As said, it is just not cost effective to have someone fix stuff anymore..we live in a throw-away society..

So your frig breaks down...do you call a guy who gets $75 for a house call ???
only to have him tell you your frig is broken and you need new one, or do you just go get a new one and justify it to .... "Well, it was 10 years old anyway .."

A guy who can fix "STUFF ".. will definately have a lot less trouble getting by today than a guy who is only proficient in using the yellow Pages..

A few years back Newsweek had a cartoon of a housewife screaming at her under the sink plumber .." $ 45 for a House call ???? !!!! ..my Doctor doesn't even charge that much !!! " ..to which the plumber replies ..' Yeah lady, .. I know ..that's why I gave it up ...."

__________________
A Dalton

Well said. I have seen many check book restorations in my day. I have taken great satisfaction in reviving as many old part as I possibly could with the real satisfaction being when some one with a reasonable degree of knowledge scrutinises your work and mistakes it for brand new factory parts rather than 40-50 year old ones with a lot of old fashoned hard yaka applied.

Arthur this will make you laugh. I am a software engineer by trade and have specialised in the financial sectors working for large corporate banks. Its been a wonerfully rewarding occupation financially but recently, as with most other professions, has collapsed along with most countries economies. I have been without work now for three months.

I took it upon myself to start up some small side ventures to try and keep the wolves from the door. A couple of months ago I purchased a beat up old rust 250s off trade me (New Zealands equivilent of ebay) for 600NZ and with my spare time pulled it down to every concievable part. It took me 26 hours to rip it apart.

I used the cream in my resoration, mainly trim bits and pieces, and then took photos of all the bits and pieces and put them back on trade me. To my absolute astonishment the sales went through the roof. People from all over the world ended up buying bits and pieces. I sold the bonnet to a guy in Canada for more than I paid for the whole car.

Before long I had accumulated over 7000 in sales for little more than a weeks work.

I ended up getting paid more than I would have if I was doing my software job.

Your comments made me chuckle. Thanks for the laugh

Does not surpise me any..
I have been a Fixer since childhood , and it is a gift that has served me beyond all belief.....
There are times when I actually think I could get by with no money......or at least I would be one of the last ones standing..... specially if I lived next to a Dump...
Boy , I'll tell ya...guys like me know the values of a good dump...they dump and we pick it up, fix it in 2 seconds , and sell it to a new happy owner...

We call it like picking up a 'Fistfull of Fifties " on the ground....

Guess I have been in training for what the Future holds in store for us all....

__________________
A Dalton

I replaced that item, it's known as a wig-wag by the local appliance dealer, on my washer. The following week the transmission gave out. So it was new washer time since the of a transmission is almost that of a new washer.
I have book on fixing appliances and it's saved me much money over the years.
BTW, the correct screw to hold the points has a captive washer IIRC, and would not be too long even if the washer fell off. I suspect the culprit screw is a replacement. I have seen cases of a screw too long used to hold the capacitor to the side of the distributor, but that only made noise not destruction.

Washer drive coupling replaced about 5 years ago--washer still works. I'll keep my fingers crossed.........

Good to know there are still a few "fixers" out there

J. M. van Swaay

Hm, so I'm to only guy here can said "been there, done that?"

I too am a software engineer. Set the wayback machine to 1987 when I'm a newbie getting my prized 230/8 going (an excellent introduction to mechanics and rust) and I finally figured out that my poor engine performance was due to the little ground strap inside the distributor not being connected to the plate, so it was eating points like candy.

While fixing that, I went to replace the condensor and sure enough, I lost the little bolt down the side (oops). Got a replacement, and of course, got one the wrong size. Started her up and she ran fine. Well, sort of. I needed to set the timing and for this I convinced a friend at work to come by and help me.

I love these straight 6's at 4,500 RPM when you're head's under the hood and all you hear is that roar. But of course, no advance from the distributor. It took my friend a few minutes of Q&A to get the story out of me, since I didn't know beans out the stuff under the plate, I didn't know to mention the lost screw issue. Seems my bolt was long enough to tear off the weight mechanism from the advance.

-CTH

__________________
- cth350@gmail.com
http://www.111lakeside.com/

Just thank your lucky stars you replaced the washer under the condensor. I got so pissed off with the whole points thing that I ended up replacing them with an optical system which has turned out better than my expectations. Much more consistent spark means the old donk now purrs like a kitten. Should be much more reliable as well

I'm with you alls .

Born & raised a Yankee farm boy means you learn how to squeeze the last bit of use out of anything .

I've been a German car mechanic for most of my carreer , these cars are great as you can take them farther apart than you can get the needed parts...

Most Bosch distributors from the points days have this same tiny screw & washer syndrome , I learned it the hard way when I was 14 or so

Those who own W-123 based mercedes know they'll never wear out , only get rusty or wrecked .

BTW : borrowing a timing light with the advanvce dial allows you to use the
" OT " mark (TDC) and set the full advance to 32 ~ 34° all in and that old 6 banger wil REALLY scream ! .

Points go to 33° dwell for the best coil saturation and hotter spark .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better