Coolboats to admire

[Jim in Halifax]

It's also mostly bolt-to-bolt, replace rather than repair, b/c that's what works both on assembly lines and in auto service shops. You don't fix an ignition module, or buff its contacts with emory cloth, or have a friend rev the engine while you twist the distributor to find the sweet spot. You use your scan tool to read the EIM fault, swap a new one in, and if needed program it for the proper cam angles.

Where's the fun in that? Gimme a dwell meter and let me twist on that distributor. Proper cam angles? Swap the cam for a hotter one. Learn to love the lumpy idle. New cars are great, they're much more reliable, but they're no fun to work on. Try and imagine Bogart on the African Queen with an OBD reader...

 

[Diarmuid]

I don't fix cars for fun, tho. It's nice having the ability to diagnose & repair/replace stuff, but there are more enjoyable ways to spend an afternoon than fumbling blindly for that awkward alternator bolt, or draining the diff so you can pull a rear axle seal.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

I don't fix cars for fun, tho. It's nice having the ability to diagnose & repair/replace stuff, but there are more enjoyable ways to spend an afternoon than fumbling blindly for that awkward alternator bolt, or draining the diff so you can pull a rear axle seal.

Yeah, like doing "the worm" backwards after adjusting the stuffing box.

 

[Bull City]

I don't fix cars for fun, tho. It's nice having the ability to diagnose & repair/replace stuff, but there are more enjoyable ways to spend an afternoon than fumbling blindly for that awkward alternator bolt, or draining the diff so you can pull a rear axle seal.

I can sympathize. I am far from an IC Engine expert, but I do have a 5 HP Mighty Mac chipper/shredder for the piles of yard waste that Mrs. Bull has me rake up.

Occasionally, a bit of a branch will get lodged in the shredding part, making impossible to start. So I have to dig out my wrenches and take off the cover to remove it.

A couple of the bolts are positioned such that the wrench will only swing about 5º. I would love to get my hands around the neck of the designer.

Isn't this the "Cool Chipper/Shredder to Admire" thread?

 

[Elegua]

Hmmm. I guess I find the new stuff less intimidating, perhaps b/c I've wrenched on both sides of the technology divide. I had an F-150 with straight six, pushrods, and ice-prone carb; replaced clutch packs, swapped in a reman engine, fixed every.fricking.part of its electrical system (it's a Ford!), wheel bearings, yada yada. I've done a valve job on a 1980 Subaru Boxer, which is about as basic as engine tech gets: monkey copy of the 1930s VW engine.

I'm also perfectly comfortable rooting around in modern cars: swapping ECUs, flushing sealed automatic trannys, diagnosing electric window & door lock modules, tracking down codes with flow charts and an OBD2 scan tool. A good deal of modern mech skill is that way. It's also mostly bolt-to-bolt, replace rather than repair, b/c that's what works both on assembly lines and in auto service shops. You don't fix an ignition module, or buff its contacts with emory cloth, or have a friend rev the engine while you twist the distributor to find the sweet spot. You use your scan tool to read the EIM fault, swap a new one in, and if needed program it for the proper cam angles.

Plus in your laptop into the OBDII plus and you can see afr, injector duty cycle… whatever parameter you want. It can tell you where it hurts.

 

[Diarmuid]

Can you fit a ratcheting box end wrench in there? We think Bull has been a good boy and deserves one of these for Christmas:

Available in offset, wobble, and 12-point if the bolts are really hard to access.

 

[Diarmuid]

Plus in your laptop into the OBDII plus and you can see afr, injector duty cycle… whatever parameter you want. It can tell you where it hurts.

Yep. Cars aren't really harder to work on than 50 years ago. Pro mechanics are no more nor less intelligent or skilled than 50 years ago. Just different skills. There are lots more widgets to diagnose, but better tools for diagnosis than a length of heater hose stuck in your ear. And easier parts availability for straight swaps.

For example, many body shops don't beat out dents or patch rust-outs anymore. Requires too much time, and a shop full of artists with brass hammers and cans of Bondo doesn't make financial sense. You go online, order up a brand new fender panel, bolt or MIG-weld it into place, paint to match.

 

[SloopJonB]

Yep. Cars aren't really harder to work on than 50 years ago.

They are in terms of access - it can literally take hours of parts removal just to gain access to the part that needs replacing. A fuel pump used to be a 10 minute job, now it's drain & remove the tank just to get access to the in-tank pump.

Long time problem too - 25 years ago my guy told me that a 90's V8 Camaro had a flat rate of 7 hours to change the spark plugs - purely because of the impossible access with the engine 1/2 under the cowl & windshield. I remember changing the plugs on my dad's '65 Impala - sitting on the fender with my feet on the frame because it was too far to lean over to get at them.

