In article , Andrew
wrote:
On 03/03/2020 20:03, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:
On 03/03/2020 11:21, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article , Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I used to tinker with my Mini 50 years ago and mostly made a mess of
it, so I gave up.

They never came any simpler, than a mini.

Mini wasn't that simple a car to work on. Compared to say a Morris
Minor.


I know I wrote my 1963 mini 850 off in 1970 and built it into another
body shell when I was 17....best thing that ever happened as being a
good mechanic has saved me a fortune over the last 50 years......OMG
the memories....rubber suspension units requiring a compressor stupid
engine above the gearbox with idling gear bearings that used to
go....rotten rear subframe ..engine tie bar rubber problems etc etc
,,,,

ENORMOUS socket set needed to work on the lower front ball joints, which
to be fair could be unscrewed and fixed with a repair kit and new shims.

Most people used a geordie spanner to tighten them.

Is that similar to a 'birmingham screwdriver'?

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

"T i m" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Mar 2020 12:41:30 +1100, "Rod Speed"
wrote:

snip

I love seeing individual, clean, functional mechanical parts emerging
from a black greasy blob and knowing it has all gone back together
nicely and with fresh lube [1] etc.

Yeah, me too and it gave me a real buzz to be able to get it
going again with no spare bits left over

That's key or just the cherry on the cake (depending on what it is).

That and not enough bits. I've just repaired a little toy dog for my
niece. You press one of two buttons on a mock recoiling lead and it
either walks (of sorts) or barks and wags it's tail. It worked when
they bought it at a charity sale and she was upset when it 'died'.
'Maybe uncle Timmy could fix it?' Well, after testing all I could get
at from the outside, I had to skin it to get to it's guts and it
turned out to be a invisibly corroded battery terminal spring. In the
process of taking everything to bits it appears one of the controller
buttons has dropped out (unnoticed at the time) and we seem to be one
screw missing. Hopefully I can 3D print or turn a replacement button
and the 'missing' screw might be that I've used on the dog itself that
may not have been filled previously.

without even a diagram
or anything and only a vague idea about how they worked.

If you have 'the eye' and the thing used sufficiently to offer some
wear marks, you can often re-assemble things you haven't de-assembled,
even (as you say) without the diagrams, assuming it's not bizarrely
complicated.

It's like with flat-pack furniture. I tend to just glance at the
instructions in case there are things that need doing in a specific
order and to save time having to unassembled any of it. When there
aren't any instructions, you have to work it out yourself and maybe
just don't do any gluing until you see the bigger picture.

snip

I used a very light waterproof
grease (inc the ratchet pawls) and it works perfectly and I feel it's
less likely for 'lube' to migrate through from the gearbox to the
brake.

Its been too long now since I did it to remember, 50 years now.

I just picked up a second (at least) hand folding cycle, a Raleigh
Stowaway (often referred to as the Raleigh 20) as I have an issue with
one foot (hopefully temporarily) and still want to get out with the
Mrs walking the dog etc.

For now I'm going to have to use it 'as-is' (I might just put a longer
seatpost in it) but I'm really looking forward to going over it and
making sure everything is right. According to Wiki it would be between
36 and 49 years old and makes me wonder how many things made today
would still be going after that sort of time?

Modern stainless steel cutlery and stainless steel
baking pans and stock pots and pots etc will be.

Quite a few of the cars will be too.

It worked fine for more than a decade or more until they moved
away so it must have been done right.

I'd say.

I still have all those oils and
greases but havent used them much at all in the last few decades
with modern cars not needing any of that anymore and that being
the only hub gear I have ever had anything to do with maint wise.

Quite.

Its also how I designed and built the house from scratch on a bare
block of land. The parents were getting a house architect designed
and built for them and I showed up in that town on the other side
of this country at the time, for a conference in my case. Unusual
post and beam construction which allows you to see how its put
together even when they had moved in.

Like all those log cabin type building they show you on the TV
programs.

I kept walking around
looking that the detail and decided that it would be a pushover
to do one myself. Went home, grabbed a bare block of land
in what you lot call a new estate and spent quite a bit of time
in the long summer evenings wandering around looking at
the houses being built in that new estate.

Out of cardboard it seems these days. ;-(

Not ours, still brick mostly.

None of it is at all
complicated compared with cars and hub gearboxes.

True ... in standard house builds. Some of these real fancy homes with
glass fronts, cantilever beams and minimalist support or the floating
ones aren't quite so.

