Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[Bob V]

Seems everyone's buying chinky throw away stuff these days-----nobody wants quality stuff anymore.
Still have the teak garden seat I made 25 years ago.

Jackie, you bring up and interesting point. We have become a disposable society and not by choice. Back in 1985 I bought a new GE refrigerator. I had that refrigerator for 26 years and never had a service call during that time. Finally, one day the wife noticed that the refrigerator was never shutting off. I figured that it was low on freon and called the GE technician to check it out. He told me that the compressor was worn out and that trying to find one was going to be a challenge, but more importantly, the cost to replace it would be getting close to the price of a new refrigerator. Because it was 26 years old, he advised us to replace it. We bought another GE unit to replace it. I have never been one to buy an extended warranty, but for some unknown reason I did. It was only about $100.00 for 5 years - a wise decision. Within a few months we noticed a puddle of water under the freezer door. I thought that perhaps the ice maker / water dispenser had developed a leak inside the door. The GE technician came out and side that the problem was that when they manufactured the freezer doors (in Mexico), they did not fully fill the voids with insulation foam. Anywhere inside that door where there was no foam, condensation forms and freezes. Then when the unit goes on defrost, that frozen condensation melts and finds it's way out of the bottom of the door. Needless to say, he replaced the freezer door. Over the next 5 years we became good friends with Al, the GE technician, as he had to replace the freezer door 8 times before we got one that was insulated properly. Just shortly after we got a good door and the warranty expired, we noticed that the unit was not shutting off. Al came out and said that the freon line had developed a leak. He recommended not trying to fix it because once that happens, it will continue to happen. The freon lines are no longer copper like in the good old day. They are a composite plastic and after so many years of service, the plastic cracks. I asked Al how it is that the refrigerator purchased in 1985 lasted 26 years and the replacement only last about 6 years. He explained that it is engineered that way. He said that manufactures realized that if they built and item too well, they would not sell nearly as many as if they built them to only last a shorter period of time. He said that most large appliance are designed to last 5 - 8 years. The smaller appliances like toasters, microwaves, blender and mixers are designed for a 3 - 5 years life. The sad part is that we, as consumers, have come to accept this.

We will never be what we once were...

[powerabout]

Talk to designing engineers in the car game.
In the 70's some of my friends said they could design all the parts, the tooling and set up production then 80% of their time was spent testing parts and redesigning them to fail at a set time/useage. That was the big 3 from Detroit in Australia.
( I assume the japs were working on the opposite game?)
They would remind me when something failed on my car and they said would say, yep I did that

[FUJIMO]

We will never be what we once were...

...Sad, but true...

[powerabout]

...Sad, but true...

take the modern world now and young people...
they wont ever learn to drive a car properly as with all the built in controls they are idiot proof
automation slowly devaluing jobs

they cant do anything unless there is an app on their phone which causes the issue of not needing to know how anything works
the app owners will be giant global companies
I can see the percentage of good jobs relative to the billionaires are disappearing.
An increasing number of young people in the west know they wont have a life as good as their parents or grandparents and that has lots to do with the above and the debt they will be paying their whole lives in the form of taxation

[jackiewilson]

Sod my old britches, didn't we stir up. The pot------seems we all agree life's never going to be the same for our next generations, or the pure carefree fun we had as kids------water from the hose, milk straight from the cow---------yes I've laid under a cow while my friend pulled tits and got more down my shirt than in my mouth.
Camping, where we got wet, cooked on an open fire, eating half baked potatoes and beans from the Can.
Rode bikes we built from twenty year old junk we found at the tip.
I had six of the best on several occasions-------never told my parents, if they ever found out, I'd get another hiding just for good measure.
Books we read in primary school are measured as classics today-------Brer Rabbit------Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn------Uncle Toms Cabin-----All Dickens tales kept us enthralled until the teacher read the next chapter.
Have you seen the crap kids read today------Saturday pictures were, Buck Jones or Hoppalong Cassidy----Gene Autry and Roy Rogers came later.
Nowadays its NEMO-----SPIDER-MAN, usually on an I pad with PlayStation 47
By 2050 kids will have square eyes but no long sight.
What are we doing to change all this -----I have to tell you, not a lot!
Students get "loans" of up to £50,000 --------I had JOBS-------5:30am paper round------7:00--8:00 helping in the bakery -----walk to school, run if I was late----out of school 4:30 ----paper round from 5:00---7:00 that was five days a week from being 10 -----15 until technical school .
My mother taught me my most valuable lesson-------if you can't pay for it------you can't have it !
To this day------I don't owe anyone anything-------you only reap what you sow.
I have just one debit card, so if the money's not in there, I can't spend it.

