How many could...

Ŷ...do the following? In this modern age, many enthusiasts are very competent at a variety of car tasks.
But who could, without a manual:

Lap valves in.
Overhaul a carburettor, SU or Stromberg for example.
Balance twin carbs airflow: Stromberg, SU, Weber.
Set needle/jet height on an SU carb.
Split a ball joint..... Without a splitter.
Remove a half-shaft.
Hotwire an old Mini. Or any old car for that matter. You've lost the key........and need to get on that hot date......

I'm an old fart that can do all the above and much more.... and can use an OBD reader as well: can you youngsters come the other way? Note: Cobber and similar members will be all over this!

A bit of fun.

I can do almost all of the above. :broon:

Was brought up helping my dad fix old vivas, tractors Hillman hunters and land rovers.

Never had to balance twin carbs but everything else yes.

First 3 cars I had were a mini, a marina and a rover sd1 so I had to have good mech knowledge :yesnod:

When I was on recovery a few years ago it was always a pleasure to get called out to an old car which 9 times out of 10 I'd fix at the roadside.

Modern cars we could fault find but more often than not had to be taken to the dealer.

Simple mechanical skills aren't of interest to the younger generation and imho will be lost in the long run due to ever more complex engineering.

Oh, and the missus can do all of them too :omg:

John and Sue wrote:
Note: Cobber and similar members will be all over this!

Nice to know your confident of my abilities. :lol:

Balancing twin carbs could get them running ok but never perfect unlike my old school friend who was a wizard at setting up SU's especially.

Have never used an OBD reader............................................ ever! Also have never tried splitting a ball joint without a splitter as we had the one Dad made which I still use today. Further more have not only ground valves in but made then replaced valve guides then cutt eh seats to suit then ground the valves in. Last one was on a 650 Triumph Bonnie have also made piston rings from a piece of cast iron tubing. Gear box bushes from high speed brass and rebored singles cyclinders on the lathe. head skimming and disc skimming and thinning to adapt to another "Bike" were common practice. Made slab yokes again for bikes. Calpier adaptor plates etc.

Grew up doing such stuff. Dad would never pay to have an exhaust fitted or brakes fixed ....................................... we did that no matter what the weather. My first real motor cycle was a 66 Norton Jubilee 250 twin bough for £10 and it was delivered over a coulpe of weeks in bits via the boot of an Hillman Avenger. We found the engine was scrap so another was found and bought for £20 locally and then the whole thing put together. When I built the Chop using an 83 Honda FB750 DOHC I had to make the wiring loom as the original was lost in the fire that caused the Honda to be a write off.

I've done some of the above list but I can also resolve problems on modern OBD2 cars.

All self taught, sometimes with the help of manuals or on line how to guides but never with tuition.

Anyone else here balanced triple, quad or sextuple carbies? It's no more difficult than twin carbies, just takes longer.
Triples take about twice as long, quads about 4 to 5 times as long and sextuplets take about 8 to 10 times as long. You have to keep going back and revising the adjustments. Very satisfying when done! Once set properly, they should stay set, unless some idiot decides to fiddle with them, then you have to start again! :rant:
Idiots seem to think that they can solve other underlying fundamental problems by fiddling about with the settings of multipule carbies. :bang:

I used to love balancing carbs... I once had the honour of doing it on a triple set up on an E Type owned by a neighbour. Never mind clever gauges and suchlike crap. A short length of tube and balance the induction whistle by listening. After releasing the progression levers.

Also mixture check and jet centreing on SU carbs. Changing diaphragms and lift arrest springs on Strombergs.

If you need to split a taper balljoint and don't have a splitter, a sharp simultaneous tap on opposite sides with light hammers will do it. Momentarily deforms the taper and it releases. Magic trick.

When you have manually lapped in all 16 valves of a Dolly Sprint head..... Then you are a man, my son....

...a sharp simultaneous tap on opposite sides with light hammers will do it.

Seem to recall two very large lump hammers were more effective on my taper joints, but then again some of the 'repairs' we effected in our youth would give modern MoT testers severe heart problems.

A 'Colourtune' (remember them?) and a short length of tube soon balanced the SUs on my elderly MGA - trouble was it needed doing weekly.

I also recall the then-OH sometmes returning in the evening and saying her specially rust-lightened 105E Anglia was 'running funny again'. A spare head kept for the purpose soon had a replacement valve ground in and the 'pit crew' could hand it over ready for the grid of the next morning's commute.

Today? Actually I was quite proud of myself when I found where they'd hidden the TF's engine...

Like others I can do all of the jobs that you have listed John, replacing needle roller bearings in a propshaft UJ is another nice job - splitting a ball joint with two hammers, works like a dream :oops:

I've done all of the jobs on the list.
My first job after getting out of the Army was in a 2-bay back alley MG shop that didn't even have running water. We would wash up at the end of the day in an old Swarfega pail out in the yard. The water was begged from the VW shop out front.
We also changed tyres without a tyre machine. My Kiwi boss was quite proud of the work we did with almost nothing. :beer:

You all (or better old) guys make me feel young !!!
Can't do that and what I can do is with the manual or this site at hand... Still I'm the only one in my street that changes my tyres summer vs winter myself.... so were are we going...?

There sadly isnt the opportunities to learn this stuff these days.

I consider myself OK around a motor and if I dont know how to do something, I can find out and pull it off successfully.

thats about it though - Im very much self taught.

I guess thats one of the appeals of the MG's to me - they're a permanent tinker toy.