Brake calipers

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:59:03 -0700 (PDT)

I wasn't allowed to drive Dad's Fiat Lombardi, but I suspect that if
it didn't have syncro he couldn't have driven it either. OK with lab
gear but not mechanically sympathetic enough to cope with cars that
man...


Zebee - who learned double-de-clutching on the '53 Chev truck.
Which had its own idiosyncracies well beyond that minor one! And
has learned all about careful motorcycle gear changes from the Old
Girl. An engine speed clutch, the flywheel that ate Chicago, shaft
drive, and a heel/toe gearchange mean you had damn well better
change gears properly.

 

Ta, noted.

Bill

 

The first car I learnt to double-de-clutch in a gear other than first
was my mate's 2.5 Riley. The Riley had a full synchro box but rumour
had it that the synchro bits drained out with the first gear-box oil
change.

Theo

 

Didn't actually pick up on this thread til quite late so didn't know
that it was a bitchfight actually

Just brought back old memories. The other car my parents had at the
time was a 351 Fairlane auto. Fairlane? That was the top of the line
thingy wasn't it.

I was allowed to park the cars in he driveway but once I got my Ls I
went out at first in the auto to get used to traffic for a couple of
days, then got quite a learning curve on the MG in road conditions. No
synchro in first didn't matter in the driveway

I also recall a system they set up around 1980 called "Dial a Driver".
Was handy if you went out somewhere and then decided to drink. You
could dial up this dude and he and his wife would turn up and he'd
drive you home and his wife would follow. Only about 20-30% more than
a taxi from memory and better than eaving the car in town. He hated
the MG if I occasionally was using that, but by then I had my own cars
and rarely used the MG.

Kev

 

I don't seem to recall mentioning appalling poverty (although in fact
we had a stint of that when the drought kicked in and for a number of
years in the aftermath).

As for the go kart I mentioned - a welder and a few meters of pipe
created the frame, the initial wheels were wheel barrow wheels (they
did get upgraded later) and the first motor was ex a chainsaw (175cc 2
stroke), the seat was an office chair with the legs cut off (later
upgraded to a bucket seat out of a wrecked car) - all stuff my father
had in the back shed. Yes it got upgraded over time, but never at much
cost - the most expensive part was the $15 my dad paid for a 350cc
bike motor out of a wreck to put in it (Uncle owned a bike shop and
$15 was a lot more money in the late 70s than it is now...).

Most every farm in our area had multiple vehicles of all types - most
of them very old. And multiple non working ones for parts. We had had
3 E series Holdens for example in the 70's - only one of which ran -
the other 2 were parts cars...


JL

 

That's one hell of a chainsaw John. Bigger than anything Stihl makes
today. Mine is 36cc.

Most farms appear to have every vehicle the farmer, his father, and
his father ever drove, sitting somewhere on the property.

My dad's first car was a 1951 or 2 Austin A40 ute which he bought in
1957. He made a wood-framed canvas cover for the back and bench seats
so we could all go out together. Mum, dad, me, and the seven siblings.
It got a bit crowded in the back before my older brother bought an
Arial Red Arrow. Just as well because I got another sibling that year.

Theo

 

That's my recollection but then I was only 7... take with a grain of
salt - I'll ask the old man out of curiousity now !

<grin> Yup, that's my experience


JL

 

It's about time! I was starting to wonder if I was going to catch *any*
fish with that bait!


BTH