[dscabra]

Originally Posted by MaxVO2

****Fine fine. I'll play... Buehller? Buehller???

I don't know what this is, but an educated guess would be a coolant system pressure tester?

[3798j]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

My 1st car was a 1964 Corvair Monza. I put a fair amount of effort into
getting a little more power out of that 164 cu. in. engine. I didn’t have a timing
tool, so I just kept advancing the ignition timing in small increments until
I could hear the engine knock when flooring the throttle. Once I got it at
that point I simply backed off the timing a little bit - all by ear.

I drove a '67 TR4a in college and drive one today...
This is actually from the Haynes Manual:
"It must be noted that to get the very best setting the final adjustment should be made on the road. The distributor can be moved about ¼ of a division (i.e 1*) at a time until the best setting is obtained. To obtain the best setting under running conditions first start the engine and allow to warm up to normal temperature and then accelerate in top gear from 30mph to 50 mph, listening for heavy pinking. If this occurs, the ignition needs to be retarded slightly until the faintest trace of pinking can be heard under these operating conditions.
Since the ignition advance adjustment enables the firing point to be related correctly in relation to the grade of fuel used, the fullest advantage of any change in fuel will only be attained by re-adjustment of the ignition settings"
"Method 2) Advance the timing to obtain the highest RPM at idle. Then, retard the timing just enough to reduce the idle by 100 RPM."

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

....when all of these car-related things were part of your daily life when you were a teenager and starting to drive.

Some things I miss more than others.

I don’t know the third one in the first row or the fourth one in the second row, but I have an idea about that one.

[3798j]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

I don’t know the third one in the first row or the fourth one in the second row, but I have an idea about that one.

Early VW beetles didn't have fuel gauges...they had that lever to select an auxiliary gallon to get you to a gas station.
"These bags (1900-1960s) were used on road trips especially in the desert. The bag was soaked first, then filled and hung on the car’s hood ornament or from the bumper. As water seeped slowly to the surface, it evaporated and cooled keeping the water about 12 degrees cooler than the air. As both air conditioning and coolers for cold drinks were both unavailable to drivers, these offered a somewhat refreshing drink on a long drive."
Additionally, if hung in front of the radiator, cooler air was passing through it and if overheating still occurred there was the water in it to replenish the boil over.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

I don’t know the third one in the first row or the fourth one in the second row, but I have an idea about that one.

Last one in the second row is to carry water for when the car overheats in desert driving. There was a sign (may still be there, it's been a while since I drove the route) on the 15 climbing the hill after Baker, CA that said to turn off the A/C to prevent overheating.

[MaxVO2]

Originally Posted by dscabra

I don't know what this is, but an educated guess would be a coolant system pressure tester?

****Nope. It's a type of manometer used to tune Weber type carburators so they are properly synced and tuned properly!

Newer versions look like the below, or one can use a wideband O2 sensor setup or other similar device(s) now but old school people used old school tuning devices... like their ears, basic vacuum gauge, etc..

The Weber carburators were finicky but when they were tuned well, the car just idled beautifully, especially the old F1 cars, and some exotics like the Weber's on top of the Ford Cammer engine below.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by 3798j

Early VW beetles didn't have fuel gauges...they had that lever to select an auxiliary gallon to get you to a gas station.
"These bags (1900-1960s) were used on road trips especially in the desert. The bag was soaked first, then filled and hung on the car’s hood ornament or from the bumper. As water seeped slowly to the surface, it evaporated and cooled keeping the water about 12 degrees cooler than the air. As both air conditioning and coolers for cold drinks were both unavailable to drivers, these offered a somewhat refreshing drink on a long drive."
Additionally, if hung in front of the radiator, cooler air was passing through it and if overheating still occurred there was the water in it to replenish the boil over.

I wouldn't drink that water unless I ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY had to!

[MaxVO2]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

I wouldn't drink that water unless I ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY had to!

****People back in the olden days would have soiled themselves laughing at us now for paying good money for Evian or other bottled water. In fact, often paying more for bottled water than the price of gasoline...

The Earth is covered with the stuff (water), not all fresh, but it's still funny people will pay $10 for a small bottle of water because it is allegedly from Fiji, or some amazingly clean and clear spring in Norway, or some not so clean nor clear puddle in Zimbabwe, etc....

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by 3798j

Early VW beetles didn't have fuel gauges...they had that lever to select an auxiliary gallon to get you to a gas station.
"These bags (1900-1960s) were used on road trips especially in the desert. The bag was soaked first, then filled and hung on the car’s hood ornament or from the bumper. As water seeped slowly to the surface, it evaporated and cooled keeping the water about 12 degrees cooler than the air. As both air conditioning and coolers for cold drinks were both unavailable to drivers, these offered a somewhat refreshing drink on a long drive."
Additionally, if hung in front of the radiator, cooler air was passing through it and if overheating still occurred there was the water in it to replenish the boil over.

