Today's new vehicles/winter weather

[RoyJackson]

About the only thing old cars have is you could work on them at home without an Electronics Engineering degree.
Well that...and you had a lot easier access to the engine...

 

[JDgreen227]

About the only thing old cars have is you could work on them at home without an Electronics Engineering degree.
Well that...and you had a lot easier access to the engine...

Roy, I do the brake and suspension work on all our three cars, plus my GMC, change the oil and grease them where needed, replace belts and hoses, do coolant flushes and changes, plus my JD has never been in a shop anywhere as I do all the maintenance myself. It's indeed a good thing newer cars are as reliable as they are or we would be bankrupt getting them repaired as frequently as the older models were. I have basically not have to do anything except routine maintenance besides put new brakes on the Lesabre and replace the batteries on the GMC twice, plus replace a window motor. Oh yes, fix a power steering leak on the Saturn pump hose...that is all the repairs required since the GMC was new in April of '00. Deere has not required anything but routine maintenance and one new battery since early in 2003.

 

[Car Doc]

Yup I remember my second or third car and the one I mostly drove in high school was a 52 Plymouth paid $15 for it from a neighbor.

It had a flathead 6, 3 on the tree cold blooded sucker I lived in snow country to boot never once had the windshield ever defrost with the heater it iced on the inside every bit as bad as the outside. God almighty those were the days glad I have fuel injection now also. ( I get this strange memory of the smell of ether all of a sudden...)

I went to class more days than not late and with greasy hands from working on it to get it running sonofa. Our daughter has been told when she was growing up she had it easy she still doesn't know what we are talking about. :laughing:

 

[Bird]

It had a flathead 6, 3 on the tree cold blooded sucker

I'll bet it wasn't any colder blooded than my 1946 Chevy.:laughing: Of course I guess most 16 year old boys are not too bright anyway, and I was no exception. One cold winter night, I was shooting pool with some friends at the pool hall in Marietta, OK. There was head in parking on the street and you were headed downhill when you parked. I came out and got the old car started, started to back out, and killed the engine, tried a second time with the same result. So the third time I started it, I was getting a bit annoyed, so I really revved that engine up, popped the clutch, and broke the rear axle. So I got out and walked home. So the next morning, Dad pulled it to our service station with his Olds (about 3 blocks) and I learned to replace an axle.:laughing:

 

[Car Doc]

I doubt it too hahaha! :laughing: Least you were fortunate enough to have your dad owned a station my boss @ P66 didnt want any of our cars in the bays and we needed them the most during the winter seemed like...

 

[SandburRanch]

Aren't you guys going to give the inventor of the automatic choke any credit at all?:laughing:

That marvelous invention wasn't an option on my 48 ford coupe that I pushed more miles than I drove.

 

[Bird]

Aren't you guys going to give the inventor of the automatic choke any credit at all?:laughing:

That marvelous invention wasn't an option on my 48 ford coupe that I pushed more miles than I drove.

Yep, my earlier cars had manual chokes, then they came out with the automatic choke. For you youngsters who have never had one, you normally mashed the accelerator pedal to the floor one time and let up. That set the automatic choke; closed the butterfly and in effect latched it closed. After the engine started, tapping the accelerator once released the choke. And as the engine warmed up, a heat tube from the exhaust manifold sent heat up to a spring that gradually relaxed as it warmed and continued opening the choke butterfly until it was fully open

Now that heat tube sometimes corroded and the only way to do an OEM repair was to pull the exhaust manifold. So in the late '50s we sold an after marker "choke heater" that clamped onto the exhaust manifold. Wish I could remember the brand name, but I think we sold them for $4.50 and they were a good seller and worked.

Now in 1995, I bought an old 1981 F250 Ford to use on the farm. It had obviously had the engine replaced and was a very good old truck. But after a year of so I found the automatic choke wasn't working. So I'd just pump the accelertor pedal when it was cold and start it that way pretty easily. And I think I did that for about a year until one day I decided I had time to try to fix it. I removed the air filter housing and there was my choke linkage firmly locked in place by a mud daubbers nest. Removed mud daubber nest and my automatic choke worked just fine.:laughing:

 

[Car Doc]

Aren't you guys going to give the inventor of the automatic choke any credit at all?:laughing:

That marvelous invention wasn't an option on my 48 ford coupe that I pushed more miles than I drove.

Yes it was a step in the right direction no doubt about that! :thumbsup:

Since then I spent more years than I can count making them work so customers kids could drive older non EFI used cars to school...not fun.

 

[JDgreen227]

Yep, my earlier cars had manual chokes, then they came out with the automatic choke. For you youngsters who have never had one, you normally mashed the accelerator pedal to the floor one time and let up. That set the automatic choke; closed the butterfly and in effect latched it closed. After the engine started, tapping the accelerator once released the choke. And as the engine warmed up, a heat tube from the exhaust manifold sent heat up to a spring that gradually relaxed as it warmed and continued opening the choke butterfly until it was fully open

Now that heat tube sometimes corroded and the only way to do an OEM repair was to pull the exhaust manifold. So in the late '50s we sold an after marker "choke heater" that clamped onto the exhaust manifold. Wish I could remember the brand name, but I think we sold them for $4.50 and they were a good seller and worked.

Now in 1995, I bought an old 1981 F250 Ford to use on the farm. It had obviously had the engine replaced and was a very good old truck. But after a year of so I found the automatic choke wasn't working. So I'd just pump the accelertor pedal when it was cold and start it that way pretty easily. And I think I did that for about a year until one day I decided I had time to try to fix it. I removed the air filter housing and there was my choke linkage firmly locked in place by a mud daubbers nest. Removed mud daubber nest and my automatic choke worked just fine.:laughing:

Back in high school I had a '66 Mustang with a 200 six, at only three years old the heat tube corroded, I drilled out the OEM part and epoxied in 1/4 inch copper pipe. Wasn't fancy but it never rusted out on me.

 

[lostcause]

i've only owned one daily driver that wasn't fuel injected, and that was an early 80's truck i bought used in the early 90's. i certainly like all the new advances in vehicles compared to the few older ones i drive / have driven on occasion.

the only thing good i will say about those older ones it that if they don't run, it is generally easy to get them running. if you have fuel, air, and spark it will run. it's not so easy to make them run flawlessly though, like we have come to expect from our new vehicles - tuning is a dying art. if my daily drivers won't run now i just scratch my head and call someone.