When i remember servicing a car was more fun.When you used to replace points,condenser,dizzy cap and rotor arm,do your valve clearances,set the idle mixture and idle settings,grease up the balljoints.

But now all is gone unless you still own an old car also.

Anybody else used to enjoy all the servicing and tinkering on old cars?

Me too mate

Feel a bit lost with all new techno stuff

Yep, In my days at college I always used to service my own cars and for anything more complicated my dad used to help out as he used to be a mechanic and as a family our cars always came from an auction house (mostly from Manheim in wakefield) and we always had a couple of spare cars in the garden to keep the main car running.

Yes i always had an identical car for spares.Really useful and could save you £££.

Old gits! :P

Old gits! :P

Old we may be, but we could sort our cars at the side of the road

When i remember servicing a car was more fun.When you used to replace points,condenser,dizzy cap and rotor arm,do your valve clearances,set the idle mixture and idle settings,grease up the balljoints.

But now all is gone unless you still own an old car also.

Anybody else used to enjoy all the servicing and tinkering on old cars?

:)I still do all of that and really enjoy it.

Cars are far too complicated these days, but the manufacturers think that is what people want. To see what bills people have to pay to correct a fault with a system that is not at all necessary to the main function of the car sometimes makes me fel a litle uneasy, until I think that it pays my bills and it's their choice.

The old days are still here for me, running a 26 year old car every day, no computers, convenience systems, CAN buses and diagnostic ports for me.

Cars are far too complicated these days, but the manufacturers think that is what people want. To see what bills people have to pay to correct a fault with a system that is not at all necessary to the main function of the car sometimes makes me fel a litle uneasy, until I think that it pays my bills and it's their choice.

The old days are still here for me, running a 26 year old car every day, no computers, convenience systems, CAN buses and diagnostic ports for me.

So, for me, been there, done that, time to move on

Nothing ever really needs "adjusting" on modern engines due to ECU control, etc. So servicing is a lot easier - just fluid changes and checking levels and stuff.

Yes but as Fordfan says it all computers now.When they break down thats it then you need another computer to see whats wrong.The old days as VRSLen says you can get yourself going again at the side of the road.

Yup, my old wagon has very little in the way of slf diagnostics and you have to pull a lever/cable to get it going when its cold

Get a grip you old gits...lol.

Feel like I've missed out on something here.. I've never even changed a wheel. :eek:

Those days are still here for me... she's due a "tinker" actually...

There is something rather pleasing about getting in there with the spanners and fixing it without just plugging in the laptop and finding out what's wrong.

Phil

There's merit both ways. I don't wish to go back to adjusting points, dwell meters, timing lights etc. Like Jason says, the everyday servicing is easier. If I think about my Mk1 Golf, then there was valve clearances, idle mixture/speed and points to adjust on top of all the stuff we still do. Go back to a Mini and you needed a grease gun...

I think even on modern cars, people forget the basics. SWMBO's mini a few years ago stalled and died on her. Breakdown chap gets it started, and says a diag code read is required.

I find.....a loose wire to the coil, just like happened on my Mom's 1980 points and carb one....

plugging in the laptop and finding out what's wrong.

I wish my job was that easy.

I remember the 903cc of pushrod awesomeness that was the engine in my first car.

I remember proving to mates that there really was enough space left in the engine bay to climb in and crouch down between engine block and radiator and have the bonnet (nearly) shut over you.

I remember completely wearing away the contacts on the dizzy cap by driving for 100 miles at motorway speeds in third gear with the stereo so loud that I only noticed something was wrong when it started missing.

I remember having to constantly adjust the tappets. You only had to look at them and they'd go out...

Sadly I also remember wrapping it around the back of a MK2 Golf one rainy night in Edinburgh.

Trying to balance twin 40 webers on a MG Maestro 1600 was a giggle too.Get it right for 10 mins then they would go out of balance again

Trying to balance twin 40 webers on a MG Maestro 1600 was a giggle too.Get it right for 10 mins then they would go out of balance again

I used to be a specialist with Weber's, jet settings and the like

great carbs and a perfect replacement for OEM stuff.

I remember all the room you had in the engine bay.

great carbs and a perfect replacement for OEM stuff.

Yep, as were lesser Webers for the complicated Pierburgs on VWs. The Pierburgs were ok, unless someone started messing without knowing what they were doing.

:rofl:Ah ,nostalgia -grease nipples , using fag papers to centralise a SU jet , pumping up a BL hydrolastic suspension with a bike pump full of fluid, the first one piece points set that arc'ed accross the insulation post after 300 miles ,or the alternator that lost a wedge key at night ( fixed with a nail) - sorting out a mini front suspension by taking out shims ---repairing A40 front suspension and compressing the front springs using the weight of the car .Spending weekends under the old Vauxhall FD - and now all Furby wants is a quick service every 10k ,and a bit of TLC .(like being married , I suppose )

:rofl:

sorting out a mini front suspension by taking out shims

:rofl:

Been there, done that.

When i remember servicing a car was more fun.When you used to replace points,condenser,dizzy cap and rotor arm,do your valve clearances,set the idle mixture and idle settings,grease up the balljoints.

But now all is gone unless you still own an old car also.

Anybody else used to enjoy all the servicing and tinkering on old cars?

You mean engines like this?