Even had the local council tell the local builders to look at how
I had done the prep for the massive great concrete slab on the
ground, because that's how its sposed to be done. I just followed
the instructions that came with the free design that the reo suppliers
supplied when you sent them a copy of the house plan. The use
bar chairs to hold the mesh as the right level when the concrete
is poured. The builders don't bother, they use a long T shaped
tool with a hook on the end and pull the mesh up as the concrete
is poured. The council inspectors hate that because there is no way
to check that the reo is at the right level in the concrete.

Quite. Did you mix / pour the concrete yourself or was it simply too
big

Yeah, much too big for that. Forget how many full ready mix truck loads now.

and get a Ready-Mix load in?

Multiple loads in fact.

(Probably called 'Crete-O' over there). ;-)

Nar we call it ready mix too.

I was similar when we built the kitcar. I'd never built one before but
had done all the jobs I was going to have to do over many vehicles
over the years and so found it quite straightforward. 3 months of
evenings and weekends and in the open in our back yard. That was over
30 years ago now and it's still running.

On Thu, 5 Mar 2020 06:12:46 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH senile troll****

That senile D i m is one of the few senile idiots left on uk.d-i-y who still
keeps feeding you, eh, senile troll? BG


--
Kerr-Mudd,John addressing senile Rot:
"Auto-contradictor Rod is back! (in the KF)"
MID:

On Wednesday, 4 March 2020 15:27:35 UTC, Andrew wrote:
On 04/03/2020 08:14, Chris J Dixon wrote:

Uncle had a VW combi campervan and strong side winds would
easily move it from fast line to hard shoulder without
turning the steering wheel at all.

Nice things to drive, mainly because they were rather lightweight.


Heating came from huge heat exchangers on the exhaust ports
on each bank. If they corroded you got exhaust gases inside
the vehicle !.

A lot of vehicles were like that back then


NT

On Tuesday, 3 March 2020 17:08:05 UTC, T i m wrote:
On 02 Mar 2020 22:49:22 +0000 (GMT), Theo
wrote:

T i m wrote:
63 here with a 39 year old daughter so not sure if we are in the same
category.

I'm roughly the same age as your daughter, and a lot of that chimes.

;-)

I've been doing DIY (FSVO) since I was six.

reminds me of cosmic dancer by Marc Bolan.


Both daughter and I were naturally 'creative' when we were young. Give
either of us some Selotape, card or paper and we would make all sorts
of things. Same with Lego / Meccano etc.

you were bought lego and mecano, you didn't DIY your own.

The original lego was designed by an english toy maker.



Difference is I had nobody to teach me, so I've mostly learnt it myself.

That was mostly the same for me, for the things *I* wanted / needed to
do, but my Dad did at least (indirectly) show me how to use tools, by
watching him whilst helping him (no choice). ;-)

I had the same mainly when he was building sheds/averies to keep budgies in..


But whist the general tools thing was of use, he had little idea re
mechanics or electrics so I would do that round the family home.

My dad did the elecgtrics he didnlt understand what he was doing just followed
a DIY book on the 'rules' as he called it.


Where did I learn that. I don't know, but with no Internet in those
days it can only have been from an inquisitive mind and the
opportunity (house with back garden, tools, workshop, tolerant
parents) to experiment. I was 'left / trusted' to take things to
pieces as long as they were still working properly (or better) when I
was finished. ;-)

Noerdays people/families tend to have flats with communial gardens,
no sheds and lots of H&S restrictions and it was easier to ignore any
restrictions that were in place.


When I took the engine out of a Fiat 850 at 15 years old it was just
more of the basic things I had learned from cycles and other machines
and the good old HBOL. ;-)

We never had a car, my dad had a bike.


Being in Generation Rent rather hampers the DIY tendencies, but for a long
time I had an absentee landlord who never spent a penny and didn't care, so
I did it myself. The downside was it was never worth investing to do things
properly given you could always be kicked out at 2 months notice, or indeed
fined for changing things. So the DIY was usually minimalist stuff to
keep things going.

Daughter is in a similar position to you re what she can (or wants,
under the circumstances) in her rented flat. The landlords have
visited and are pleased with all she has done so far (and pay promptly
for any parts we use if we have to repair stuff (like I fitted a new
button panel to the washing machine the other day, because I could and
it was quicker and easier than getting him or the agent down).

