automotive lost arts?

I'll pile on with the carbs, esp webers. I probably should shake my father down on that on, he worked at a fiat dealer in the 60's for years when he just got out of HS, I swear he could tune them with his eyes closed. I had a few friends in HS that had carb'd datsun Z's and 16v VW's, every couple weekends one of them would stop by with beer/money in hand...

As for hand lapping valves, every head that I've built has been done this way, usualy start with course and then work my way down with fine, man were my hands cramping when I did my M52 head

MG Bryan wrote:

SVreX wrote: Rebuilding and syncing a pair of Strombergs is one of those rite of passage things.

Fixed

Really fixed

Oh wow I have done a few of the more essoteric things listed, like king pins once or twice, built a few carbs, but not the quadra jet Yet! Points yep, oil bath air filter check, trying to figure out what to add to the list, ahh

relining brake shoes as in riveting on new linings. Do it couple of times a year at work.

stuart in mn wrote: Putting an eight track tape player in your car. Even better, putting a new radio in your car...an AM radio.

I hung an 8-track player below the dashboard that my sisters bought at Radio Shak. 1973 VW Super Beetle - no radio in the car.

All this talk about 8 tracks has my head spinning, Cassette tapes are the new thing!

Wow, I do all the things listed for a living.

Except pouring and scraping babbitt, I'm hoping to learn from a local Model A ford guy this year.

And lead, I'm still no good with lead.

Shawn

Rebuilt a pair of mikunis this summer. Have a pair of strombergs on the bench for a rework. I've done a couple sets of SUs and carters. The TR4 has a hole in the valence and the right crank bolt for a hand starter - but no hole in the radiator for the handle. How about filing points or changing distributor advance curves with different springs/weights?

This winter I'll be staking the TR4 head to keep from flexing with more compression. Head also has felt seals around the front and rear mains.

For most folks packing a wheel bearing is an alien concept. Much less, honing cylinder walls or tracing a short.The guy who bought the wrangler asked if I would show him how to change rotors and pads.

Gas welding, machine work and improving the panel beating are next on the list of skills I'm working on. Mrs. Oldtin keeps asking who's gonna be able to work on those edwardian and veteran cars when you can't order a bit out of a catalog.

You'd be surprised just how much you CAN order from a catalog.

There is a lot of support for 1940's and 1950's cars.

Plenty for common brands of the teens, twenties and thirties.

Popular makes like Packard, Duesenberg and Rolls Royce are well supported as well.

The Auburn / Cord / Duesenberg club helps out a lot when it comes to those makes.

You can even find a fair bit of the basic stuff for the brass era cars and earlier horseless carriages.

When they get to be that old, a lot of the work is repair rather than replace. Most, if not all of the parts are repairable, the problem becomes finding the correct materials.

We seem to have ended up with more early American stuff like Packard, Lincoln and Duesenberg but there is another shop in town that does more of the euro exotics like Lagonda, Alfa Romeo and Auto Union.

The guys that work there can do amazing things with very little to start with. They've had their cars place at pebble beach a few times.

Shawn

I'd like to add:

Giving a damn.

Last year, some dude stalled in the middle of an intersection in a really beautiful 2CV. I was the only person who went out to help the dude push the car.

Speaking of lost arts, it looks like we may be adding "checking the oil" to that list soon.

Certain Mercedes models and some Porsches already come sans and engine oil dipstick.

And yeah, giving a damn is probably true too.

My MGB has an AM-only radio with a mechanical knob that's turned to change the channel: that's probably unfamiliar to some folks.

Double de clutching a gearbox.

Interrupting your journey to change/clean fouled spark plugs.

oldopelguy wrote:

MG Bryan wrote:

SVreX wrote: Rebuilding and syncing a pair of Strombergs is one of those rite of passage things.

Fixed

Really fixed

I just built a manometer to balance the carbs on the bike (3/16" vinyl tubing, a piece of vinyl slat 3 feet long, electrical tape and ~3 oz of motor oil). I was thinking while doing it that my generation is going to be pretty much the last to have these skills, they are kinda like knowing how to replace the iron hoops on wagon wheels.

Curmudgeon wrote: I just built a manometer to balance the carbs on the bike (3/16" vinyl tubing, a piece of vinyl slat 3 feet long, electrical tape and ~3 oz of motor oil). I was thinking while doing it that my generation is going to be pretty much the last to have these skills, they are kinda like knowing how to replace the iron hoops on wagon wheels.

If the world ever enters into a post apocalyptic state, we will be in very high demand.

Most Cuban citizens will be in high demand too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsetYODpj8E

Aeronca65t's list looks a lot like a monthly maintenance checklist for my Valiant!

How about:

Push starting a car with an automatic. (Pushbutton A904's with the rear pumps).

Adjusting the valves with the engine hot and running.

Rebuilding DC motors: Starter, wiper, blower, etc.

Adjusting the steering gearbox.

Filling a carburetor dashpot.

Reaming valve guides.

Rebuilding vacuum wiper motors and plumbing the systen so they actually work!

External hood release.

Headlight dimmer switch on the floor (under the clutch pedal )

Flipping down the license plate to put gas in the car is something I kinda miss. Didn't matter which pump you pulled up to, the filler was in the middle of the car.

irish44j wrote: 4Runner can go 4WD hi while on the move up to 50mph or so. 4WD lo still requires stopping, for obvious reasions.

The nice thing about Subarus. The low range is a gear on the input shaft of the transmission, and it has a synchronizer. Technically it's the least loaded synchronizer in the whole trans!

Why yes, I would split gears with low range. And with maybe 80hp and five people and cookout gear in the car, it needed it. IIRC the proper split was 1L-2L-3L-4L-3H-4H-5H.

wlkelley3 wrote: Drove my daughters stick shift Integra she had a while back and stalled it on a hill, let it roll backwards after shifting to reverse and popped the clutch to start it. She didn't know you can do that.

One thing that continually amazes one of my friends is how I can manage to stall my car when pulling from a stop, quickly re-disengage the clutch, and then use the car's remaining momentum to re-start it.

He claims it violates at least one law of thermodynamics

One thing that continually amazes my friends is that i haven't stalled a car in 4 years.

Who's played with friction shocks?

Curmudgeon wrote: ...they are kinda like knowing how to replace the iron hoops on wagon wheels.

Hammer the iron hoop on while it's hot so when it cools and shrinks it's held firmly in place. A flat round stone of the right diameter with a hole in the center for the hub is helpful.

Adjusting a clutch linkage correctly. What few cars are available with a manual transmission have almost all transitioned to hydraulics for actuation.

Operating a grease gun- I don't think I've seen a grease fitting on a car in years unless it's an aftermarket part.

Adjusting a fan belt, especially by changing spacers to open or close the "V" in the pulley.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: One thing that continually amazes my friends is that i haven't stalled a car in 4 years.

Puck clutch, no idle-up circuit, idle set too low to begin with, and ECU tuned to be as absolutely lean as possible to begin with. It was easy to stall especially when cold, when it would idle at maybe 700rpm and 3" of vacuum.

The reverse psychology of it all was entertaining. I'd good naturedly tell someone that it's easy to stall. "No, man, it's no problem, I got this." No, seriously, the engine hates being cold and the clutch doesn't engage so much as attack. "I've been driving stick for years, it's no problem."

Stall. Stall. Stall. Rev engine to 3000 and burn a thousand miles of life off the clutch to get us into the street. Come to stop sign. Stall...

A less considerate person would take fiendish delight in it, but I like to believe that I'm more understanding than that. (So why do I keep laughing? )

oldtin wrote: Who's played with friction shocks?

I have.