Hmmm.... there's plenty room behind the dash in my 63 around the (non-working)clock, maybe I should get one of those AA battery mechanisms from the hobby store and just gut it. Wouldn't be to hard to change the battery every year or so, or I could just wire up a regulator to fee 1.5V from the car battery. It would take at least 3-4 months of not driving the car for the clock to run the battery down! ----------- Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:12:19 -0700 From: Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx> There's a design problem with all those spark-wind-up clocks.(The kind that tick tick ticks then once a minute or so goes KLACK to wind up.) They all use a cheap self-starting solenoid that makes a huge spark that sprays metal from the electrical contact all through the clockwork. Many car clocks BEFORE the 1960's were real electric clock mechanisms that will stay running for years. AMCs 62-up (at least; I haven't seen 61-down clocks) used the crap design. I bought a "quartz upgrade" kit for my 75 Gremlin, it replaced the nasty mechnism behind the stock facade. Worked 100% great. It cost $75 (2000?) so it wasn't cheap, but I'm sure it's still running. -- Frank Swygert Publisher, "American Motors Cars" Magazine (AMC) For all AMC enthusiasts http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html (free download available!) _______________________________________________ Amc-list mailing list Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list