Hiding in plain sight

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

My clutch pedal went pop and dropped to the floor since writing the above message.

Hopefully it's just a master cylinder seal kit

Any Astra clutch experts out there?

Neil

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

One person in a big car produces more CO2 than flying…

Depends how many people in the aeroplane <g> I used to have a PPL and an hour or two tooling around the sky got through some galleons of juice…

My car is 20yrs old.. so environmentally sound compared to folk who chop their's in every few years. I keep it mostly 'cos I fit in it and not many cars I can wind myself into at my height….

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

I have a 1990 Renault 5 for 11 years that serves me well most faults I can do at home apart from a simple electronic ignition system.

With the millage I do why spend thousands on a car the 5 is not bad on fuel and legal speed?

Age is catching up with me and hope I can still drive due to a stable eye condition that the DVLA have studied for many years.

I hear some people say don't tell the DVLA anything but as insurance is void if you are economical with the truth I would hate to be responsible for injury to anyone due to my selfishness to keep driving.

As a dear family member was killed by a young person who legally should not have been driving my feelings are very strong on the legality of drivers on the road.

Paul

[Mick HenshallParticipant @mickhenshall99321]

I'm with you Windy, a couple of years ago I had a minor stroke which killed the optic nerve in my left eye, I told DVLA and I had to have a test of my periphipal vision, it was okay and I was allowed to continue driving,I am now over 70 and decided to surrender my licence as I didn't feel safe and like you if I had continued driving and hurt someone else how could I have coped with that. I still have my Landrover and take good care of it, bought it in 98, took it to bits and rebuilt it, would only sell it if I could be sure that it would go to someone who would love it like I do,some people look at lumps of metal as lumps of metal,I don't they are part of my family

Crikey where did all that come from– must be getting old

Reggards Mick H

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Just going back to what Muzzer said a few posts ago about cylinder heads never coming off in the life of the car.

There are car manufacturers working on designs of 'cassette' cylinder heads. These are literally throw away items and the cost of a new one from the dealer will be much less than the cost of a a cylinder head rebuild.

One of the techniques used is to assemble the camshaft/s (a tube with shrunk-on lobes) in situ! ie thread the shaft through the journals whilst holding the lobes in position.

As someone who regularly repair things that were not designed to be repaired I think I would be beaten by cassette heads, Gone will be the days of tappet adjustment and valve grinding etc, except for classic car owners and the like (although I think that the first users of cassette heads is in the truck engine industry)

Ian P

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

The British squaddy may be able to strip and reassemble his gun in the dark, but I think I could strip and rebuild a Trident engine in the dark, riding it hard without a good warm up caused oil leaks also due to narrow gasket faces on the rocker boxes. Since the introduction of zinc coated steel fo car bodies it is the mechanicals that send the cars to the scrapyard now. I scrapped my Nissan that had done 177,000 miles and gone straight through every MOT because the alternator cam chain and water pump all needed replacing, my enthusiasm for fixing cars has waned and I have come to view them as disposable. Maintainability seems not to be a consideration on so much equipment now, in fact many things will not come apart without breaking something.

Mike

[frank brownParticipant @frankbrown22225]

While we are moaning (or applauding) modern car engineering. Recently a shock absorber on my 06 Passat failed. The replacement unit would have cost me at least £300, with the labour on top of that. It seems they are "self levelling"?. I have moved a lot of gear in the vehicle (its an estate) and certainly its headlights never pointed at the moon. But on the other hand, might I have overloaded it? My son in law, rebuilt the rear suspension both side with the previous models springs and shockers – total cost £200 +labour.

Frank

[Bob Unitt 1Participant @bobunitt1]

Posted by Michael Poole on 20/12/2014 11:13:27:

The British squaddy may be able to strip and reassemble his gun in the dark, but I think I could strip and rebuild a Trident engine in the dark

I have fond memories of mending the gearbox of a Velocette Viper by the light of a roadwork's hurricane lamp at 2am, in the middle of nowhere between Bristol and Gloucester. A selector fork had broken, so we stripped the box, jammed it in top gear and reassembled it. Having push-started the bike I then rode all the way back to Alcester on the clutch, including stopping at traffic lights. That clutch was a sod to set-up (11 springs) but was a superb piece of engineering.

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