Most aren't so lucky and have landlords that won't pay for anything
and some won;t repair anything and will evict those that complain.


We save him some money by fixing some stuff, he is more flexible /
generous re what we can do. ;-)


Having moved from 30-year-old to 10-year-old cars I don't do as much DIY as
I used to on that front, however it's always difficult when you're working
on the street and don't have anyone to help/tell you you've done it
right/make sure you aren't going to die.

I know what you mean Theo. ;-)

There was also more space on the road and your neirgbours were friends who'd lived in that area for years rather than a few months with a different culture
and ways.




So mostly avoid stuff on the
underneath (plus crawling around in the cold is no fun).

That was partly why we sold the (her) Mini and built the kitcar. ;-)

I rember thje days when kit cars were really popular, yuo could even build
a boat via the daily mirror.

So why don't people do this sort of thing anymore, purhaps there;s just too many
retrictions.
No one really triesd to build their own computer even from a kit.




Whilst I find that sort of diagnostics quite interesting (as I'm into
electronics and 'computers' as well etc), it's not quite the same as
getting your hands dirty, especially a successful engine related job.

Could you fix a modern car engine like you could have 40 years ago ?


Recently bought a house so lots to do in prospect, although not a lot of
free time to do it in

I only bought our house 40 years ago so haven't finished it yet. ;-)

There arev still properties yuo can buy to do up, but they are still usualy very expensive and someone looking for their forst place is unlikely to have the money to buy it or get a mortgage.
That is why most of the latest developments are furnished 1 2 & 3 bed flats
and offered for as 'little as £150k part ownership.
You aren't really allowed to knock down a dividing wall in a block of flats
or do much DIY to the property without breaking the T&Cs and you have to pay
around £50 pcm or more for someone to change the lightbulbs in the corridors
and look after the comunial garden.

All this started long Coronavirus, Brexit or the discovery of global warming
so no of those can be blamed.
But some of us should have seen it coming.



Cheers, T i m

On Tuesday, 3 March 2020 17:28:17 UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
"T i m" wrote in message
...
On 02 Mar 2020 22:49:22 +0000 (GMT), Theo
wrote:

T i m wrote:
63 here with a 39 year old daughter so not sure if we are in the same
category.

I'm roughly the same age as your daughter, and a lot of that chimes.

;-)

I've been doing DIY (FSVO) since I was six.

Both daughter and I were naturally 'creative' when we were young. Give
either of us some Selotape, card or paper and we would make all sorts
of things. Same with Lego / Meccano etc.

Difference is I had nobody to teach me, so I've mostly learnt it myself.

That was mostly the same for me, for the things *I* wanted / needed to
do, but my Dad did at least (indirectly) show me how to use tools, by
watching him whilst helping him (no choice). ;-)

But whist the general tools thing was of use, he had little idea re
mechanics or electrics so I would do that round the family home.

Where did I learn that. I don't know,

I do, by trial and error and being able to try different
things and see what worked and what didn't.

So that's what happened you tried neurosurgery on yourself, that explains everything ;-)

On 04/03/2020 15:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 04/03/2020 15:27, Andrew wrote:
On 04/03/2020 08:14, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Motorway
trips in a cross wind were very interesting, as the steering,
even with new king pins, was incredibly soggy.

M62 eastbound was fun. If I didn't get a good run at it I had to
change down before the summit.

Then there was the heater designed so that, if it was going to
stick, it would do so fully on. As it was a waterless system, the
air could get pretty hot, and a passenger once had a pair of
shoes ruined. It was just some flaps and a lever, but once it had
seized you had to get underneath to free it off.

Uncle had a VW combi campervan and strong side winds would
easily move it from fast line to hard shoulder without
turning the steering wheel at all.

the usual thing was to load up the front 'boot' with sandbags (beetle) -
or pick up a hitch hiker

Heating came from huge heat exchangers on the exhaust ports
on each bank. If they corroded you got exhaust gases inside
the vehicle !.
Or if they got corroded you got no heat at all

Well that could be useful early warning system but many
of these old crates were bought by people who didn't care
about the lack of heating, which was so inefficient anyway
on those combi vans,it was difficult to tell if it wasn't working

"whisky-dave" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, 3 March 2020 17:08:05 UTC, T i m wrote:
On 02 Mar 2020 22:49:22 +0000 (GMT), Theo
wrote:

T i m wrote:
63 here with a 39 year old daughter so not sure if we are in the same
category.

