What are some car-repair jobs you always wished you could do but have never done?

I agree that points were a weak link that just had to go. I'm not sure why timing changed, because, as I recall, we twisted the distributor to time the engine where, the distributor would have no reason to twist back once locked down.

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The rubbing block wears down. The points gap gets smaller.

Yeah. I forgot. I even have in my toolbox a set of distributor bolt wrenches, one curved and the other kind of L shaped.

I wonder if I'll ever find a use for them again? I should put them in the same box as the dwellmeter, timing light, ignition bumper, spark plug gap gauges, spark plug sandblaster and grease gun.

What's odd is that those are all *oldtimer tools* where I don't think there are any newtimer tools other than a good OBD scanner and, if you're so inclined, the bluetooth and computer based ECU readers.

Are there any newtimer repair tools that we never needed in the past that we need now?

I remember I have a fuel-injection light bulb which snapped into the fuel injector but that hasn't been used itself in decades.

Other than OBD scanners, what is a *new* tool that we have needed that we didn't use in the days of yore?

That's because you are not an automotive professional, and you have not studied the subject. Leaded gas, without additional additives, would quickly foul the engine with lead. They use a scavenging agent to get rid of the lead. Those scavenging agents, such as ethyl Dibromide, and 12 dichlorethane,

These compounds form corrosive byproducts which accumulate in the exhaust and in the crankcase.

Lead oxide was the main cause of short valve life and also contributed to ring wear. Lead Btomide wasn't much better, but it boiled off at a lower temperature than lead oxide..

Other additives were also used in the leaded gas era, which are not used any more.

The stainless steel I was referring to was the exhaust system.

Aluminum conducts heat a lot better than iron or steel, so aluminum heads allow higher compression ratios without causing detonation than iron heads. Aluminum is also a lot lighter, reducing fuel consumption.

The cars are also VERY heavily comuterized. Every car sold since 1996 has more computing powewr onboard than was used to put the first man on the moon.

The new bearings are sealed, and lubricated with better greaase than existed in the sixties - a lot of it a product of the space race.

Damaging the boot on the ball joint - letting dirt and water in. Again, better materials, and better lubricants, have made "sealed for life" ball joints etc last longer than the ones you greased every 3 months.

EVERYTHING.

A belt is a belt. The point I was trying to make, albeit awkwardly, was visual inspection of the belt tells you nothing in most cases. You replace the thing after N miles based on the mean time to failure. If you have a timing belt that fails before that and an interference engine you can plan on replacing valves too. There are many things on an automobile that give you hints they should be replaced; timing belts just break.

Timing chains used to be less dependable but the newer ones are greatly improved. I'm happy my Toyota has a chain. I haven't researched it but I do believe some manufacturers are going back to chains. Belts are cheaper but pissed off customers aren't.

The computer controls fuel mixture and ignition timing, making the engine burn more efficiently and more cleanly - reducing carbon loading of the engine oil, as well as almost completely eliminating fuel dilution and cyl wall washdown - which makes the rings last a lot longer, as well as bearings and timing gears/chains/tensioners.

The vast majority of engine wear was caused in the startup and warmup mode. Computer control has virtually eliminated those problems. (mainly the elimination of the choke and better atomization of fuel using port injection. GDI makes it almost an order of magnitude better again.

For a Healey with multiple SUs 'tuneup' was very apropos. I never had the fancy gauges so I'd just make sure they were whistling in tune.

Yes. Definitely.

The manufacturers and oil companies do.

To get the engine in the correct position to agust points, or adjust valve clearances, usually.

I needed 2 feet of extensions to tighten the bolts. I suppose that sort of explains why the jerk did such a crappy job.

Whenever we see something with a rounded nut or bolt we think "Patrick was here." Pat is one of my son's friends who NEVER had the right tool.

I agree. They can't save enough money on a belt to compensate for the fact that we wouldn't purchase the car.

All you needed for a tuneup on a motorcycle, at least my Japanese bike of the time, was a screwin dial gage for the number 1 cylinder and a buzzer for the points to let you know when they opened.

Nothing fancy needed by way of tools other than that.

I guess then, that the longevity is due to two things in general (so far).

1. Better lubricants and seals
2. Better fuels (for example detergents and loss of lead)

Interesting that it's not better design of engines.

30+ years ago. Ratchet box wrench?

So would a time machine!

Because they are making the table to sell at the lowest price while the bin has a specification. Price, stop buying things based on the price! I bet you didn't even ask about the materials used in the table. I can assure you the city who bought the bin asked what it was made of. So the fault, really, is yours.

When you return the table tell them that... and you will be ignored because they made a lot of money selling the same crap they sold last year in spite of the few who returned them.

Illegal because the patches are crap and the rest of the muffler won't last another six months. My mufflers don't get leaks, the flange breaks off on the pipe. Try fixing that.

Because it isn't worth it. When any part of the exhaust system goes bad you are better off replacing it all.

No, it's not. It's still the same steel that lasts around 4 years.

Oh yeah. Thanks for reminding me. I think about those tools once a decade, but they just sit there otherwise, all packed up neatly.

I forgot about those shims I would slip in to adjust the overhead valves. And I forgot about getting the distributor in the right place.

That bumper came in handy but you had to remember to pull the center wire! :)

You bring up pinging, which, I forgot, we now have knock sensors to help control, so that's likely one more reason for longevity (that is, no pinging can occur nowadays, at least not until it overpowers the retarding of the timing that the knock sensors do).

I think they should make adjustable wrenches illegal. I can't for the life of me figure out a use for them.

Japan was smart enough to listen to him.

Back when they were GOOD tools. The last Craftsman tool I bought was a

10mm socket (yeah, I know, like everybody else I have a LOT of them, I just couldn't find one) -- I peeled some of the chrome off with my thumbnail.