I love the simple life

[Bonez]

Na mate - They will never catch on - Too many cylinders to be reliable - just a passing fashion.

Never. Electric starters are a waste of time too don't ya know.

[carver]

I like my GSXR1000
4 big simple pistons..

easy to work on too

[Motu]

it's getting harder and harder to fix anything at the side of the road with all the modern twixnollogy, they foresee a time when you ring in a breakdown you get towed no other option.

I stopped going out on breakdowns in the late '90's - you can't get them going anymore with a set of points or a coil,they are tow ins now.And I stopped towing them in too - two mechanics going out for a line tow is more expensive than the cost of a transporter....especially if the tow company gets all your work.

[XRVrider]

Spent some mechanic years specialising on V8's, great engines, specially the Chev's. Worked on race cars, t-buckets, old yank cruisers etc... gotta love em. For me they are the real cars, simple engines, just big and thirsty. Sound great and hands down, better than every boy racer 4 cylinder, lowered piece of shit these days. No need to race to 50 kph to blow off show off, just cruising slowly in a V8 says it all.

[Motu]

I used to get people come in and say ''Do you know anything about V8's?''.I was like ????? Wot,is there something special about them? In the '60's and '70's they were just engines in cars,open the bonnet of an Aussie car or a Yank Tank and there might be a V8 in there...or not.You didn't need a degree in V8's to work on them - they were made by Yanks,that makes them impossible to be complex.Dumber than dumb.

Anyway,if they asked that sort of question,then I didn't want to be anywhere near their ''V8''

[XRVrider]

Yeah it was funny to have the big rough looking hard guys come into the workshop almost timidly asking me to work on the "big tough complicated beast". C'mon guys its just got a few extra cylinders than your grans Morri thou. Same principle just v'd. Simple engine, just more spark plugs and a way complicated dizzy... not. Fun to drive though, great velocity it felt when really accelerating, probably cos usually in a big car i spose.

[Motoracer]

From the trainees to the big bosses. Nearly everyone aims to buy a new car here and once the KMs are over 100,000, they reckon it is nearing the end of the life. I am not saying German workmanship and technoligy ain't built to last but they (no one else for that matter) ain't got anything on Japanies vehicles. It is a bit biased to compair the cars here and in NZ becuase the cars here get ABSOLUTLY thrashed on the autobahns. Even rust old ford transits are always flying around at 160 - 190 or more. Also the currency makes it more affordable to own newer cars.

Anyway, I say Japanies cars are the way to go! I would only choose anything else, as a company car. Meaning I would not be responcible for repairs and breakdowns.

[xwhatsit]

I dunno about this `simple old car thing'. I'd definitely back that up w.r.t. my 250RS; SOHC, single cylinder, air-cooled etc. However my '62 Mk.I Mini is fookin' scary. Sure it might only have two valves per cylinder, and the thermostat->radiator->waterpump interconnect was easy to comprehend (and hopefully is reliable enough) once I got my head around it. But the ignition system?!?!

Jesus Christ what a dicey proposition. You can't possibly tell me that that was the best idea they could come up with at the time. Engine driving a shaft which turns a square rod around and around opening and closing switches... sparks flying everywhere... bits of metal getting worn away 5000 times a minute. Vacuum advance from a spindly bit of tube which goes all the way around the engine to the carb to suck open and closed a diaphragm which rotates the whole assembly around. It just seems miraculous the whole thing can last more than a trip around the block.

I suppose they were waiting for the invention of the transistor in the 1950s... could've had contactless electronic ignition back then, but with the vibration a vacuum tube might've been even more unreliable than points+dizzy!

[Motu]

The Lucas distributor was one of the best,it was simple and gave very little trouble - and points were in every service station and garage,and service stations were everywhere too.Able to be diagnosed and repaired on the side of the road...kinda what we are talking about.

[Dodgyiti]

That's why I went for the airhead as my ride for the rest of my life (well,maybe).

I'll take that as "Still room for a Guzzi twin" then


Paul(in NZ),
I thought you would have come to this conclusion when you fixed up the ? (Jappa)

People only regret technology when it breaks down and it is either horrendously expensive to fix, or increasingly as Motu said, no one wants to or can't fix it.

I am sticking to my old stuff too, points, carbs and the odd relay is about all I'm prepared to tackle now, taken 40 something years just to get that (reasonably) under control

[Paul in NZ]

Paul(in NZ), I thought you would have come to this conclusion when you fixed up the ? (Jappa) :

If you mean the FRZ400 - nah, its a piece of piss. No more technology than a rect / reg which could be easily replaced with almost anything and the ignition module which is pretty straight forwards and parts were relatively OK ish. The beemer cars are just nuts by comparison...

[Dodgyiti]

Agreed.
I am actually a bit scared of modern cars and bikes.
My g/f thinks I know about cars because I can swap engines in my old Holdens...


When in reality I'm a caveman with a flint and a thigh bone club

[Voltaire]

A 71 Kombi lives at my place.
Bet some of you guys have good Kombi stories.....

" The road is always clear in front of a Kombi "

[Motu]

I'll take that as "Still room for a Guzzi twin" then

Yes.When I rode my first V twin Guzzi's in 1980 (S3 and V50) I was suitably impressed,and made it my long term plan to own one....after I'd sampled a few more bikes.Of course I already had the Stornello and had ridden a Falcone too.So puzzling that a BMW suits me more than a Guzzi now,when they didn't back then.

Kombi stories....uh yeah.I once had a '58 Kombi and a '61 Beetle.....and one 1300cc engine.....and not enough tyres either.I made my own Baja before the kits were available - with a gas axe and tinsnips.I would change engines on the road outside my mothers place by pulling the engine out on a beer crate...the vehicles back to back.Using Kombi wheels on the back of the Beetle was good....using Beetle wheels on the front of the Kombi not so good.Using wrong headlamps on either vehicle does not work! A narrow vertical beam.

My years of VW playing ended when I decided to fit a tacho to the Kombi....and not feeling like running a wire all the way back to the engine,I used one already supplied...the oil light wire.Gosh,you are getting ahead of my story! The inevitable happened on a saturday night coming off the motorway at Wellersly St - it came to a stop at the Queen St lights,at least there were enough people on the street to push it around the corner onto Queens St.A thrown rod and twisted cases.

[Dodgyiti]

All Kombi stories have been permenantly erased from my memory to protect what remains of my sanity.


The Mini dizzy is a nice simple and sturdy setup in contrast to other parts of the car

With all those older cars you could replace the points and set the timing with a tail light bulb, 2 wires and a flat screwdriver and a 1/2 or 9/16 spanner. Can't get more 'side of the road' than that.