Remember when?

The engine in my first car, a 1937 Ford coupe sporting 60 hp.



The engine in my current Nissan 350Z 306 hp.



I know it's under there somewhere, I can hear it when it starts up.

dckrsn wrote:With a  timing light, feeler gauges and a
dwell/tach, doing a tune up was easier than falling out of bed.

Well I do it for a living. Don't want to go back to the bad old days of actually needing to adjust stuff. Assuming everything in a modern car is maintained as suggested, servicing is far simpler now that back in Ian's "Landrover" days. If cared for, his new CH-R will spin trouble and adjustment free for 400,000km. What did you get out of the Landrover before needing plugs, points, valve grind, de-cokeing? 60,000 miles max? Reading old worship manuals, many (British) makers suggested removing the head every 40,000 miles or so to de-coke and re-seat valves. In my early career 100,000 miles spelt the end of most engines. Time for a rebuild. Nowadays, with better design, materials and manufacturing techniques, along with far superior lubricants, car engines will generally just keep on keeping on if serviced well. Can't say the same for the current crop of CVT and DSG (dual clutch) transmissions. Disaster. There was nothing wrong with traditional planitary gear trains and manual boxes. New ones aren't better, just cheaper to produce. Recent customer's Nissan X-Trail CVT, not repairable. $9,500 AUD for a new replacement.

I can hardly comprehend how to service my lawn mower these days!!!  In these times the name of the game is bring your wallet!! Many cars today don't even have a dipstick... Guess that's how it goes as time goes on ???  Manufacture's find any way to make a buck. ,Mark  Talking about a buck that reminds of a joke... What's the difference between Deer nuts & Beer nuts. Beer nuts are a $1.98 and Deer nuts are under a Buck... Peace ,Mark

My first...er, second car came home on a hook.  Blown driveline.  '82 Pontiac Bonneville.  Got a boneyard driveline,  partial rebuild, and all 3.8L of carburated goodness was way too pretty for my parents to let me take to high school.  So I got my Dad's '79 Nova with the I6 (230 ci?), which was previously rear-ended and pieced together.  

My nova for a whole day.  Reads like a bad country song.  Car wrecked, dog runs away,  police get involved, dog is found at the impound lot with the wrecked car. Happily all ended up fine.

Tooks weeks to figure out the computer and emissions to get tags on the Bonneville. (O2 sensor iirc)

Now my 2018 truck has so many gremlins I am in the shop every month....  I miss old used rides that I can wrench on...

Phil

Mark Diedrichs wrote:  In these times, the name of the game is bring your wallet!!  Manufacturers find any way to make a buck.

Succinctly stated.

That's what I loved about my 1952 Packard. You could climb in the engine compartment and close the hood behind you. Literally.

The Nostalgic Mark

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying older cars aren't easier to work on. Just that you have to do it so much more often.

Yes, you are correct sir! Back in the day we were lucky if the car lasted 50/60 thousand miles. However back then they had what was called engine room, and at least we could fumble around and keep the damn thing running!!! ,Mark

OK, the honest to God truth from the Way Back machine,
When I turned 16 and got a work permit, I went to work at the local grocery store as a bag boy making $1.00 per hour.
There were about 8 of us aged 16 or 17 and the rest were old ( 30's 40's) except Ray in the meat deparment t who was 21 and made the big money ($1.75 per hour). Ray wasn't playing with a Full Deck but he was so funny and such a good guy we called him "Obtuse" not to hurt his feelings. (He never knew what that meant !!)
Bob's flat head Ford reminded me of the 1948 Ford Deluxe Coupe  that Ray got from the original old man owner for $50.00 !!
It ran and drove good when he got it, so we all went to the new Advance Auto store to get stuff "to fix it up".
Five quarts of cheap oil and filter ( $4.00), new belts and hoses ($1.50 each), clear red plug wires and clips ($2.50), pack of 8 spark plugs freshly sand blasted ( $1.50), ( Always try to find a pack of plugs where all were the same brand so different heat ranges were ok  ie: Champion 6,7, or 9), sand blasted points ($.50), and a totally cool chrome carb breather ($2.50).
Since the feds required all 1963 cars to have amber turn signal bulbs, Advance would sell a .39 bottle of Testors amber for $1.50 !!!
That day every car in the bunch had painted amber bulbs !!1
Ray put all that stuff on the 48 Ford but the original black paint was faded. The next day when I got to the store after school he and another buddy, Louis, had gotten 2 quarts of black enamel and a pint of Chinese Red enamel and brushes.
They painted the car black with red wheels.
That thing exuded COOL at least to us!!!
Ray drove that car many, many miles and it may even still be around.
I know it all sounds like a "Stand by Me" movie script but that's what poor teenagers did Back When !!!
Honest to God truth .
Steve..

And you could save your money up and go into a Sears-Roebuck store all by yourself and buy a 12 gauge pump action shotgun and walk right out the door with no paperwork at all.

I painted one of my first cars with flat black rattle can. Started a trend still going today.

ticomareado wrote:And you could save your money up and go into a Sears-Roebuck store all by yourself and buy a 12 gauge pump action shotgun and walk right out the door with no paperwork at all.

And your mother could go into the S&H Green Stamp store with 4 books of Green Stamps and get you a Remington Single Shot .22 Boy's Rifle by handing over the books !!!! That's all !!!

