[T3] broken horn ring and a cool weather idle hunt

[Daniel Nohejl]

> The horn rings up thru about '69 were shiny chrome, while those from 
> about '70-on had a matte chrome finish. The early ones are NLA unless 
> you find a good used one. Both are expensive. I believe the generic 
> replacements you find out there will work on your '69, but I'm not 
> sure about that, because there were horn detail changes starting in 
> '71. If you find one sold to work up thru '70, it will almost 
> certainly work, but it will have the matte finish.


Our horn ring is definitely matte, so based on what you’re saying most of the replacements out there will likely work. Is a busted horn ring a common thing? Just curious.

> Unless you're experiencing the extreme "loping" idle, where the idle 
> speed runs up and down between ~600 and ~1500 rpm, about every 2 
> seconds, I suspect there's nothing unusual going on here. These cars 
> don't have anywhere close to the same degree of idle stabilization 
> that modern cars have.
> 
> If you're experiencing loping, as above, this probably means that 
> your (warm) idle speed is set a bit too high. In that case, turn your 
> warm idle speed down a bit, maybe 50-100 rpm.


It’s the extreme “loping” idle. The colder it is outside, the worse it is. Yesterday, it was in the mid 40’s and it loped like mad. The other morning, it was around 55* and the loping was a little less vigorous. I’ll try lowering the warm idle speed a bit. Right now, it’s about 920 rpm or so. Not terribly high, but I’ll lower it to 850 and see what happens. 

Also, Jim, we spoke months ago back in Madison about our rusty battery tray. I finally sprayed some LPS 3 on it and the battery mat. It gave off a strong smell for about a week and then calmed down. Then, I needed the heat the other day and it stank like mad for about an hour so before going away. Or else it burnt up part of my brain and I can’t smell it anymore. Either way, should I have any long term concerns about  LPS 3 in the vicinity of the heater bellows/tubes underneath the back seat?