Project Cars--You Get to Vote on "Hold 'em or Fold 'em"

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Nov 07, 2009 8:57 am)

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• Mr_Shiftright (Nov 07, 2009 10:04 am)
  • boomchek (Nov 07, 2009 10:22 am)
    • Mr_Shiftright (Nov 07, 2009 10:47 am) and 2 more...

Replying to: boomchek (Nov 07, 2009 9:52 am)

I think what surprised me is that the internals of the 22R were crafted much better than they had to be. I'm not sure what purpose it served, since American engines of that time were very crude and cheap by comparison, but generally lasted a long time in spite of abuse and neglect. The American engine might not always have RUN well, but rarely disintegrated. Sometimes cheap and tough is a good thing.

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• boomchek (Nov 07, 2009 10:22 am)
  • Mr_Shiftright (Nov 07, 2009 10:47 am)
    • british_rover (Nov 07, 2009 11:11 am) and 1 more...

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Nov 07, 2009 10:04 am)

Rough and rugged. Unlike Italian or British cars - those disintegrated frequently or were they just very fragile

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• Mr_Shiftright (Nov 07, 2009 10:47 am)
  • british_rover (Nov 07, 2009 11:11 am)
    • Mr_Shiftright (Nov 07, 2009 11:53 am)

Replying to: boomchek (Nov 07, 2009 10:22 am)

Replies to this message:
• british_rover (Nov 07, 2009 11:11 am)
  • Mr_Shiftright (Nov 07, 2009 11:53 am)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Nov 07, 2009 10:47 am)

Exactly only in the US will someone spend 30,000 dollars on a new car then balk at paying a few hundred a year or less in maintenance.
 
I used to see that all the time at my shop.
 
Sir or madam you spent 30,000 dollars on this car don't you want to protect your investment by putting the right oil in it and changing it at least every 5,000 or so miles?
 
When Ford and Honda went to 5w20 spec oil we didn't carry it in bulk initially because we weren't sure they would keep up with using that oil. We had it in bottles and since it was a little more expensive then regular bottled oil we charged 4 or 5 dollars more for an oil change with 5w20.
 
We had people all the time that didn't want to put the 5w20 in because a 25 dollar oil change became 30 dollars.
 
We had people that didn't want to change the oil in the interval recommended because it took too long to get an oil change. On your regular mass market american or japanese sedan I could have someone in and out in less then 10 minutes. Actual 10 minutes from the time their car drove over the pit for oil changes till the time they were driving out of the parking lot. On some cars you could even do it faster. Toyota Carola that held less then 4 quarts of oil and had an easy to get to oil with no chassis lube points might take 5 minutes.
 
 Seriously you can't spend 10 minutes if you come by during non-peak times? If you really don't have the time then spend twice as much for full synthetic and more then double your drain interval. No, no, no that was too much money.
 
Sheesh drove me crazy.

Replies to this message:
• Mr_Shiftright (Nov 07, 2009 11:53 am)

Replying to: british_rover (Nov 07, 2009 11:11 am)

Replying to: oregonboy (Nov 06, 2009 6:51 pm)

My '79 New Yorker has been giving me fits for awhile now, refusing to start, smelling like it's flooding out, and, ultimately, killing the battery. I guess it's been about a month and a half since I successfully started it; I do remember using the NYer to jump start the tractor the last time I cut the grass.
 
Yesterday I put the LeMans's battery in, and it still wouldn't fire up. I don't know what made me think to do this, but I pulled the distributor cap off, pulled the rotor, blew on it, and rubbed my finger on the contact point. Put it back together, and it fired right up!
 
So was it maybe just some moisture in there? The cap and rotor are new. Well, less-than-a-year-old, new.
 
I've never had this problem with my other '79 though, the 5th Ave, which is identical. And if it is just moisture, what's the best way to deal with it? I don't like the idea of having to "pleasure" my car every time I want it to fire up!

Replies to this message:
• Mr_Shiftright (Nov 08, 2009 6:36 am)
  • andre1969 (Nov 08, 2009 7:53 am)
    • Mr_Shiftright (Nov 08, 2009 8:05 am)
  • lemko (Nov 08, 2009 11:46 am)
    • Mr_Shiftright (Nov 08, 2009 12:38 pm)
    • tjc78 (Nov 08, 2009 3:47 pm) and 7 more...
  • explorerx4 (Nov 08, 2009 7:39 pm)
• srs_49 (Nov 08, 2009 2:44 pm)
  • andre1969 (Nov 08, 2009 2:55 pm)

Replying to: andre1969 (Nov 08, 2009 6:03 am)

Replies to this message:
• andre1969 (Nov 08, 2009 7:53 am)
  • Mr_Shiftright (Nov 08, 2009 8:05 am)
• lemko (Nov 08, 2009 11:46 am)
  • Mr_Shiftright (Nov 08, 2009 12:38 pm)
  • tjc78 (Nov 08, 2009 3:47 pm)
    • texases (Nov 08, 2009 3:56 pm) and 3 more...
    • explorerx4 (Nov 08, 2009 7:46 pm) and 2 more...
• explorerx4 (Nov 08, 2009 7:39 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Nov 08, 2009 6:36 am)

The spark plug wires look good, but I guess looks can be deceiving I'm sure. I've put less than 2,000 miles on the car in the 2 1/2 years I've had it, and the previous owner let the car sit around a lot. He inherited it after his father died, and at one point, it only got driven something like 10 miles over the course of a year...and that was to take it to the repair shop for its annual inspection! So, probably not too many miles on those wires, but old age could be getting to them.
 
I did get new wires for it, but for some reason never got around to putting them on. Procrastination, I guess. Another thing I wondered about...even though the distributor cap is new-ish, I guess it's possible it could've had a defect in it, like a hairline crack or something? Can't that cause all sorts of odd, intermittent problems?
 
I'll try the silicon spray and see if that helps. And yeah, it does have a gear reduction starter. What is a battery tender? Just a little charger?

Replies to this message:
• Mr_Shiftright (Nov 08, 2009 8:05 am)