How Much Have Things Really Changed?

[Keith Browning]

So much... yet so little. There are a few good cutaways in this film... I thought of Bruce.

[Jeff Adema]

Every job must be done right. Those are words to live by.

[Jim Warman]

The earliest car mechanics were blacksmiths. Mass production, parts availability, labour costs, complexity of subassemblies... these are some of the considerations that have changed the face of this industry.

 

We no longer repair some of the subassemblies that we used to... manufacturing techniques, assembly techniques, the materials used in the parts... It is economically feasable to refurbish these at a location that has specialized equipment and (sadly, in many cases) the trained monkeys to refurbish them... more on that in a minute.

 

As late as 1980, installing a rebuilt assembly during a warranty repair would be greeted with shock and disdain. We could go to the parts shelf and build a brand new power steering pump with parts on hand. Steering gears... you could get any parts you needed.... An engine died? We were expected to save the parts that could be saved and build a motor around them.

 

Let's go back a bit further... It wasn't until 1920 that crank bearing inserts were introduced in the first engines (Marmon)... It wasn't until 1937 that the flathead V8 utilized insert type crankshaft bearings across the entire production run.. and GM was still using poured babbit bearings at the time. (On an interesting note, the Ford flathead V8 was used in production cars up until about 1961... the Simca Vedette). I believe that insert bearings changed this industry more than most other technological developments. Replacing poured babbit bearings was more art-form than trade.

 

"Back in the day", a good tech could remember just about everything he ever needed to know.

 

Today.... a good tech can remember where to find the information he needs and how to use the specialized diagnostic equipment he needs to use.

 

The skills we need are the same... the logic we need to apply is the same.... But there are days I feel like Louis Bleriot trying to fly a 747.

 

on edit... I think it would be with the flathead that we started seeing pressurized oil systems in produciton engines....

[Jim Warman]

The more I think about it.. the more I come up with...

 

In the mid 50s, there was a switch to the 14 volt system (most techs see this as 12 volt system, but what's in a name?). Through the 80s and even into the 90s, there was talk of moving to 42 volt electrics (multiply 14 times 3) - partly because the electrical loads on the 14 volt alternator have these things about maxed out and partly because a 42 volt solenoid is a lot stronger than a 14 volt solenoid.... and 42 volt solenoids should be able to actuate poppet valves.

 

Sorry for the rapid digression... but the move to the 14 volt system improved the reliability of the starting system.

 

When that film was made, techs would still be faced with the odd magneto ignition system ( Lincoln gas powered welders might even still use magnetos... it's been a while for me). Breaker point ignition was limited by the load carrying capability of the points and the ability of the condenser to eliminate arcing as the points opened. Capacitive discharge ignition wasn't offered universally. And, the big three all came out with their own versions of electronic ignition within a short span (IIRC, Chrysler lead the way with GM following shortly and Ford brining up the rear. FWIW, manufacturers desparately needed to make the distributor a "no service" part in preparation for the up-coming "catastrophic converter". To appreciate what is happening in a breaker point ignition system, you really need to walk through a scope trace capture and consider what each section is telling you.

 

Consider this... my very first personal car had less than 10 fuses in a single fuse panel located under the drivers side of the dash. At some time in the mid 60s, manufacturers switch the front park lights to the 1157 bulb from the 1034 bulb... At this time, they started having the park lights remain on when the headlights were turned on. Previous to this, headlight switches were built so that park lights were turned off in the headlight position.

 

GAD!!! I had this flashback.... I can vividly recall listening to "Strawberry Alarm Clock" on my 4 track tape player. You young'uns might not appreciate the significance of that....

[Bruce Amacker]

A tight friend of mine, Jim, is an audio freak into vintage 12" vinyl. He recently played the Beatles Abbey Road for a guy in his 30's from overseas. When Jim asked his friend which side he wanted played, "A" or "B", all he got was a blank stare. The guy did not know that vinyl records had two sides.....

 

RE Flatheads, I did a couple of classes in Ft. Wayne, IN lately. During some free time I ventured to the Ford Flathead Museum in Auburn, IN, a few miles north. It's small, but very cool if you have an interest in old Flatheads. Auburn has several very interesting museums including a WW2 truck museum (right next to the Flathead museum) and the Auburn Cord Dusenberg museum, for those interested in history. If you're within driving distance it makes a great day trip.

 

Have fun!

 

[Jim Warman]

I have something like 300 LPs.. I might still have a box containing about 500 single play 45s (at least I hope I do...)....used to be that audiophyles would shun digital media because vinyl had "warmth"... in between the pops and hisses. I haven't listend to an LP in about 10 years... I may have forgotten stuff.

 

I recall seeing turntables with platters exceeding 40 pounds - efforts to reduce speed changes and rumble...

 

The problems we saw "back then" were different fom the problems we see now.... The same skills we used then still apply. but we have to be sharper with them if we want to succeed.

 

Sidebar... when I got into this trade (late sixties) it was a dumping ground. If your son wasn't smart enough to be an electrician or a plumber, he could always be a mechanic.

[Jeff Adema]

Sadly, Jim, this trade is still viewed much the same. And taking the thought processes out of diagnosing and repairing vehicles by automating the diagnosis (or playing the numbers game with most-likely-failed-part-roulette) and turning techs into sub-assembly replacement monkeys is not improving matters. Read Aaron's tag-line, "Keep replacing EGR valve until......." WTF? Makes me wanna squeeze my head in the vice....

 

I still vividly remember the gasps of despair while in school for automotive, and again in heavy-duty, when the instructors trotted out formulas for power calculations and electricity. "I thought I wasn't gonna hafta do math ever again...."....and a few more duds would drop out and take up landscaping or truck-driving.

[Jim Warman]

Oh, I know the trade hasn't changed - not one lick.

 

Back in the day, one tech might do a tune up... replace plugs, points and condenser. Another tech might do that and add check fuel pressure, test and adjust choke pull-off, inspect and lube mechanical advance, test vacuum advance and a host of other "icing on the cake" operations.

 

(One winter, on a particularly cold day, I took an early lunch in a local diner. A competitor sat in a booth near mine and remarked how busy he was... a lot of his customers cars wouldn't start and he was swamped towing them in and thawing them out... I gave him a blank look and remarked that all of my customers cars started that morning.).

 

Math? Something I try to get people to think about... In a properly functioning gasoline engine, once the spark plug gap is ionized, the spark event lasts for about 1.5 milliseconds (give or take) - at 2500 rpm (and for the sake of brevity, let's not dig into piston acceleration and decceleration), how many degrees would the crankshaft rotate while the spark event is occuring? Thinking in these terms can sometimes help us envision what is going on inside a cylinder.

 

Speaking of which, these things still work on the premise of "suck - squeeze - bang - blow"... all of the internal stuff still works pretty much the same as when Henry was punching out cars that could be had in any colour - as long as it was black. What happens OUTSIDE the cylinder.... the same stuff, I suppose - but accomplished very differently... (Shit.. even the Model T had one coil per cylinder...).