I googled the bag right after I posted and read that explanation. Very interesting. My original thought was your second statement, to be used for overheating. Thanks

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by MaxVO2

****People back in the olden days would have soiled themselves laughing at us now for paying good money for Evian or other bottled water. In fact, often paying more for bottled water than the price of gasoline...

The Earth is covered with the stuff (water), not all fresh, but it's still funny people will pay $10 for a small bottle of water because it is allegedly from Fiji, or some amazingly clean and clear spring in Norway, or some not so clean nor clear puddle in Zimbabwe, etc....

You did have to run the hose water a bit to get the hot water out! Then there was the reason my mom told me to not ding hose water... a spider could be in there!

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by MaxVO2

****People back in the olden days would have soiled themselves laughing at us now for paying good money for Evian or other bottled water. In fact, often paying more for bottled water than the price of gasoline...

The Earth is covered with the stuff (water), not all fresh, but it's still funny people will pay $10 for a small bottle of water because it is allegedly from Fiji, or some amazingly clean and clear spring in Norway, or some not so clean nor clear puddle in Zimbabwe, etc....

I drink common tap water. Have done it for years and it hasn't killed me yet. Put it in glass bottles and stick it in the fridge. Tastes delicious.

[3798j]

Originally Posted by MaxVO2

****Nope. It's a type of manometer used to tune Weber type carburators so they are properly synced and tuned properly!

Newer versions look like the below, or one can use a wideband O2 sensor setup or other similar device(s) now but old school people used old school tuning devices... like their ears, basic vacuum gauge, etc..

The Weber carburators were finicky but when they were tuned well, the car just idled beautifully, especially the old F1 cars, and some exotics like the Weber's on top of the Ford Cammer engine below.

My approach was the low buck/little money way...the Uni-Syn carburetor synchronizer (purchased 58 yrs ago). Although my Weber DCOE's are currently just "garage art", the Uni-Syn's are still used (when needed) on the Zenith Stromberg CD150's & CD175's.

[dscabra]

Originally Posted by MaxVO2

****Nope. It's a type of manometer used to tune Weber type carburators so they are properly synced and tuned properly!

Newer versions look like the below, or one can use a wideband O2 sensor setup or other similar device(s) now but old school people used old school tuning devices... like their ears, basic vacuum gauge, etc..

The Weber carburators were finicky but when they were tuned well, the car just idled beautifully, especially the old F1 cars, and some exotics like the Weber's on top of the Ford Cammer engine below.

I have Inglese 8-stack injection on my Cobra and this is what Jim Inglese sent me to balance the system.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by 3798j

Early VW beetles didn't have fuel gauges...they had that lever to select an auxiliary gallon to get you to a gas station.
"These bags (1900-1960s) were used on road trips especially in the desert. The bag was soaked first, then filled and hung on the car’s hood ornament or from the bumper. As water seeped slowly to the surface, it evaporated and cooled keeping the water about 12 degrees cooler than the air. As both air conditioning and coolers for cold drinks were both unavailable to drivers, these offered a somewhat refreshing drink on a long drive."
Additionally, if hung in front of the radiator, cooler air was passing through it and if overheating still occurred there was the water in it to replenish the boil over.

I had this lever on my first car, a 1961 Volkswagen. No gas gauge, just this lever. I loved it. My girlfriend* at the time hated it. Every time the engine sputtered, I would reach down and turn the lever. It worked like a dream. I just had to remember to put the lever back to Position #1 when I filled the tank. I never once ran out of gas.

*On a funny note: That girlfriend ended up sticking with me, funny fuel lever and all. We married in '72 and just celebrated our 52nd anniversary. To this day, she whines when the gas gauge goes below a 1/4 tank, fearing that we'll run out.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by MaxVO2

****Nope. It's a type of manometer used to tune Weber type carburators so they are properly synced and tuned properly!

Newer versions look like the below, or one can use a wideband O2 sensor setup or other similar device(s) now but old school people used old school tuning devices... like their ears, basic vacuum gauge, etc..

The Weber carburators were finicky but when they were tuned well, the car just idled beautifully, especially the old F1 cars, and some exotics like the Weber's on top of the Ford Cammer engine below.

I never had trouble syncing carburetors on my cars. Reason: I never had a car with more than 1 carburetor.

[MaxVO2]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

I never had trouble syncing carburetors on my cars. Reason: I never had a car with more than 1 carburetor.

****Well, you've missed out on having improperly synced carburators sputtering along and causing the car to sound and drive *terribly*...

Below is a pic of a 66 Pontiac GTO Tri-Power setup. Not Weber, but made by Holley. The linkage was quite complex and tuning was an absolute royal PITA and required significant finesse to do correctly. It was always a great idea to have additional fuel filtration as the jets in the carbs plugged fairly easily causing unbelievable frustration to a tuner.

