. He fitted a new piece of tubing into the hose, using a flare and a hose clamp. That worked for a while, and then,one night on I-75 at an exit, something went screwy, and I got off right there at an exit. The tube had slipped out of the hose, and dumped the transmission. before i could get the car off of the traffic lane, the third gear was burned up.

The transmission had been rebuilt about 2 years ago, and less than 20K miles back. I'll get it to a guy I know who does my transmissions.

Now, on the cooler tubes. No longer available from GM parts. I called an outfit south of here, named: Inline Tube. I asked if they could duplicate the cooler tubes if I brought them in. Yes, they can, and exactly as the original ones were done. That will solve the cooler tube problem, and I'm sure that they will enter that tube design into their computer, should other customers need them.

Those guys are miracle workers. They make brake line kits for many vintage cars. You can have them in galvanized or stainless steel. ALL of my cars will have stainless brake lines on them. Recently, I had the lines removed from my '41 Chevy; a convertible. They made me a set of stainless lines, and also put the line design into their computer. They now, have stainless lines for Chevrolet convertible from 1941 thru 1948.

Now, back to the Ronette issue. I have several Ronette cartridges in my shop; possibly good, but also possibly dead. I'll bring some upstairs and I'll test them. They seem tho have a life, as a rule, so keep fingers crossed. If they work, they sound very good.

Well, that's tonight's lecture. I'll be back.