In Praise of Oldtech

[unclebeast]

My wife and I had just got on the motorway north of the Forth Road Bridge heading home for Manchester (approx 300 miles) when without any warning the exhaust note went "Tractor Like" on my NAD 405...pulled in looked underneath to see the front pipe completely fractured between the mani and the first clamp....now I have breakdown cover (add on with insurance policy) but faced with a tow to nearest garage and overnight stay etc...etc... I checked the security of the rest of the system and as it was all good pressed on...Over the Forth road bridge over the hills to Biggar  over the A66 Brough...Incredibly loud under power but bearable on the overrun...Not one "limp Mode" to be seen though performance was down and I used HGV`s as a "Foil" and had to crack open the sunroof as even a slight wind down of the windows was scary...nevertheless we are home c/o an scottish police maxim.."the right to drive to a familiar location!" Happy Days, plus got the gasket pipe and clamp ordered from euro car spares delivered for under £30 quid...Old XUD9 tech ...WIN!

[Mattcheese31]

not much else to add to this other than i wholeheartedly concur

[Xud Missile]

Nice A friend once left my workshop in an NA 205 diesel. Exhaust had fallen off, I could heard each turn and straight he drove along for 2 miles. He got pulled over on the way home haha

[PaulOH]

Beautiful (if loud and a bit smelly). Best of this is that it´s so simple yet seemingly unortodox.


My eldest had a brainwave when he was six and the motor had two flat tyres - front one a slow puncture and the other an unfriendly gang of teens passing who decided to balance the imbalance at the rear...

As I scratched my head, he simply told me to use my bicycle pump to reinflate the tyres - and it worked, even if it did take upwards of 300 strokes of the pump to work. We made it to the nearest EuroMaster for a puncture repair.

Another was years ago when two of the local lads were wondering why one´s E100 Corolla was only making a click when they turned the key in the ignition. "Bounce it up and down at the front" I said. They wouldn´t so I did...  car started immediately. Solenoids need a shake now and then!

I didn´t like having to turn up the heating control to try to reduce the excessive heating of my 1.6 engine when I was driving my 306 home for the first time (300 miles) when the temperature was already perfectly comfortable, but it also worked.

Relevant to this time of the year, my Dad was one for preventing freezing and warming the car quickly by draining the engine of our (always really crappy) car by opening the radiator plug when parked up at night and refilling in the morning using water from the hot tap (not the kettle). I don´t think this is possible on newer cars given expansion tanks and sealed systems etc., but it used to work on a Fiat 128, Toyota 1000 and old Escort 1100, but that was then and this is now!

[unclebeast]

I remember the belt driven fan in an old volvo 240 saloon...with wife and kids in, hot summer day slow traffic, I also had to put the heating on full blast, fan fully on, as i could smell the engine frying and the temp was "off the clock!" and also did the rock in gear when my commutator was dirty and unpredictable had one car where starter used to stick in "engaged", rock in gear a metallic crack, and you were away...usually.. 

Recent news in the well heeled motoring fraternity is certainly turning public opinion against old tech diesels....never here anything about the myriad of kerosene burners daily at 40000feet though!

[Paul Baldwin]

Recent news in the well heeled motoring fraternity is certainly turning public opinion against old tech diesels....never here anything about the myriad of kerosene burners daily at 40000feet though!

Absolutely!

I wonder when they finally ban or price old diesels off the road you'll be able to claim an exemption in old Pug's by running them on pure cooking oil?

Glad you made it back anyway, that's a fair old run with a snapped exhaust. I'd have taken that option too, recovery can be a right arse and take way too long.

[Mattcheese31]

Recent news in the well heeled motoring fraternity is certainly turning public opinion against old tech diesels....never here anything about the myriad of kerosene burners daily at 40000feet though!

Absolutely!

I wonder when they finally ban or price old diesels off the road you'll be able to claim an exemption in old Pug's by running them on pure cooking oil?

Glad you made it back anyway, that's a fair old run with a snapped exhaust. I'd have taken that option too, recovery can be a right arse and take way too long.

that's exactly what I'll be batting for! lol, can't touch me with the veg, fcuking Diesel Nazis

[maxaret]

Some years ago I was commuting from Farnborough,Hants - oop north to Warton Airfield in Lancs on the company aircraft (flew up mon morning - flew back thursday night )
I had my old 405 diesel estate then and used to pick up a mate on the way to Farnborough,anyway one morning the throttle cable snapped and my mate was impressed when I pulled out the old inner cable and then threaded some 22swg stainless steel locking wire (single strand) through the outer cable  and tied off both ends - drove the car like that for 3 weeks until I had time to get hold of a replacement cable ,certainly made the throttle control nice and light LOL

[toseland]

my HDi did this... 10 miles outside of liverpool... just prior to the turbo the adaptor failed and broke off nice and neatly..
Birkenhead tunnels with what was effectively a wide open manifold was fun as hell even if it didnt have any power

[hotrodjacko]

Turbo went on my old DTurbo on the way to an interview - clouds of smoke out the back. Was just about to come off the motorway anyway, limped it to the nearest train station (Warwick). I didn't have any breakdown cover. I then managed to get a lift back to the car the following day after the interview (two day thing) and drove it from Warwick station back to Oxford. I took the boost hose off the intercooler and drove it back as a NAD in a conscious effort to stop pouring oil down the inlet. Sat at a steady 2000 rpm/60mph she wouldn't smoke unless under heavy load. A couple of days later I then drove it back from Oxford to Woking like that so I could fix it on the folks drive!

[welshpug]

done the same with a gti6 engined zx, dont know what this thread has to do with old tech?

[Paul Baldwin]

done the same with a gti6 engined zx, dont know what this thread has to do with old tech?

Something to do with the fact he's on about a situation involving a car that went wrong with nothing more advanced than a relay on board that got him home that didn't involve plugging it into a computer to reset/clear logged codes afterwards? I know someone that bought an £85,000 tractor that had to be trailered away to the main dealer after he made the mistake of switching it off with the key. I don't remember that being an issue with our Massey Fergy 35.
Saying that a Gti6 is pretty cutting edge as far as I'm concerned. I've just bought my first ever car with ABS

[maxaret]

done the same with a gti6 engined zx, dont know what this thread has to do with old tech?

I took the thread to mean that with older cars it is easier to 'bodge' a temporary repair.
Further to my throttle cable bodge - a mate of mine was driving his Ford Taunus through mid wales in the late 70's when his clutch cable snapped at approx 0200hrs.He was in the middle of nowhere and of course no mobiles in those days LOL,he sat and thought about it for a while and then walked to a nearby fence and snipped out a suitable length of fence wire - he then threaded that through the clutch cable outer and managed to drive on to Pembrokeshire where we were based at RAF Brawdy

Back in 1989 we had a Renault 9 and that year we took it from sussex up to yorkshire to pick up a glider I had bought,on the way up the Renault started losing water and it took me a while to realise that there was a 'pinhole' in one of the heater hoses,as a temp bodge I just 'looped' the good hose into the cooling system and we carried on.We test flew the glider and bought it but it was early april and I did not fancy driving late without a heater (cold feet LOL),I managed to borrow some 'speed tape' (aloominum tape) from the local glider fixer and wrapped the pipe well - we drove home nice and snug !
When we got home I cut out the pinholed section of rubber hose and pushed in a section of metal pipe,this kept the car on the road until we could afford anew pipe - in fact the old pipe was hanging in my garage (just in case) until I cleared it out prior to moving in 2014