The car was quite fast for its day and had bias ply tires that were laughably poor at maintaining traction - so much so that it would just smoke the tires to the rims if you hit the gas really hard from a stoplight. Very very impressive car and an amazing piece of auto history. Adding even 20-30 hp to a car like this with a large displacement motor (389 cu inches) required significant bolt ons and money.

Now, we are spoiled with our BMW's insofar as just buying a RaceChip, or JB4, etc... and adding 30-50hp or whatever without having to tear into the motor, or even get our hands dirty. Even a lower tier non M modern BMW is faster than the 1966 Pontiac GTO Tri power which was beastly for its day.

Progress!

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by Esteban

I drink common tap water. Have done it for years and it hasn't killed me yet. Put it in glass bottles and stick it in the fridge. Tastes delicious.

Texas has oil and gas and that’s a good thing in many ways, but not for drinking water out of the tap. Oil and gas means lots of sulfur and sulfur in your drinking water does not taste good!! I grew up in Lubbock on the western, high plains of Texas and our tap water would turn developing kids’ teeth brown. My mom was really big on going to the dentist every six months and I’m guessing that’s how she found that out after we moved there from Nashville. We drank bottled water growing up from those huge, five gallon glass jugs. We had a metal “cage” that sat on the floor and held the jug and we tilted it on its side to pour the water. But, neither me nor my two sisters have brown teeth. I know people who were children in Lubbock who do have brown teeth.

One of the wonderful things I discovered when I moved to Chicago is the Lake Michigan water I can get straight from the tap is wonderful!!!

[MaxVO2]

Originally Posted by 3798j

My approach was the low buck/little money way...the Uni-Syn carburetor synchronizer (purchased 58 yrs ago). Although my Weber DCOE's are currently just "garage art", the Uni-Syn's are still used (when needed) on the Zenith Stromberg CD150's & CD175's.

****Wow!!! That Uni-Syn is *ancient* !!!!

That is an amazing old school piece of tuning. I never used one but some of the old timers I knew had used them before other tech for tuning somewhat supplanted it. It was the same with ignition systems. The old points, and non-HEI type distributor systems were often replaced with newer tech on the older motors.

I remember taking my distributors to the speed shop so they could grind down the weights and put different centrifugal springs to adjust the timing curves to better match the mods on my cars. Otherwise it was just hit or miss. Worth the $3....

Some of the crazy stuff we did to make our cars faster in hindsight were kinda laughable now - but they were legit and plenty of guys spent countless hours making tuning adjustments that in total probably often were worth less than a couple HP here and there.

Now? Dyno tuning and adjusting fuel/timing curves using a laptop.

I still have a bunch of metering rods and hangars for Rochester Quadrajet carbs somewhere in my basement. I'll probably never need them but it took me forever scouring junkyards to find them.

Old times, good times.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by 3798j

Early VW beetles didn't have fuel gauges...they had that lever to select an auxiliary gallon to get you to a gas station.
"These bags (1900-1960s) were used on road trips especially in the desert. The bag was soaked first, then filled and hung on the car’s hood ornament or from the bumper. As water seeped slowly to the surface, it evaporated and cooled keeping the water about 12 degrees cooler than the air. As both air conditioning and coolers for cold drinks were both unavailable to drivers, these offered a somewhat refreshing drink on a long drive."
Additionally, if hung in front of the radiator, cooler air was passing through it and if overheating still occurred there was the water in it to replenish the boil over.

Mom & Dad’s 1958 VW micro bus didn’t have a gas gauge as well. I recall
dad pulling the reserve lever a few times. Also, when dad judged we were
getting low on gas, but not yet on reserve, he’d switch to reserve just before
passing a car on a 2-lane highway, then off the reserve after the pass. He
didn’t want the engine to quit halfway through the pass.

And now folks are probably wondering how a heavily loaded 36 HP VW micro
bus could pass anything. Well, dad was a master at energy management
and drafting.

[vreihen16]

.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by MaxVO2

****Nope. It's a type of manometer used to tune Weber type carburators so they are properly synced and tuned properly!

Newer versions look like the below, or one can use a wideband O2 sensor setup or other similar device(s) now but old school people used old school tuning devices... like their ears, basic vacuum gauge, etc..

The Weber carburators were finicky but when they were tuned well, the car just idled beautifully, especially the old F1 cars, and some exotics like the Weber's on top of the Ford Cammer engine below.

I installed a 2-bbl Weber carburator on the 1600cc engine in my ‘71 Capri
after having the engine rebuilt. I had to buy the intake manifold from a
parts house in Canada. Also, I had my overhauler install the Cortina GT
camshaft. Between the 2-bbl Weber, new cam and tubing headers, that
little pushrod engine really perked up.

As the the Weber, I got pretty familiar with fine tuning it with the jets and
emulsion tubes. This required some experimenting, but it was very driveable.

[sygazelle]

...when you dressed like this at your wedding and you thought you looked cool. (I'm the groom - second from the left) - 1972