[Bob V]

Talk to designing engineers in the car game.
In the 70's some of my friends said they could design all the parts, the tooling and set up production then 80% of their time was spent testing parts and redesigning them to fail at a set time/useage. That was the big 3 from Detroit in Australia.
( I assume the japs were working on the opposite game?)
They would remind me when something failed on my car and they said would say, yep I did that

Yes, the Big 3 opened the door to Toyota, Datsun aka Nissan, and Honda. You could not get a quality built car here from the Big 3 so the Japs brought it to us and the rest is history.

On the same note, we bought a new VW beetle back in 2003. It was a frequent flyer at the dealership for warranty repairs. When the warranty expired in 2006, I thought I had replaced anything that could fail...wrong! One day I went to open the glove box, which we have never used, and the handle broke off in my hands. Naturally, it is made of plastic designed to disintegrate over time. No big deal, I can go to the dealer and buy a new one. Probably about $25.00 in my mind. Well the parts manager quickly educated me that the hand latch is not a serviceable part. You have to buy the entire glove box door for $325.00 - it's plastic.. But that was not the end of it. You have to have the shop replace the glove box door because the dash has to be removed to access the bolts that fasten the glove box. That is another $295.00. So for a mere $620.00 I can close the glove box again. I found a less expensive option...it's called duck tape...

[FUJIMO]

Could you install a friction catch, or magnetic latch?

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]

[Ronster43]

Yes, the Big 3 opened the door to Toyota, Datsun aka Nissan, and Honda. You could not get a quality built car here from the Big 3 so the Japs brought it to us and the rest is history.

On the same note, we bought a new VW beetle back in 2003. It was a frequent flyer at the dealership for warranty repairs. When the warranty expired in 2006, I thought I had replaced anything that could fail...wrong! One day I went to open the glove box, which we have never used, and the handle broke off in my hands. Naturally, it is made of plastic designed to disintegrate over time. No big deal, I can go to the dealer and buy a new one. Probably about $25.00 in my mind. Well the parts manager quickly educated me that the hand latch is not a serviceable part. You have to buy the entire glove box door for $325.00 - it's plastic.. But that was not the end of it. You have to have the shop replace the glove box door because the dash has to be removed to access the bolts that fasten the glove box. That is another $295.00. So for a mere $620.00 I can close the glove box again. I found a less expensive option...it's called duck tape...

Agree...my daughter's 2008 Jetta is falling apart. Replacement assemblies are expensive so I've gotten creative with adhesives. Goal is to keep it alive for another year then help her buy a new car. Won't be a VW!

[2us70]

I am my families mechanic. More and more stuff including cars is being made with proprietary tech. I could build a Merc 500 race motor from parts back in the day. Now you cant change the brake pads or the battery on my daughters BMW without a dedicated computer. This is progress?

[jackiewilson]

You forget the safety pin and the nail gun Fuji ? Or maybe the simple staple gun-------hells teeth, it's a FECKIN glove box that hadn't even been used before--------Duct Tape the damn thing up then spray it with a can of dashboard grey paint------job done!

[jackiewilson]

I am my families mechanic. More and more stuff including cars is being made with proprietary tech. I could build a Merc 500 race motor from parts back in the day. Now you cant change the brake pads or the battery on my daughters BMW without a dedicated computer. This is progress?

I was lost the day they took away points and condensers and carbs----------exchange price on a 1600 Ford Cortina engine complete was £27:10 shillings!
All my four daughters first cars, I pulled from the scrapyard and rebuilt until they were fit for human consumption------Boo had an Alfa Romeo 1750 ----------Kim had a Lancia Beta--------Sam had a two seater Rag top Fiat Spyder---------Sandy had a beetle for two years until the body fell off the floor pan.
Dont suppose I paid more than a couple of hundred for all four!

[Bob V]

I am my families mechanic. More and more stuff including cars is being made with proprietary tech. I could build a Merc 500 race motor from parts back in the day. Now you cant change the brake pads or the battery on my daughters BMW without a dedicated computer. This is progress?

This is all done to keep the repairs in the dealer's shop. Back to my 2003 VW Beetle. We were driving one day and the check engine light came on. In the past with other cars I have always taken them in to Advance Auto Parts and they would gladly read the code, tell me what it means and clear it as a courtesy. When I went in there with the Beetle, they said that Volkswagen has proprietary codes and nobody but the dealer knows what they are. He said it could tell the me code number and clear it, but I would have to call Volkswagen to find out what it means. When I went in to VW, they said that it was a cooling performance service code. That requires a new temperature sensor, thermostat, cooling system flush and new coolant. I had them go back in the records because they had done that same service about a year earlier. Once they saw that, they said that the code must have gone off in error. Had I not brought that to their attention, I would have spent another $825.00 for something I did not even need. Does anyone else smell fraud at their dealers??? I do....

Yes, Jackie, I miss the points, condenser, plugs and a slight carb adjustment. Those were the days....