The gripes are legitimate on both sides, what I find funny is those that gripe about new cars being a pain to work on keep buying new cars. Is there a law that says you have to buy new?

It’s perfectly feasible to go out and buy a drivable 40+yr old car for pennies compared to a new 2019.

I drive everyday either a 1966 VW or a 1972 Dodge. Everyday... that’s not a joke. Daily drivers. I can fix and diagnose anything on either, parts are cheap and plentiful. Maintenance at 3K miles is minimal at best. Oil change, lube, brake adjustments, valve adjustment etc. I would drive either anywhere and in the case of the Dodge I have driven it all over the US.

I also have new cars. They are much more painful to repair, but all it takes is the time to read how to do it. Things are tight in modern engine bays no doubt, but it can be done.

Ron

Cribbs74 wrote:The gripes are legitimate on both sides, what I find funny is those that gripe about new cars being a pain to work on keep buying new cars. Is there a law that says you have to buy new?
Ron

My ideal car would be a 1952 Packard Deluxe Touring Sedan with the Thunderbolt 327 Straight-8, 700-4R trans, deluxe interior, seat belts, upgraded suspension and disk brakes, radial tires, air conditioning, Sirius XM, and a backup camera.

The Retro Mark

What we must consider is that global emission requirements have meant that car makers must introduce the technology to comply with the laws. Anyone recall the last of the carburettored vehicles and the absolute maze of vacuum hose plumbing? Let's not go back to that. (Much of it Californian requirements might I add- The "C" regulations started here in the mid 70s).

Electronic engine and body control decreases the possibility of the repairer (or owner) getting it wrong and making the car less fuel efficient, thus more polluting. Having said that, I've had older cars that are more fuel efficient than many modern cars. In those cases, one must wonder how the emissions fare considering fuel use to pollution ratios.

As for access to engines, in normal home maintenance jobs, access from above is not required that much. Oil & filter changes aren't much different than they've always been. Then, spark plugs can be a pain these days. Intake manifold off with many cars. Turns a 20 minute job into a two hour job. Fortunately they generally only need replacing every 100,000-150,000 kms.

Funny that so much of this thread relates to me especially when the conversation turned to Packards, not exactly a popular car (today) and one that does not get a lot of attention.

My Grandfather drove Packards for years, got a picture of me and my Aunt beside a '41.

In 1963 I went into into Sears and purchased a model 75 semi-auto 20 gauge for $88, shortly thereafter I bought two Italian 91/41 Carcano rifles in 6.5 caliber for $9.95 each both sitting among others in barrels by the cash register.  No "walk of shame" for either purchase.   Still have them.

My son just had the spark plugs replaced in a 2012 Nissan Sentra, had to remove the intake manifold to do it.

Cribbs74 wrote:The gripes are legitimate on both sides, what I find funny is those that gripe about new cars being a pain to work on keep buying new cars. Is there a law that says you have to buy new?

It’s perfectly feasible to go out and buy a drivable 40+yr old car for pennies compared to a new 2019.

I drive everyday either a 1966 VW or a 1972 Dodge. Everyday... that’s not a joke. Daily drivers. I can fix and diagnose anything on either, parts are cheap and plentiful. Maintenance at 3K miles is minimal at best. Oil change, lube, brake adjustments, valve adjustment etc. I would drive either anywhere and in the case of the Dodge I have driven it all over the US.

I also have new cars. They are much more painful to repair, but all it takes is the time to read how to do it. Things are tight in modern engine bays no doubt, but it can be done.

Ron

Bravo!!! I keep saying I'm going to buy an old Chevy. I own Ford trucks, you can still get your hands on things but need a ladder I just did a water pump on my 2010, the pump was fine but O ring seal turned to mush at 100K. I will never own a car that shuts the engine down at a stop. I quit using 5-20 and use 5-30 oil also, they do that for milage also IMO. Europe never heard of 5-20 nor Australia.

Oldenginerod wrote:Don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying older cars aren't easier to work on.  Just that you have to do it so much more often.

Rod there are so many meckanics /parts replacers out there that don't even know what points/condenser ect ect. are , i think of it as a learning curve that will never bee forgotten.

Ron said

I also have new cars. They are much more painful to repair, but all it takes is the time to read how to do it. Things are tight in modern engine bays no doubt, but it can be done. wrote:

Now i have been looking for a small suv type vehicle and looking up the problems with them 2007 RAV Toy ? may have been a Honda ?? You would have to pull the engine to put a water pump in it ( now that is a pain!! ) Ford escape used mod. ? But i read were driving down the road think 70 Hi way , just cuts off if you get it stopped it may start back or knot !!

Older Honda CRVs are fairly tough machines if you can handle the somewhat buckboard ride. A lot of contract rural postal carriers use them.

ticomareado wrote:Older Honda CRVs are fairly tough machines if you can handle the somewhat buckboard ride.  A lot of contract rural postal carriers use them.

I bought a new 2006 CRV right off the show room floor. Got it home and looked underneath. Spotty rust from front to back, looked like it had been parked over a salt water pool. Brought it back and got another. Salesman asked "What ever made you look under there?" - It's what I do.






Love Hondas but didn't care for it. Yes, hard ride, ergonomics. 2007's came out completely changed. Traded, still have it.

I see you got a fake Bentley too.

ticomareado wrote:I see you got a fake Bentley too.

That's a step up. It's a fake Mercedes SLK.