Professional garage workmanship

[john mc nulty]

Moe the guy was used to the rain and the damp weather in England and thats how he new how to fix it.hehe

[Hasbeen]

John, I was taught another way to overcome a damp distributor cap,
as a bright 17 year old trainee accountant, with his 36 Morris 8 40.
This was in 1957, before WD40, & hair driers that could be carried
to a car, existed.

After a couple of calls in a soggy Sydney winter, the NRMA bloke
taught me to spray a little cigsrette lighter fluid on the top of
the disy, & set fire to it.

Surprisingly, the car, the disy cap, & even the old rubber insulated
plug wires survived this treatment for a couple of months, before I
decided I'd rather be a fighter pilot than an accountant, & I ran
off & joined the navy.

When I think about it, there are just so many reasons why I should
not have lived into my 20s.

Hasbeen

[Chunk]

At one time you could go to a garage and find an "old boy" in the corner who had worked on the Leyland fleet in the past and get him to fix your car. But now it's left to "young" people like me (45) and John 215. BTW the best thing i have seen for joining a broken wire is a skrink wrap tube with a ring of solder in the middle. Simply twist the wires together, slide tube over and apply hot air gun. You then have a joint which is soldered, waterproof and insulated.
And it's a clear tube so you can watch the solder melt and run into the wires.

1979 TR7V8 FHC 3.9 Litre.
280bhp and 13.31 secs standing quarter.
20 years of tinkering and tuning......So far!

[john 215]

Hi,
The trouble is there is no PRIDE anymore in what people do when they work on other peoples car or in a lot of cases there own!, the skill level is a lot lower as well, an apprenticeship at work (BMW) is now 2 years [:0] i was'nt even half way through mine at 2 years.
Had a lad at work who had a BMW that would'nt start, he plugged it onto a computer, this said nothing was wrong ie. no faults stored, that was it he was stuck [:0] did'nt have a clue!! and he was ATA approved [B)]
Eventually will have to ATA approval, bl88dy Europe [V], will be tested by some young kid who was'nt even born when i started fixing cars( at BL and ended up a master tech with them, VW Master tech and BMW senior tech but that will not be enough [:(!] )
Nearly went for a job here a year ago, bl88dy wish i had!
http://www.classicrestorations.org.uk/index.php
Or maybe just get out of the motor trade altogether, when things eventually pick up, best part of 30 years is enough for anyone!
Cheers John

LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!
1979 3.5 FHC(STATUS PENDING!!)

1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6,ON THE ROAD NOW KICKING AR5E !!!!

[Cobber]

I got outta the motor trade years ago, best thing I ever did!
I too was fed up with the dealer system so I went out on my own but got fed up with dealing with customers that wanted the world but didn't want to pay for it. So I did a bit of retraining and made a sideways career move into industrial engineering. Now I work in all sorts of different fields as diverse as the telecommunications, shipbuilding, manufacturing, construction, railways, petrochem, mining and civil engineering industries. I still have to put up with incompetent colleagues and clients that want the world without the desire to pay for it. But I'm paid much better to put up with it and I know I'll never have to touch an air cooled VW, a Holden Camiera, a van or a bloody French car ever again!

80'Triumph TR7, , 73'Land Rover (Ford 351. V8),
'89 Ford Fairlane
85'Alfa 90, 69'Ford F250.
76' Ford F100

[Hasbeen]

John, it is probably a good idea to get off the tools, if you can. I
have a few mates in the trade, mid 50s, to early 60s, & no one needs
their back problems.

Two others went into the service advice, service management side of
things, some years back. They weren't that happy with it back then,
but now know it was the right thing to do.

Another couple of mates build horse transporters. 6 to 9 horse
bodies on new trucks, all hand built, for the racing industry. It's
hard work. I know, as I've helped them out, a couple of times, when
they were pushed to finish a truck.

They swear each truck will be their last, until the bills start
comming in, & they have to do another.

A couple of others have gone into exchange components. one does
brakes, & steering stuff, one does electrical. They are both doing a
local area only, both do OK, both work at a bench, & never have to
lean into an engine bay, or slide under a car, unless they want to.

Hasbeen

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

Good, Fast, Cheap!

Pick <i>two!</i>

jclay

[url="http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html"]My Triumph Site[/url], [url="http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Technical/Intro.html"]Technical Stuff[/url], [url="http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/FileSharing.woa/53/wo/HJMTK8gsojtwKleP.1/0.2.1.2.26.31.97.0.35.0.1.1.1?user=jclaythompson&fpath=Triumph_Articles&templatefn=FileSharing4.html"]Download Page[/url]

[john 215]

Hi Hasbeen,
Would love too [:D] but the job market is poor at the moment. Have Luton airport down the road (fairly big by UK standards) and a ex-work mate got a job up there on the planes, actually a licened tech now and he is older than me, they actually wanted to recruit people over 40 with a mechanical back ground for the experience they have at the time. As far as my back, thats shot and my knees are not far behind [xx(] Sucks getting old working on cars! I have never had an apprentice i hav'nt told not to do it for a job, do they listen, of course NOT ,But they do come back years later saying they wish they had [;)]
One possability at the moment is an ex apprentice of mine is now a lecturer (the one who did listen to me and he was last one i trained i now refuse to have them! ) up at the Audi training centre and said will get me in there for sure, so we will see [:)]
Cheers John

LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!
1979 3.5 FHC(STATUS PENDING!!)

1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6,ON THE ROAD NOW KICKING AR5E !!!!

[Philip]

Here in sunny Johannesburg we have a couple of classic specialists - one mainly for MG but one who specializes in Triumphs and even own a TR7 and a TR6. One advantage, they have AF spanners !

I even found an auto electrician who knows how the TR7 headlights (dont usually) work.

It going into Winter now, so my electrics are about to be tested.

Still standing !