I'm roughly the same age as your daughter, and a lot of that chimes.

;-)

I've been doing DIY (FSVO) since I was six.

reminds me of cosmic dancer by Marc Bolan.


Both daughter and I were naturally 'creative' when we were young. Give
either of us some Selotape, card or paper and we would make all sorts
of things. Same with Lego / Meccano etc.

you were bought lego and mecano, you didn't DIY your own.

The original lego was designed by an english toy maker.



Difference is I had nobody to teach me, so I've mostly learnt it myself.

That was mostly the same for me, for the things *I* wanted / needed to
do, but my Dad did at least (indirectly) show me how to use tools, by
watching him whilst helping him (no choice). ;-)

I had the same mainly when he was building sheds/averies to keep budgies
in.


But whist the general tools thing was of use, he had little idea re
mechanics or electrics so I would do that round the family home.

My dad did the elecgtrics he didnlt understand what he was doing just
followed
a DIY book on the 'rules' as he called it.


Where did I learn that. I don't know, but with no Internet in those
days it can only have been from an inquisitive mind and the
opportunity (house with back garden, tools, workshop, tolerant
parents) to experiment. I was 'left / trusted' to take things to
pieces as long as they were still working properly (or better) when I
was finished. ;-)

Noerdays people/families tend to have flats with communial gardens,
no sheds and lots of H&S restrictions and it was easier to ignore any
restrictions that were in place.


When I took the engine out of a Fiat 850 at 15 years old it was just
more of the basic things I had learned from cycles and other machines
and the good old HBOL. ;-)

We never had a car,

We always did and I am a lot older than you.

my dad had a bike.

Neither of my parents did.

Being in Generation Rent rather hampers the DIY tendencies, but for a
long
time I had an absentee landlord who never spent a penny and didn't care,
so
I did it myself. The downside was it was never worth investing to do
things
properly given you could always be kicked out at 2 months notice, or
indeed
fined for changing things. So the DIY was usually minimalist stuff to
keep things going.

Daughter is in a similar position to you re what she can (or wants,
under the circumstances) in her rented flat. The landlords have
visited and are pleased with all she has done so far (and pay promptly
for any parts we use if we have to repair stuff (like I fitted a new
button panel to the washing machine the other day, because I could and
it was quicker and easier than getting him or the agent down).

Most aren't so lucky and have landlords that won't pay for anything
and some won;t repair anything and will evict those that complain.


We save him some money by fixing some stuff, he is more flexible /
generous re what we can do. ;-)


Having moved from 30-year-old to 10-year-old cars I don't do as much DIY
as
I used to on that front, however it's always difficult when you're
working
on the street and don't have anyone to help/tell you you've done it
right/make sure you aren't going to die.

I know what you mean Theo. ;-)

There was also more space on the road and your neirgbours were friends
who'd lived in that area for years rather than a few months with a
different culture
and ways.




So mostly avoid stuff on the
underneath (plus crawling around in the cold is no fun).

That was partly why we sold the (her) Mini and built the kitcar. ;-)

I rember thje days when kit cars were really popular, yuo could even build
a boat via the daily mirror.

So why don't people do this sort of thing anymore,

Very viable used cars are much cheaper now in real terms
and some do still build and refurbish boats including my
next door neighbour who is now on his third, a ****ing
great thing that is moored in sydney harbour. Another
mate of mine has another which is as big as is towable
on the roads and thats his third now too.

purhaps there;s just too many retrictions.

No one really triesd to build their own computer even from a kit.

Some did initially.

Whilst I find that sort of diagnostics quite interesting (as I'm into
electronics and 'computers' as well etc), it's not quite the same as
getting your hands dirty, especially a successful engine related job.

Could you fix a modern car engine like you could have 40 years ago ?

Much easier now given the OBD2 thing that usually
tells you what sensor has died and costs not even $5.
And much easier to get the replacement part from
ebay or gumtree from those who have ended up
with a write off due to an accident or when the car
no longer makes any sense to keep repairing.

A mate of mine has sold all the bits of any value from
a Hyundai Grandeur, one of three that he bought used
off ebay and produced 2 viable cars from which he has
now sold because he has moved on to Merc 180s etc.

His #1 son is a very decent mechanic and makes a decent
living buying Mercs which have a fault on ebay etc, fixing
the fault and flogging them for twice what he paid for
them using new parts bought for peanuts from china etc.