Experience counts for a lot less now too - the onboard computers tell you what's wrong, you don't need to figure it out. All it takes is a $10,000.00 scanner.

 

[giegs]

Replacing the radiator on a '98 M3. Step 1: Remove front end.

I've been fawning over this thing for months. Other than the cotb and killer companionway, of course. The shotgunned head/cabin forward seems very practical.

2003 Robert Perry Westwind 11.8 Cutter for sale - YachtWorld

Find more information and images about the boat and contact the seller or search more boats for sale on YachtWorld.

www.yachtworld.com

 

[Elegua]

it takes is a $10,000.00 scanner.

Access can suck, especially in euro cars, the eco plastics and water based paints are terrible, but you don’t need a 10k tool, though those are available. I use freeware and the cable and connector costs $30-40 USD.

 

[SloopJonB]

The pro's I know all say the cheaper scan options only kinda work - you need an expensive pro tool to get accuracy - and useability over various car brands as well.

It doesn't take many $2000 computer boards replaced unnecessarily to pay for one.

 

[Elegua]

The pro's I know all say the cheaper scan options only kinda work - you need an expensive pro tool to get accuracy - and useability over various car brands as well.

It doesn't take many $2000 computer boards replaced unnecessarily to pay for one.

Scans and reading codes don’t brick ECUs. Loading bad roms/maps or clearing CELs without thinking will. The “accuracy “ is in the defining, “mapping” the ECU rom. For cars with an active community accurate maps are readily available.

 

[slug zitski]

Très cool, n'est-ce pas? AHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA. Ne pas! AHAHHA.

Bonne nuit.

- Ville de Taureau

View attachment 559551

Yah

in its day it was a revolutionary design

Charter fleets beat them to death

still a few good ones around

 

[Matagi]

Ormen Lange, seen here in Sweden some years ago.
She has a GRP hull, but wooden spars and a ketch gaff rig.
She was for sale shortly after, here is more from back then.

 

[eric1207]

I was always amazed that I could stand on the ground, flat footed, inside my 6 cylinder 1970 F100 engine compartment to change the plugs or valve cover gasket or what ever. No bending over the fender or grill to reach in.

 

[Diarmuid]

They are in terms of access - it can literally take hours of parts removal just to gain access to the part that needs replacing. A fuel pump used to be a 10 minute job, now it's drain & remove the tank just to get access to the in-tank pump.

Long time problem too

Yes, it is -- IIRC, working on the underside of an MG required dropping a heavy, rusted-in-place metal skid plate. The #6 plug on the Ford 300 was hard against the firewall. And so on. There's as much wrench room around my 4Runner's tidy 4.0L V6 as around any era Mustang.

the onboard computers tell you what's wrong, you don't need to figure it out. All it takes is a $10,000.00 scanner.

My Bosch scanner cost $70, and it will tell me 90% of what I want to know. And we selectively forget how often garages or dealerships used to take either a shotgun or serial approach to fixing strange problems. Might try 10 different fixes and replace all sorts of electrical bits b4 realizing it was the voltage regulator all along. I'd much prefer them (or my own scan tool!) to say, "Yep -- P0101. Got a wonky MAF sensor. It's causing it to run rich and idle rough. Fifteen minutes to replace it."

 

[SloopJonB]

Scans and reading codes don’t brick ECUs.

It's not that - it's a 1/2 assed reader erroneously or ambiguously telling you that you need a new computer or some other non-returnable part.

 

[Elegua]

It's not that - it's a 1/2 assed reader erroneously or ambiguously telling you that you need a new computer or some other non-returnable part.

It’s not 100% but if you know the car and common issues, the codes can give you a very good clue if not the exact answer. My Perkins 4-108 on the other hand tells me nothing. Not much to go wrong, but no clues either.

 

[SloopJonB]

My Perkins 4-108 on the other hand tells me nothing. Not much to go wrong, but no clues either.

Sure it does - it positively shouts "I NEED OIL".

 

[On The Hard]

I've met and spent time with Nat. Hard to believe he did that interior. Had to be owner's request.

We spent time this summer rafted to Rebecca which, many moons ago, was the subject of a bizarre and entertaining thread here. She's now owned and chartered by Mystic Seaport, and was traveling in company this summer with another of their yachts, Little Vigilant, which was donated by a dear friend.

Charles Butt's Rebecca? I didn't realize he had donated it. Beautiful yacht. I once heard a story of it sailing into a harbor, maybe Stockholm, and people on the wharf applauding as it sailed by.