Recently bought a house so lots to do in prospect, although not a lot of
free time to do it in

I only bought our house 40 years ago so haven't finished it yet. ;-)

There arev still properties yuo can buy to do up, but they
are still usualy very expensive and someone looking for
their forst place is unlikely to have the money to buy it
or get a mortgage.

That is why most of the latest developments are furnished 1 2 & 3 bed
flats
and offered for as 'little as £150k part ownership.
You aren't really allowed to knock down a dividing wall in a block of
flats
or do much DIY to the property without breaking the T&Cs and you have to
pay
around £50 pcm or more for someone to change the lightbulbs in the
corridors

Bull**** you do.

and look after the comunial garden.

All this started long Coronavirus, Brexit or the discovery of global
warming
so no of those can be blamed.
But some of us should have seen it coming.

But nothing could have been done about it
while ever huge numbers of immigrants
were allowed to pour into the country,

On Fri, 6 Mar 2020 03:29:07 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH senile asshole's latest troll****

03:29??? Good heavens, do you sociopathic swine know NO shame AT ALL? But
then which sociopath ever knew any shame, eh, you 86-year-old sociopath?

--
dennis@home to retarded senile Rot:
"sod off rod you don't have a clue about anything."
Message-ID:

On Thursday, 5 March 2020 16:33:45 UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
"whisky-dave" wrote in message


When I took the engine out of a Fiat 850 at 15 years old it was just
more of the basic things I had learned from cycles and other machines
and the good old HBOL. ;-)

We never had a car,

We always did and I am a lot older than you.

So, I bet some have had cars longer than even you.


my dad had a bike.

Neither of my parents did.

he had a moped and later 3 mobility scooters



I rember thje days when kit cars were really popular, yuo could even build
a boat via the daily mirror.

So why don't people do this sort of thing anymore,

Very viable used cars are much cheaper now in real terms

What are real terms next year my borough are becoming one of those low
emmision zones so yuo won;t be able to drive most old cars, and if you do you'll get fined.

and some do still build and refurbish boats including my
next door neighbour who is now on his third, a ****ing
great thing that is moored in sydney harbour.

even a canal boat mooring fees can be £100s a month.

Another
mate of mine has another which is as big as is towable
on the roads and thats his third now too.

There are rich peole in London that can afford to spend £50k on a dolls house.
There was a kid 6 to 8 years old who's dad had her ipad gold plated
at a cost of £3k because she had been good.


purhaps there;s just too many retrictions.

No one really triesd to build their own computer even from a kit.

Some did initially.

I added the stuff for a disc drive and 16K extra RAM.


Whilst I find that sort of diagnostics quite interesting (as I'm into
electronics and 'computers' as well etc), it's not quite the same as
getting your hands dirty, especially a successful engine related job.

Could you fix a modern car engine like you could have 40 years ago ?

Much easier now given the OBD2 thing that usually
tells you what sensor has died and costs not even $5.
And much easier to get the replacement part from
ebay or gumtree from those who have ended up
with a write off due to an accident or when the car
no longer makes any sense to keep repairing.

Really thats not what I've heard, it;s been years since I've seen people
repairing their cars on the road side, most don;t even clean them when they can get them cleamed for a fiver.


A mate of mine has sold all the bits of any value from
a Hyundai Grandeur, one of three that he bought used
off ebay and produced 2 viable cars from which he has
now sold because he has moved on to Merc 180s etc.

OK if you have the space and time.
Be difficult if you lived in one of the blocks near me as they have NO parking for even one car let alone 2 or 3.




His #1 son is a very decent mechanic and makes a decent
living buying Mercs which have a fault on ebay etc, fixing
the fault and flogging them for twice what he paid for
them using new parts bought for peanuts from china etc.

Well there;s always a few but it's not mainstream and it;s hardly DIY if yuo're doing it as a job for profit.

As you should know brain surgery isn't a DIY thing but people do do it.

Just because someone does something it doesn't make it DIY.

I order for 6 groups of 5 studenst, another 3 teams of studetns and 5 groups of varying numbers and 20 or so individual students, but I don;t class it as DIY ordering.


That is why most of the latest developments are furnished 1 2 & 3 bed
flats
and offered for as 'little as £150k part ownership.
You aren't really allowed to knock down a dividing wall in a block of
flats
or do much DIY to the property without breaking the T&Cs and you have to
pay
around £50 pcm or more for someone to change the lightbulbs in the
corridors

Bull**** you do.

It's true look it up, under maintenance, cleaning and other services
that are supplied and yuo have to pay for.




and look after the comunial garden.

All this started long Coronavirus, Brexit or the discovery of global
warming
so no of those can be blamed.
But some of us should have seen it coming.

But nothing could have been done about it
while ever huge numbers of immigrants
were allowed to pour into the country,

from the EU, due to free movement of people.

On 02/03/2020 18:51, Tim Streater wrote:

Do they have any coherent reaction when you berate them for being
useless?

No, they look like wounded puppies.

Do they have any natural curiosity? Can they do jigsaw
puzzles? Do they ever wonder how things work?

Son doesn't mind tinkering with his car. I suppose it's whether they are
interested.

On 02/03/2020 19:29, ARW wrote:


If you say anything does she defend them?


As in his mother (who i've long been split from)?
She is a complete flake.

You've met his stepmother, she's known him since he was a wee un,
She's the same mindset as me and we've always been involved and
proactive, in fact she gave him a Saturday job when he was in his early
teens so he had some responsibility and his own money.

"She won't take any ****", I said, "make sure you get there on time,
stay at ours the night before if it helps, do NOT get a lift from your
mum, she's unreliable".

5 weeks it lasted, late every time. So I guess her genes won out on that
score.

On 02/03/2020 20:54, Brian Gaff (Sofa 2) wrote:
Yes me too, I'd have thought in this age the answer was as close as youtube,

This bugs me in particular Brian, the answers are so easy to come by
these days.

They've a smartphone in their pocket, on social media all day, god
forbid they should use it to look up something practical.

whisky-dave wrote
Rod Speed wrote
whisky-dave wrote

When I took the engine out of a Fiat 850 at 15 years old
it was just more of the basic things I had learned from
cycles and other machines and the good old HBOL. ;-)

We never had a car,

We always did and I am a lot older than you.

my dad had a bike.

Neither of my parents did.

he had a moped and later 3 mobility scooters

We've never had anything like any of those.
No motorbikes either.

The closest is a big ride on lawn mower that
my grand nephew who has just started high
school this year loves to hoon around on on
their 10 acre or something holiday place.

I rember thje days when kit cars were really popular,
yuo could even build a boat via the daily mirror.

So why don't people do this sort of thing anymore,

Very viable used cars are much cheaper now in real terms

next year my borough are becoming one of those
low emmision zones so yuo won;t be able to drive
most old cars, and if you do you'll get fined.

I'm not actually stupid enough to live in London.
20 mph speed limit that isnt even necessary
because the traffic is always slower than that.

**** that.

and some do still build and refurbish boats including
my next door neighbour who is now on his third, a
****ing great thing that is moored in sydney harbour.

even a canal boat mooring fees can be £100s a month.

Dunno what the sydney harbour mooring fees are, they
wouldnt be cheap.

Another mate of mine has another which is as big as
is towable on the roads and thats his third now too.

There are rich peole in London that can
afford to spend £50k on a dolls house.

He's not rich, used to work for our equivalent of your BT
installing and maintaining sub telephone exchanges etc.

purhaps there;s just too many retrictions.

No one really triesd to build their own computer even from a kit.

Some did initially.

I added the stuff for a disc drive and 16K extra RAM.

Whilst I find that sort of diagnostics quite interesting (as I'm into
electronics and 'computers' as well etc), it's not quite the same as
getting your hands dirty, especially a successful engine related job.

Could you fix a modern car engine like you could have 40 years ago ?

Much easier now given the OBD2 thing that usually
tells you what sensor has died and costs not even $5.
And much easier to get the replacement part from
ebay or gumtree from those who have ended up
with a write off due to an accident or when the car
no longer makes any sense to keep repairing.

Really thats not what I've heard,

Then you need a hearing aid.

it;s been years since I've seen people
repairing their cars on the road side,

Yeah, most have enough of a clue to use
the driveway or even get real radical and
do it in the garage or carport.

A mate of mine has sold all the bits of any value from
a Hyundai Grandeur, one of three that he bought used
off ebay and produced 2 viable cars from which he has
now sold because he has moved on to Merc 180s etc.

OK if you have the space and time.

Doesnt take long when the OBD2 tells
you which sensor needs replacing.

Be difficult if you lived in one of the blocks near me as
they have NO parking for even one car let alone 2 or 3.

We arent actually stupid enough to allow any to be built
like that. They have to car parking available, even with
retirement villages where some done drive anymore.

Mate of mine has a flat in a decent sized building of
about 60 flats and each one has 2 car parking spaces.

His #1 son is a very decent mechanic and makes a decent
living buying Mercs which have a fault on ebay etc, fixing
the fault and flogging them for twice what he paid for
them using new parts bought for peanuts from china etc.

Well there;s always a few but it's not mainstream

Never said it was.

That is why most of the latest developments are furnished 1 2 &
3 bed flats and offered for as 'little as £150k part ownership.
You aren't really allowed to knock down a dividing wall in a block of
flats
or do much DIY to the property without breaking the T&Cs and you have
to
pay
around £50 pcm or more for someone to change the lightbulbs in the
corridors

Bull**** you do.

It's true look it up, under maintenance, cleaning and
other services that are supplied and yuo have to pay for.

Doesnt mean that you ARENT ALLOWED to change a dead bulb.

and look after the comunial garden.

All this started long Coronavirus, Brexit or the discovery
of global warming so no of those can be blamed.
But some of us should have seen it coming.

But nothing could have been done about it
while ever huge numbers of immigrants
were allowed to pour into the country,

from the EU, due to free movement of people.

And from the ex colonys as well because so many
of you lot prefer to put your hands out for benefits
instead of getting off your lard arses and working.

So you get stuck with the windrusher brats stabbing
each other to death at one hell if a rate,

On 02/03/2020 16:44, R D S wrote:

Recently, a machine at work is leaking polish on the floor.

I know i'm oversharing and you shouldn't slate your kids on the net, but
Jesus Christ.

Same machine......

I go home a couple of hours early the other week, go back in the
morning, the machine hasn't been used since I left.
"We are going to have to phone Jim (from whom we got it), it isn't running".
Now i've fallen out with Jim, that's too long a story, nutshell, Jim is
NOT coming. Ever.
So I investigate and ultimately turn the machine over manually by it's
belt after which it was fine.

Today....
Machine isn't running again. We tried the same but it didn't wash.
I haven't the time, He's fruitlessly faffed with it all morning, It's
approaching 2 o'clock which is when *we* finish so "bye dad, have a good
weekend".
Err yeah, see ya.....

Lid up, press start, test screwdriver in hand at the origin of the motor
cable, no power, trace wiring back through hardware I have no idea what
is, find a switch (trip/overcurrent? I dunno), anyway I effectively
turned the machine back on and it's fine.

It's rarely rocket science is it? But I think i'm flogging a dead un
here. I admit some fault obviously, cos when alls said and done he's
####ed off and when he gets back it's been sorted.

On Sat, 7 Mar 2020 03:54:06 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH troll****

03:54??? LOL

--
The Natural Philosopher about senile Rodent:
"Rod speed is not a Brexiteer. He is an Australian troll and arsehole."
Message-ID:

"R D S" wrote in message
...
On 02/03/2020 16:44, R D S wrote:

Recently, a machine at work is leaking polish on the floor.

I know i'm oversharing and you shouldn't slate your kids on the net, but
Jesus Christ.

Dont forget who will be picking your care home...

Same machine......

I go home a couple of hours early the other week, go back in the morning,
the machine hasn't been used since I left.
"We are going to have to phone Jim (from whom we got it), it isn't
running".
Now i've fallen out with Jim, that's too long a story, nutshell, Jim is
NOT coming. Ever.
So I investigate and ultimately turn the machine over manually by it's
belt after which it was fine.

Today....
Machine isn't running again. We tried the same but it didn't wash.
I haven't the time, He's fruitlessly faffed with it all morning, It's
approaching 2 o'clock which is when *we* finish so "bye dad, have a good
weekend".
Err yeah, see ya.....

Lid up, press start, test screwdriver in hand at the origin of the motor
cable, no power, trace wiring back through hardware I have no idea what
is, find a switch (trip/overcurrent? I dunno), anyway I effectively turned
the machine back on and it's fine.

It's rarely rocket science is it? But I think i'm flogging a dead un here.
I admit some fault obviously, cos when alls said and done he's ####ed off
and when he gets back it's been sorted.

On Sat, 7 Mar 2020 06:01:50 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH senile cretin's troll****

06:01 already, you clinically insane asshole? LOL

--
Website (from 2007) dedicated to the 86-year-old trolling senile
cretin from Oz:
https://www.pcreview.co.uk/threads/r...d-faq.2973853/